The number of opioid deaths in Cook County last year is likely to set a new record, possibly reaching over 2,000 once all autopsy tests have been completed. State Rep. La Shawn Ford is among a growing number of elected officials calling for the opioid crisis to be treated as a health issue, rather than a criminal justice issue.

Griffin started a nonprofit organization in 2017 called No Matter What. He and other officers invest in the youth who have experienced trauma with mental health healing, job readiness training and mentorship. After Whole Foods closed its doors near 63rd and Halsted, Griffin gathered the kids in the neighborhood and built a community garden.

Robert “Wes” Wheeler Jr., a 22-year FBI veteran with a background in counterterrorism, is the latest in a string of relatively short-term leaders of the Chicago FBI, which is the bureau’s fourth-largest field office responsible for criminal investigations ranging from international and domestic terrorism to public corruption, gang racketeering, bank robberies and white collar crime.

“Among Jews, Aliyah usually refers to moving to Israel and taking up citizenship in the Holy land. For secular Chicago Jews fed up with crime and taxes — and what often goes unstated: A significant decline in the quality of city life — Florida is now serving as an Aliyah closer to home, just as it is for Ken Griffin and others who have bid adieu already to the Windy City, regardless of their religious or cultural affiliations.”

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said the city was prosperous in 2022 as her challengers in this year’s mayoral election are laying out plans for fighting crime in the city. The primary election will be held on Feb. 28.

Like dozens of other mail carriers, the postal worker robbed Friday in Logan Square was targeted for her “arrow key,” a US Postal Service universal master key that opens collection boxes, parcel lockers, mailbox panels, and apartment building mailroom boxes.

Marco Trusewych is questioning whether he wants to hold on to his Logan Square property, a home that’s been in his family since 1959. The bill for the Diversey Avenue greystone went from a little more than $9,500 in 2020 to about $14,000. “I was hoping it would be my retirement fund,” Trusewych said of the home. “But I don’t know; maybe it’s my relocation fund.”

The program comes at the same time as the state is selling the Thompson Center to Google — a move that’s sparked interest in developers who expect more people to move Downtown to work for the tech giant. The program’s goal is to add more than 1,000 residential units to the area by offering developers tax-increment financing dollars and other incentives to repurpose historical buildings along LaSalle Street. The aim is to make 300 of the units affordable.

Kimberly Walz, a candidate for alderperson: “The burden put on Chicagoans through high property taxes and subsequently higher rents is making those dreams unobtainable. Our small businesses used to be where our immigrant communities could flourish, where talents could be explored and where families could create generational wealth while creating a diverse landscape of entrepreneurs that make our community so special.”

Chicago government-worker pensions are massively under-funded. So in typical Chicago-land fashion, the City Council is betting on casino revenue to plug the pension gap. Do taxpayers and workers feel lucky? If Chicago’s casino and pension bet fails, Illinois Democrats may next look to U.S. taxpayers to bail them out.

The planned extension of the Red Line south to 130th Street has the potential to help transform the area and the day-to-day lives of residents who commute to jobs or school, they say. But more than 300 properties stand to be affected through full or partial acquisitions or easements, CTA is still looking for the remaining funding for the project, and nd it will be years before trains could be up and running.