Illinois
Amazon Fresh cuts 1,545 Illinois jobs in January
Amazon laid off 1,545 Illinois employees. That was most of 2,000 total layoffs across the state in January.
Illinois started 2026 with over 2,000 mass layoffs in January, driven by Amazon closing over a dozen Amazon Fresh and Amazon Go stores across Illinois.
The firm laid off 1,545 employees in January.
Iron and steel manufacturing accounted for 253 layoffs. Wireless Carrier T-Mobile also announced 109 layoffs in Schaumburg.
These numbers come from the Illinois Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, which requires employers to notify the state about major layoffs. While the reports don’t capture every detail about Illinois’ job market, they offer a useful look at recent trends affecting workers in large companies.
January layoffs were concentrated in Chicago’s suburbs, in Cook, DuPage and Will counties.
Breaking down January’s big layoffs, it wasn’t just a wave of pink slips, most of these were outright closings, accounting for 1,902 job losses. Only 152 layoffs were not part of a full closure.
The bigger picture comes with a warning: Illinois’ business climate is seen as less friendly than it used to be. The state dropped to 38th in a nationwide business tax climate ranking.
Illinois needs comprehensive reforms to improve its economic situation and reduce future layoffs, including ending excessive occupational licensing, expanding school choice, reducing the nation’s No. 1 property tax rate, lowering its third-highest corporate income taxes, and investing more in apprenticeship programs to help keep companies and jobs in Illinois.
CENTRALIA, Ill. – An investigation is underway after multiple people were shot Sunday in Centralia, Illinois, according to a report from WFCN News in southern Illinois.
FOX 2 has confirmed the Illinois State Police is investigating a shooting and taking over the investigation, but ISP could not confirm many further details as of 9 p.m. Sunday.
“The investigation is in its infancy and to protect the integrity of the investigation, no additional details will be released at this time,” ISP said in a statement to FOX 2.
According to WFCN News, the shooting happened around 5 p.m. near the 900 block of East Kell Street in Centralia. Multiple law enforcement agencies have since responded to scene and multiple victims are hospitalized, according to the report.
It’s unclear how many people may have been injured and what led up to the shooting.
Centralia, Illinois is about 70 miles, or just over an hour, east of St. Louis.
This is a developing story. FOX 2 will update as more information becomes available.
The National Weather Service has teams of storm surveryors in the field April 18 investigating several reports of severe storms and tornado touch downs across eastern Iowa, northwest Illinois and northeast Missouri.
According to the weather service’s website, windgusts of up to 60 to 70 mph along with teacup-sized hail and several tornadoes were reported April 17.
Many homes and outbuildings were damaged, trees were uprooted and power lines were downed in Lena, Illinois, where the most significant damage occurred, the site pointed out.
Very strong winds also were reported near Washington, Iowa, and Colmar, Illinois, where several outbuildings and grain bins were destroyed.
The weather service received reports of confirmed and possible tornadoes in the areas of Lena, Pecatonica, Shirland, Rockton, Roscoe and Capron.
The teams will be assessing damage this weekend into next week along with county emergency management teams to determine what types of storms occurred and their paths.
Dozens of power outages were reported, as well.
As of the afternoon of April 18, ComEd was reporting 85 active power outages across northern Illinois, down from 241 on April 17, and 6,751 customers affected, down from more than 18,000.
The bulk of those outages and the most customers impacted are concentrated in Jo Daviess and Stephenson counties.
Freeze Watch
from MON 12:00 AM CDT until MON 9:00 AM CDT, Lake County, Kankakee County, La Salle County, DuPage County, Northern Will County, DeKalb County, Southern Will County, Kendall County, Southern Cook County, Northern Cook County, Grundy County, Eastern Will County, Kane County, McHenry County, Lake County, Newton County, Jasper County, Porter County
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