Illinois has received $53.8 billion in federal COVID-related aid, according to the Federal Funds Information for States, an agency that tracks funding for state and local governments. That money has gone to the state government, local governments, universities, mass transit agencies and health care providers.

Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson said he’s hesitant to call this a “crisis” because he believes it would suggest “we’ve done something wrong.”

Police said they are significantly increasing their presence downtown and near Millennium Park. They will also have bag checks at the beaches and lakefront. Police captains and executive members will also be leading platoons after reports of possible leadership confusion last time.

Retiring 4th Ward Ald. Sophia King, whose ward includes the club, said, “This is an issue that needs a collaborative approach. … Accountability has to be spread across the country, state and city and with the migrants, as well as the countries they are fleeing from. We can’t all say, ‘Not in our backyards.’ But by the same token, we should be better prepared for this human crisis.”

Combined with the three original selections, the projects proposed for LaSalle Street now total nearly $1 billion in estimated project costs and would bring more than 1,600 total units to the corridor. More than 600 of the proposed units would qualify as affordable under the city’s criteria.

Chicago and other teachers unions have made it a high, if not the highest priority, is to eliminate any competition to the public schools. That means getting rid of all forms of schools that allow parents to send their children to schools of their choice. In order to escape failing public school systems.

Erica Bland-Durosinmi, Johnson’s transition adviser on intergovernmental affairs, said his election provided a “mandate” around three issues: “addressing mental health, addressing youth employment and addressing revenue with the city.” After a wave of retirements and progressive wins across the city, City Council observers believe Johnson walks into office on May 15 with somewhere between 18 to 22 aldermen in his camp, just shy of a 26-vote majority.

One parent said her child was bullied after speaking up about the classroom activity, which the school said is not part of its curriculum. That motherhas since taken her 13-year-old daughter out of Edgewood Middle School after she was allegedly bullied with racist insults.

Assessor Fritz Kaegi upped the Arlington Heights property tax, before construction, six times its initial rate. Its implications? An additional $15 million a year on the property tax.

While the pandemic may not have started the fiscal crisis transit agencies must navigate, it has severely exacerbated any pre-existing problems and accelerated the urgency with which governments must act before federal relief funds run out.

The volunteers have sent a letter to alderpeople demanding City Council “relieve us from the overwhelming work we have been doing in the absence of city, state and federal resources..(A)s each day passes and more people arrive, us volunteers are the ones feeling the strain — we are tired, we are running out of our own money, and we are incredibly worried about what’s to come unless we see major developments from our government now.”

There are about 3,000 intersections in Chicago with pedestrian crossing signals but only a couple dozen have alert systems for blind people. The judge said that’s a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

“I want to make sure that Black families who have been left out, and that the Brown families who want in, are not seen as a divided space,” Johnson said.

Former Chicago Bulls star center Joakim Noah has teamed up with 28 violence prevention groups for The One City Basketball League for young men ages 16 to 25 living on the city’s south and west sides. As teams prepare to take the court, the league is also offering financial incentives for players to go along with job opportunities, off-the-court programs and family services.

“While this may constitute an emergency for the city of Chicago it does not constitute an emergency for me and the 8th Ward,” said Ald. Michelle Harris.

Figures from Schaumburg, Hanover, Barrington, New Trier and Norwood Park townships make clear homeowners are in for higher property taxes while many commercial landlords will take less of a hit.

Chicago has just signed a contract valued at $1 billion to sell its water elsewhere — the first such deal in 40 years — and the city expects more to come. Illinois is also launching a federally-funded plan to expand its $17 billion “Blue Economy” to lure companies from water-intensive chip manufacturers to climate-tech startups.

Illinois Manufacturers’ Association President and CEO Mark Denzler said he’ll be looking to see whether Johnson lives up to those promises of unity, and thinks others are too. While companies make location decisions for many reasons, and the city’s educated workforce, airports, cultural offerings and access to water and shipping routes have long been draws, “they’re going to sit back and say OK, who is the mayor? What are their policies going to be? What are City Council’s policies going to be? That can make a difference, that may be the tipping point.”