Chicago-area transit agencies face a $771 million budget gap. Absent state action, they’re warning about a 40 percent reduction in service and 3,000 layoffs.
New federal rules require localities to get rid of all their lead water pipes in the next 10 years. Officials say they need help – and money.
Like his father, the city’s longest-serving mayor combined preternatural instincts with sheer audacity. Sometimes Richard M. Daley overreached, but he left his city better than he found it.
A study has found that Black drivers in Chicago receive approximately 54 percent of automated camera citations, but they make up 70 percent of police stops.
Brandon Johnson had promised to veto the ordinance that would continue the gunshot detection system but failed to make the move before the deadline. Political battles over the technology are ongoing.
Last week, Mayor Brandon Johnson vetoed the Aldermen’s unanimous vote to keep the gunshot detection technology, saying the system doesn’t work well enough to justify its costs. Some residents are worried that without it, police response time will lag.
HUD’s Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing program had over 85,000 participants nationwide as of June. Since the program began in 2008, homelessness among veterans in Illinois has decreased by half.
Mayor Brandon Johnson has warned of “sacrifices that will be made” to account for the multimillion-dollar spending gap. City officials have cited declining state revenues and rising pension and personnel costs as the cause.
Groups of renters in five cities have formed a Tenant Union Federation to build power locally and advocate for changes to federal housing policy.
The average West Loop lease for a Class A building before COVID-19 was 30,000 square feet. For 2023 and 2024, the average is just 18,000. Companies are also looking for newer buildings with top-end amenities.
A study found that Chicago’s white families have the highest median net wealth ($210,000), while typical Black families report no wealth and U.S.-born Mexican families have just 19 percent of a typical white family’s wealth.
It’s a combination of factors ranging from corruption to unbalanced taxation to unfunded liabilities to lack of an entrepreneurial tradition. But the state also has many strengths it could build on.
The Chicago mayor has raised $2.6 million since his election in April 2023. Nearly half of those funds come from unions. Another large check was from Grammy-winning rapper Lil Durk.
On Monday, July 15, Chicago issued 16 tornado warnings, the most sent on a single day since 2004. In an average year, the state only experiences 50 tornadoes annually. But as the air becomes more humid, tornadoes will become more common.
Rush University Medical Center is using its classes of barber and hair stylist students to help combat the opioid crisis by providing them training about substance use disorders and how to administer Narcan.
Justices found that a federal statute that bans bribery does not apply to “gratuities” paid to elected officials for past acts. The case pertained to a former mayor but has implications for charges against former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan.
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