A husband and wife have been fighting almost non-stop for the past few months. The husband worked to support them while his wife finished school to become a physician’s assistant. She started her career last year but still has significant student loans. The wife created a strict budget so her family could begin to pay off their debt and build savings. Unfortunately, her husband developed a gambling addiction. He recently lost his job and is now spending his days gambling...

A middle-aged couple has decided that they will need to close their family restaurant. The couple opened the restaurant soon after they got married 15 years ago. When the coronavirus shutdown began, the couple struggled to adapt to online ordering and pickup. Despite their best efforts, the couple felt they had no choice but to close the restaurant down. During the extreme economic stress, the couple began to fight non-stop. Old resentments and unresolved issues have returned to the forefront...

An Illinois mother of five recently lost her job due to the shutdowns caused by COVID-19. She is worried about how she is going to pay her rent. She only has a limited budget to spend on groceries. When she finally gets to the grocery store, she worries about being able to buy enough food for her family. A store employee comes up to her and tells her she needs to wear a mask. The mother has forgotten her mask...

A husband and wife have been sheltering in place in Illinois since mid-March. They have been spending nearly every minute together and they have realized that they need to get a divorce. During the coronavirus pandemic, all of the issues they have had throughout the last 15 years have resurfaced and life with each other has become nearly unbearable. Without the distraction of going to work, going to social events, and spending time with friends, they are faced with the...

For years, a woman has endured verbal abuse from her husband. Every time he has more than three alcoholic drinks, he becomes threatening and abusive. While he has never hit her, he slams the counters, punches walls, and screams in front of their children. Normally, she uses lunch dates with her friends to vent and get some mental relief from her husband. However, during the shelter-in-place order from the governor, she has been shut in with her husband nearly 24...

An Illinois small business owner is up against the wire. She is a nail salon owner who is worried about whether or not she can pay her rent next month. She has already used funds from the payroll protection act and is out of options. Meanwhile, Illinois has weeks left on their stay-at-home order. Some counties have begun defying the state-wide stay-at-home order by allowing businesses to reopen, in open defiance of the guidelines. All Counties Are Eligible to Move...

A young Illinois couple has been together for two years. They share one child together and have one on the way. Their relationship has seen some ups and downs. The husband served time for a drug charge, a mistake he made two years ago. Since then, he has cleaned up his act and found gainful employment. The couple was in a good place in March before the coronavirus pandemic happened. Last week, the husband lost his job at a meatpacking...

As the coronavirus pandemic drags onward, Illinois businesses and churches are growing restless. Business owners and churches are stating that they will open in defiance of the stay-at-home order. Illinois governor J.B. Pritzker initially issued a stay-at-home order in March that was set to expire on April 7th. On April 1, the governor issued a second stay-at-home order that lasted through the end of April. He has now extended the order through May 30th with some modifications. An Illinois Church...

A Schaumburg salon owner who is also a single parent is struggling to pay for groceries for her children. Many of her employees are also struggling to support their families. As her staff members wait to receive unemployment benefits, they have been giving their food to their children and not eating themselves. Frustrated by the inability to provide for her family, she decides to defy the governor’s stay-at-home owner and open her salon. Will she face criminal penalties? Local Law...

An Illinois woman suffered a serious knee injury while skiing outside of Chicago, resulting in an ACL tear and requiring serious surgery and recovery time. During that time, she ended up struggling with prescription pain medication addiction. She eventually stole a blank prescription form to write false prescriptions for Vicodin. She is now a convicted felon in the state of Illinois. Even though she has been pill-free for 10 years, her felony conviction continues to haunt her. The woman in...

An Illinois man made a mistake during college and was convicted of a drug-related felony. He turned his life around, and became a successful auto mechanic. He is now a loving husband and father, but 15 years later his felony conviction still hangs over him and negatively impacts his life. He would like to go back to school and become an educator, but his felony conviction prevents him from doing so. Illinois offers the potential for those convicted of felonies...

A couple in their 30s has been working from home since the Illinois stay-at-home order began in March. They both have extremely high-demand jobs that require their complete attention. At the beginning of the shut-down, the wife asked her retired parents to come live with them and take care of their children while they are logged on in their offices. The husband has never gotten along with his father-in-law, especially since the father-in-law started to drink more after the shut-down....

A Schaumburg couple has been working from home since Governor Pritzker issued his initial stay-at-home order due to the COVID-19 outbreak. They have been married for 20 years and the husband is a veteran of the war in Iraq who suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. He has shown violent tendencies before but has begun to drink more frequently since the shut-down began in March. His wife is concerned as he has been shouting at their two children more frequently...

At the beginning of February, an Illinois man finally realized his dream of opening a family restaurant. As a first-generation immigrant, he was excited to open a Greek restaurant and allow his customers to enjoy his family recipes as well as Greek culture. He was distraught to learn that he needed to shut down his restaurant. The funding from the stimulus package will soon run out and he will face the choice of closing his restaurant for good or disobeying...

An Illinois family is struggling with their 12-year-old child who has cerebral palsy and requires around-the-clock care. Since Illinois announced its stay-at-home order, her parents have not been able to receive any help from visiting nurses as they normally do. Other families have lost their jobs and are wondering how they will pay their rent. As Illinois residents grow more restless regarding the stay-at-home order, which has been extended until at least the end of May, some are wondering whether...