Jay Michael, whose real estate brand Flats Chicago is either a savior of distressed apartment buildings or a force of gentrification that prices some people out of Uptown, acknowledged the school buildings reuse issue as “quite a contentious matter.” The buildings are now on the market in the aftermath of “families losing their schools,” he said. http://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20140805/uptown/cedar-street-looking-at-lot-of-schools-closed-by-cps-developer-says

About 1 out of every 10 people in Cook County live in “transit deserts” that are cut off from fast, frequent train and bus service, according to a new analysis that identifies dozens of Chicago-area mass transit dead zones and maps them in relation to major job clusters. http://www.redeyechicago.com/news/cta/ct-transit-deserts-met-20140804,0,1801719.column

Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart, attempting to cope with a growing mental health crisis among inmates at the county jail, said up to 9,000 people who have been incarcerated have signed up for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/politics/chi-dart-up-to-9000-inmates-signed-up-for-obamacare-to-help-with-mental-health-treatment-20140803-story.html