Outage Knocks Out State Government Computers, Websites

CHICAGO (CBS) -- State of Illinois technicians were trying to figure out what caused all state government computers to lose email and Internet capabilities for almost three hours Tuesday morning.

Mike Claffey, a spokesman for the governor's office, said the outage lasted from 7:10 a.m. to 9:50 a.m. He said the problem appears to have originated at the state's central computing facility in Springfield.

The outage also knocked out or slowed down the websites for several Illinois state agencies, including the governor's office, the Department of Revenue, the Illinois Emergency Management Agency, and the Department of Corrections.

Separate websites for the Illinois Supreme Court, as well as the state Treasurer's, Comptroller's, Secretary of State's, and Attorney General's offices were not affected.