(SPRINGFIELD) The holiday shopping season got off to a rousing start in Illinois and the rest of the country. According to a National Retail Federation survey released yesterday, 200.4 million consumers shopped over the five day holiday weekend, from Thanksgiving Day thru Cyber Monday, surpassing last year’s record of 196.7 million. In fact, 95% of those out for the weekend made a holiday-related purchase with the average amount spent on gifts, décor, and food at $321 per person. Black Friday was once again the busiest day for in-store shopping with more than 76 million shoppers, up from 72.9 million last year.
(GRANITE CITY) U.S. Steel has announced it will shut down the Granite City Works plant indefinitely. As part of the decision, the company issued about 1,000 employees notices that they could be laid off and said it anticipated about 60% of those workers would likely loss their jobs altogether. The move comes two months after U.S. Steel temporarily shut down a furnace at the plant in a move it called “risk mitigation” in response to the now resolved United Auto Workers strike, calling the move at that time “temporary” only.
(CHICAGO) The Illinois Department of Transportation has marked the completion of a series of multiyear improvements worth $82 million along Interstate 57 in upstate Illinois. Nearly 20 miles of I-57 were patched and resurfaced, while two bridges were repaired along a commercial and residential corridor connecting multiple communities from Chicago’s South Side through the South Suburbs. With approximately 359 miles of roadway from the Windy City southward to near Cairo, Interstate 57 is the state’s longest interstate highway.
(SPRINGFIELD) Hunters in Illinois harvested a preliminary total of 53,348 deer during the first three days of the Illinois firearm deer season, held November 17th thru 19th. That’s about 100 more deer than last year’s first firearm hunting weekend. The final four days of Illinois’ seven day firearm season are tomorrow, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.