The FDA just approved Abbott Laboratories’ rapid COVID-19 test, which will provide results in just 15 minutes. The size of a credit card, this test is 97% accurate and works similarly to a pregnancy test. However, it is still to be administered by a health care provider, rather than at home.

Governor J.B. Pritzker announced Wednesday, Aug. 26 that Illinois will be home to two of the five new National Quantum Information Science Research Centers led by Argonne National Laboratory and Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in affiliation with the University of Chicago.

Another Chicago hospital – Rush University Medical Center – has cracked U.S. News & World Report’s list of the top 20 hospitals in the country, joining Northwestern Memorial Hospital, who has been ranked the top hospital in the state for the ninth consecutive year.

Harrison Ford, Robin Williams, Harold Ramis… and soft-serve ice cream?

That’s right—Dairy Queen is an Illinois native, born on North Chicago Street in Joliet. The fast food and ice cream chain turned 80 on Monday.

According to a 1991 article from the Associated Press, founder Sherwood “Sherb” Noble broke into the business after taking a dairy course at Iowa State College and managing an ice cream store in his hometown of Clemons, Iowa.

The Home Run Inn—a pizzeria chain headquartered in Woodridge—began building up their inventory of frozen pizzas at the very beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak, but they still found themselves unprepared when shoppers began stocking up on shelf-stable goods ahead of the Stay at Home Order.

Although the company has been slinging dough since 1947, Nick Perrino, who heads up the frozen pizza division for Home Run Inn, says they have never seen demand like this.

“It was absolutely crazy,” said Perrino of the pre-pandemic shopping rush. “The pandemic had people stocking up on frozen pizza, making sure they had product, just like with toilet paper.”