“On an average weekday, trains have only about 40% of the riders who were there as recently as 2020. That’s a staggering drop-off, and if Metra were a private business, it would be precipitating drastic and immediate change…But Metra’s latest strategic plan, as put together by agency staffers, is far more inspiring and is at least beginning to address the huge change in how this region now is willing to use public transportation. In the document, which is

In an open letter, the Bears said finalizing the purchase of the Arlington Heights property does not mean for sure that a new Bears stadium will be built there – but it is “an important next step in our ongoing evaluation of the opportunity.”

The report — which was finalized in 2021 but long kept secret by Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration — blames three city officials who were involved over poor planning for the implosion of the nearly 400-feet-tall chimney at the old Crawford coal-fired power plant. Only one of the city officials has been reprimanded; Another has since been promoted.

More than 5,000 people previously convicted of certain violent crimes, gun crimes and sex crimes have been arrested for failure to register since 2017; A disproportionate number of those arrests, 98 percent, are people of color. But they were routinely turned away from the registry by the city because of police staffing shortages.

City approvals for marquee apartment projects have been smaller and less frequent since the City Council passed Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s 2021 revamp of the city’s Affordable Requirements Ordinance; Some builders point to the trend as vindication for their opposition to the ordinance. But the main architect of Lightfoot’s policy revamp points to other data showing that the Affordable Requirements Ordinance is just starting to produce consistent results after being stuck in neutral

Sen. Sara Feigenholtz and Rep. La Shawn Ford are pushing forward partner bills that would legalize a pilot site in a Chicago neighborhood hit hard by the opioid crisis. But Dr. Allison Arwady skirted questions about a safe consumption site, saying the measure was “controversial.” Local officials are “lukewarm” given potential legal challenges, Arwady said in November.

During a pair of court hearings this weekend, prosecutors said a Chicago man killed two people in about five hours at Christmastime, but they only charged him with one of the crimes. His girlfriend, who’s not accused of personally killing anyone, is charged with the other. Officials did not explain their seemingly unusual charging decision.

While the city responds quickly to certain requests, such as graffiti removal, other calls linger for weeks, months or even years, records show. The city fielded more than 2,300 calls last year to service or locate a property’s water valve. On average, it took the city more than a month to “fulfill” that request.

They are pushing a referendum on the February ballot in the city’s election asking voters whether Mayor Lori Lightfoot and the incoming alderman should support an ordinance to “prevent the displacement of renters, condo & home owners in South Shore in light of the impact of the Obama Center and growing development in the area”. Some residents are conflicted: they support it because of

“As you look across the country, there’s no other place that’s been able to secure as much funding as we have for the energy and equity project,” says Skyler Larrimore, chief of policy at the City of Chicago. “We’re drawing down benefits to residents who are at the front lines of the climate crisis to have access to good quality jobs in the clean energy sector and be able to lower their own bills at home.”