If you recall, the original, pre-pandemic deadline for the move to REAL ID was October 21, 2020. Then, COVID-19 came along and threw a monkey-wrench into things. So, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) pushed things back one year to October 21, 2021 to give people time to get things together while dealing with the pandemic.

As it turned out, that wasn't enough time, either. So, instead of extending the deadline by just one year, the Illinois Secretary of State's Office pushed the due date back two years.

Some reminders have been circulating about next year's deadline, so if you've been hoping for another extension, you may be out of them.

isolated two airline tickets.3d render.All data is faked.
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Boarding passes in a generic airline ticket folder.
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The Department Of Homeland Security Will Begin Enforcement Of REAL ID For Air Travelers On May 3rd, 2023

I know, that's just about a whole year from now, but state officials (knowing how people can be about deadlines) are urging Illinois residents to get busy now so that there won't be a giant logjam of applications in May of next year.

Anyone who's paid attention to FOID cards, CCL applications, and unemployment benefits knows how well Illinois officials do when they're buried in applications, and nobody wants to deal with that.

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Before you groan about having something else to add to your already busy life, keep in mind that not everyone is going to need an Illinois REAL ID.

Take a look and see if REAL ID is for you (just ignore that part about "effective October 1st, 2020"):

Illinois Real ID, Facebook
Illinois Real ID, Facebook
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LOOK: See how much gasoline cost the year you started driving

To find out more about how has the price of gas changed throughout the years, Stacker ran the numbers on the cost of a gallon of gasoline for each of the last 84 years. Using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (released in April 2020), we analyzed the average price for a gallon of unleaded regular gasoline from 1976 to 2020 along with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for unleaded regular gasoline from 1937 to 1976, including the absolute and inflation-adjusted prices for each year.

Read on to explore the cost of gas over time and rediscover just how much a gallon was when you first started driving.

LOOK: What major laws were passed the year you were born?

Data for this list was acquired from trusted online sources and news outlets. Read on to discover what major law was passed the year you were born and learn its name, the vote count (where relevant), and its impact and significance.

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