Ald. Marty Quinn argued in response, “[In the 13^th Ward], we don’t have room for migrants…and for me it all comes down to the economics. We just can’t afford it. The mayor argued in his inauguration address that there’s enough [resources] to go around… I would politely argue that today, there is not.”

The group first rallied outside the Israeli Consulate along Madison Street before marching in full force to echo their message to Israel and the American public. Local law enforcement said, so far, there are no threats in the Chicago area.

“It wouldn’t make a difference if Abraham Lincoln came back from the dead and became mayor of Chicago. He couldn’t erase the union contracts that would prevent him from reforming much of what ails Chicago schools.”

“My bigger concern is the fact that we have an alt-right movement not just here but around the globe…. This is about elevating the consciousness of the entire globe….”

At the request of the office building trade group BOMA/Chicago, Hopkins has filed three resolutions calling for Chicago voters to consider different measures: one resolution calls on the state to direct funds to combat homelessness; another decreases the real estate transfer tax for sales under $500,000 and increase it for deals over that amount; and a third proposes fighting homelessness with “small increases distributed across a broad mix of funding sources, to lessen the impact on the economy and real estate value.”

“You all are doing something that is transformational because this fight is about unraveling a system of inequities,” Johnson said. “This is about unraveling a system of disparities. This is about unraveling a system that wants to pit workers against workers.”

Witnesses said a large group was fighting on the street and in a nearby parking lot before the shooting began. Officers reported shell casings along a full block of Erie Street, from Franklin all the way to Orleans. The victims are the 15th through 22nd people shot in River North this year.

Several residents of suburban Riverside have reported seeing a male suspect giving out letters claiming to be from Governor J.B. Pritzker. The fake letter tells the property owner that their home has been selected to be taken over by the government as a part of the 2023 Homeless Housing Directive.

The total unfunded liabilities of the four funds increased to nearly $34.0 billion in FY2022 from $33.3 billion in FY2021, or by 2.1%.

During the pandemic in 2021, the federal government under the Biden administration’s American Rescue Plan Act gave states $24 billion in child care stabilization grants; Illinois received $796.3 million in funding. This year, the General Assembly approved a $250 million increase for early childhood education in the 2024 budget.

“The legislation purports to help tipped workers, but it’s not, because it’s putting the restaurants they work at at risk,” said Michelle Durpetti, managing partner of Gene & Georgetti. Durpetti estimated that paying the full minimum wage could cost the steakhouse upward of $250,000 a year, and said everything is on the table: raising menu prices, implementing a service fee and even closing.

Statewide casino revenue was up $7.7 million for September with $132.1 million in adjusted gross receipts.

Chicago residents have expressed fury at the city’s government for offering shelter to a massive influx of asylum seekers, as a youth football team is set to be kicked off their home field to make room for a migrant camp.

“I liquidated every piece of real estate in the state,” Duffy said in an interview this week. “I have leases where I am in an advantageous position, because now I can renegotiate. They’re all coming due. We like Chicago. There’s no reason for us to want to leave. But at the same time, if the atmosphere gets to the point where it’s intolerable, we have no choice.”

To Chicagoans, “the Loop” denotes the downtown section circled by elevated train tracks. Now the city is caught in the vortex of a “doom loop.”

“Public Affairs” features show host Jeff Berkowitz interviewing P Rea, a WVON AM Radio hostess, literacy consultant, and a Black conservative emerging GOP Leader. The discussion centers on what has been and is largely causing the major problems (1) of decades long CPS and public education failures around IL and (2) soaring crimes in Chicago and Cook County, off and on, for decades.