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“It’s a little concerning,” said Aaron Spiro, who lives near the scene. “It does feel, in the last few weeks, there has been more crime in the neighborhood. I just want people to be safe and comfortable going out in Northalsted.”
So far, Institute for Nonviolence Chicago has helped 17 people apply for grants; 16 of those applications have been approved. The idea is to give financial assistance – up to $1,500 – for people who are shot, or their surviving family members – money that can be used on medical costs, lost wages, relocation, and funeral expenses.
“If the governor renews his effort to bring back the graduated income tax or steps up the timetable for increasing the minimum wage, he will completely erase $350 million and probably increase costs to small businesses by at least a billion dollars,” said Todd Maisch, of the Illinois Chamber of Commerce.
Twenty universities and community colleges in Illinois, Ohio, Indiana and Michigan comprise the Midwest Semiconductor Network. More educational institutions are expected to join. “It’s about pooling our resources together and becoming a collaborative team to help raise up the quality of the workforce, and also the quality of impact that we have on the future of microchips and semiconductor manufacturing,” Ken Christensen, provost and senior vice president for academic affairs of Illinois Tech, said.
According to data from The Pew Charitable Trusts, Illinois’ current reserves would allow the state to operate for about 12 days, the fewest of any state. By contrast, Wyoming could operate for nearly a full year on its reserves.
Franklin County Sheriff Kyle Bacon said that from what he can tell of the SAFE-T act, “there’s not a drug offense other than one involving a firearm or a high-level drug offense that is detainable.”
Ramirez met Boris Hernandez in October 2020 describing her relationship as ‘one of those pandemic loves.’ Hernandez has lived in the US for most of his life but even though he is legally married to Ramirez, a US citizen, it still means together they are a ‘mixed-status family’ and he is still not a US citizen, nor could her vote for his wife.
“When people were dying in Black and brown neighborhoods, it was someone else’s problem. Now shootings, armed robberies and carjackings have descended on neighborhoods once considered ‘safe.’ Crime is invading the South Loop, Gold Coast, North Michigan Avenue, River North, Lincoln Park, Lakeview and Bucktown. Now it’s ‘our’ problem.”
Illinois’s life expectancy rate is 76.8 years in 2020, down from 79 years in 2019 and 78.8 in 2018. The CDC also reports the leading cause of death in Illinois is heart disease.
The float featured 30,000 flowers and many aspects of the State of Illinois, including an Abraham Lincoln bust, a Route 66 sign, and the Garden of the Gods. The 24-foot-tall float took four months to build and nearly 22,000 volunteer hours to create.
“Since the summer, the city and state have provided shelter and other services to about 3,700 migrants, with the state spending over $120 million. As of Dec. 29, when (Mayor Lori) Lightfoot sent her letter, Chicago was running 11 shelters and still providing care for 1,531 migrants, the rest have traveled elsewhere after getting help here. It should come as no surprise the state’s well is about to run dry.”
In Roberts, Matt Vaughan, president of the village board in the Ford County community of 350, was surprised and ecstatic about the grant award. For more than five years, the village’s backup well had not been functioning, and a former water superintendent had been falsifying documents, he said. “I’m just a small-town guy and I don’t understand the federal government but it just makes you wonder if they were able to sneak this in for us what else is in there? We’re blessed to be able to get the money and frankly I don’t care where it comes from. We
Part 2 of Ted’s debate with WVON’s Matt McGill covered the problems facing the black community in Illinois and Chicago and what can be done to fix them. Matt said he had a great interest in Donald Trump, but that Trump and other Republican leaders never talked about a plan specifically for blacks. Ted argues that the message of “equity” preached by current leaders is destructive to the black community – that more handouts and government dependency only makes things worse.
Even the City Council members who voted for Lightfoot’s budget blasted the mayor for failing to make good on promises to use nearly $2 billion in federal relief funds to strengthen the city’s tattered social safety net. City officials 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.
If you get the idea these parts are heading “uptown” — upscale, in other words — you’d be right. Developers are meeting requirements for affordable housing, mostly by incorporating them into market-rate projects, but this is an expansion of the city for the rich. It’s what gets developers’ hearts thumping.
“Today was supposed to be the implementation of a new law,” Cook County Judge Mary C. Marubio told defendants and their supporters before presiding over felony bond court proceedings Sunday. “This sounds strange, but you’re going to see a couple hiccups today because we were prepared for implementation of this new act. … We are scrambling to make sure everything is all set.”
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