Sifting through year-end data on 199 suburbs, Crain’s found 13 where three indicators improved during the year: more homes sold, faster and at a higher median price in 2019 than in the previous year.

In a dozen of those 13 towns, the median price of a home sold during 2019 was below the metropolitan area’s median sale price for the same period, $237,500.

Based on 2018 audited financial statements, Truth in Accounting gives Chicago an “F” with a debt burden of $34.4 billion; that’s $37,100 per taxpayer. New York ranked last, with $186.7 billion, or $63,100 per taxpayer. The full study is linked here.

The November home price data released by S&P Dow Jones CoreLogic this morning actually showed a pickup in the nation’s year over year home price appreciation. Yet, the Case Shiller Chicago area home price data somehow managed to get worse.

“[O]ne of [Lightfoot’s] first moves as mayor was to appoint . . . a chief equity officer…. Lightfoot was inspired to create the new post partly by the Chicago Public Schools, which the year before had appointed its own equity officer and debuted a ‘Curriculum Equity Initiative,’ which called for course work to be ‘fair across race, religion, ethnicity and gender; and culturally relevant with the mindful integration of diverse communities, cultures, histories and contributions.'”

The Chicago Police Department is using a controversial facial recognition tool that allows investigators to search an image of unknown suspects to see if it matches a database of three billion photos lifted from websites like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter — a technology privacy advocates say is so ripe for abuse that cops should stop using it immediately.