The Forest Preserves are a quasi separate unit of Cook County government that manages 70,000 acres of public land, along with the Brookfield Zoo and Chicago Botanic Garden. It does not have its own taxing authority and must go directly to voters instead. For the first time in nearly a century, Cook County commissioners voted to put a binding referendum on November’s ballot.

Because there were so many carjackings in the last four months of last year, the only way hijacking reports could rise is if the city’s criminal elements set new monthly records.

Ald. Brendan Reilly said a constituent who had received one of the gas cards told him he was able to overcharge the card by “$50 or $60” and sent him the receipts. Reilly now wants to know “how many others are out there…This kind of falls in line with exploiting a well-intended program — the potential for it, at least — and obviously the faulty technology is a concern.”

The city of Chicago owns some 10,000 vacant lots, with a large concentration in economically-challenged neighborhoods that have experienced decades of underinvestment.

“The Civic Federation supports the property tax increase for the Forest Preserves based on a number of factors including the administration’s strong leadership and management, demonstrated fiscal restraint, limited options for other revenue alternatives and the District’s clearly laid plans for how additional property tax funds would be used.”

One year after the Chicago City Council approved what Mayor Lori Lightfoot calls the Chicago Recovery Plan, city officials have spent just $130.5 million of the $1.227 billion earmarked for a host of programs including affordable housing, mental health, violence prevention, youth job programs and help for unhoused Chicagoans. By comparison, the city spent nearly $1.1 billion in federal COVID-19 relief funds in 2021 and 2022 and will use another $152.4 million in 2023 to shore up the city’s pandemic-devastated budget.

Over the last five years, the Planning Commission has approved 25,000 new housing units along the river and 10 million square feet of office space.

Applicant Craig Armstrong, 57, of Broadview, feels “great” about his chances, and he likes the idea of a lottery. “There’s one thing that politicians can’t do — they can’t fix it,” Armstrong said.