Both disputes arose after weeks of all political sides in the state pretty much downplaying any differences.

The bickering began when Durkin, in a video news conference, said there are "serious problems and failures" with the unemployment insurance system and scant proof of improvement. The Illinois Department of Employment Security, which administers the system, has been "inundated with calls and emails asking for help in filing claims," Durkin said. "These are people desperately asking for help because they cannot afford to pay their rent or buy groceries for their family."

In fact, the situation is so bad that state police have been called to protect IDES workers, Durkin said. That's why House Republicans twice asked Pritzker to hire an outside company or shift workers over from other departments to supplement IDES staff.

"This is not acceptable," Durkin said. "We have co-equal branches of government."

Pritzker's response came after Durkin spoke, in a statement and in comments at his daily COVID-19 briefing.

The system indeed "has been a source of hardship for far too many Illinoisans," the governor said. Fixing it "is still a work in progress." But overall, the situation is "much better than it was."

With the system overwhelmed by as many unemployment claims in the last month as normally arrive in a year, the state has overhauled its website, working with the state Department of Innovation & Technology to move the system to new hardware infrastructure and consulting with Accenture, IBM and Pitney-Bowes, among other firms, the governor said. "Since these updates, loading times for those using the website now are averaging below one second, and server and mainframe utilization has remained below 50 percent," Pritzker said.

The IDES call center also has boosted capacity 40 percent, and hours for staff have been extended, Pritzker said. Google AI, Quantiphi and Carahsoft launched a 24-hour question-answering program on the website. And while other state workers have not been shifted to IDES because of federal training rules, recent IDES retirees have been brought back to work remotely and an outside call center with 200 workers is being opened.

"This pandemic knows no partisanship," Pritzker said, in a clear shot at Durkin. Some Republicans have been helpful, others "not so much."

Durkin had no immediate response.

Meanwhile a coalition of business groups—including the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, Illinois Manufacturers' Association and the Illinois Hotel & Lodging Association—protested new rules adopted earlier today by the Illinois Workers' Compensation Commission. The rules create an automatic presumption that an essential worker who comes down with COVID-19 is eligible for benefits without proof the infection occurred on the job.

The groups say the action occurred so fast it may have broken state notice rules, and say it likely should have gone to the Legislature rather than be mandated by an administrative order. (The Legislature now is indefinitely adjourned because of the pandemic.) The new rule means companies now struggling to survive will face additional costs, a statement from the groups says.

Pritzker said he's not backing off.

"My intention is to protect the workers, the people who can least afford" to be without a job, he said at his briefing. "This is what we need to do to protect people."

All of these developments came on a day when the state announced 74 new COVID-19 deaths and 1,173 new confirmed cases since yesterday, bringing the pandemic totals to date to 794 deaths and 22,025 cases. See more data in the charts below.