Day: October 17, 2023

Invoices show how millions of dollars flowed to Favorite Healthcare Staffing to staff migrant shelters – NBC5 (Chicago)

Favorite Healthcare Staffing billed for 84 hours of work per week for most of its employees and that those rates ranged from nearly $50 to $156 an hour for regular pay and from $75 to $234 an hour for overtime during the four-week period. As an example, Favorite charged Chicago taxpayers a median payrate of $24,000 for each security guard, for four weeks’ worth of work. That translates to an annual charge, for each security guard, of $312,000

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Cook County Forest Preserves $189 million budget marks ‘new era’ with referendum cash – Chicago Tribune/MSN

Last November, voters overwhelmingly authorized a 0.025% increase in the preserves’ property tax levy, raising an additional $40 million that officials said they would be spent on maintenance at facilities such as the Chicago Botanic Garden and Brookfield Zoo, land restoration and pension payments. The proposed budget also brings the total head count up to 721 from 633 two years ago.

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Nearly 205,000 Illinoisans lose Medicaid in post-COVID purge – Crain’s*

The process, commonly referred to as “redeterminations,” resumed earlier this year after the winding down of COVID-era policies .Of those that lost Medicaid in August, September and October, about 62,179, or 30%, lost coverage because they were no longer eligible for Medicaid based on income requirements. Meanwhile, an additional 142,642, or 69%, were disenrolled because they did not submit required paperwork showing need for the program. Of those that lost coverage, more than 86,000, or 42%, had another source of health care or liability coverage and about 14,300, or about 7%, had Medicare

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Letter from Ken Griffin: Stop attacking me and focus on Chicago’s real problems, Crain’s – Crain’s*

Citadel founder Ken Griffin“A recent Crain’s editorial, ‘A pass-the-popcorn moment for Chicagoans’ (Oct. 2), presents a misguided narrative on my concerns about the film ‘Dumb Money’ and the future of Chicago. Let’s start with the film. My team identified some glaring factual inaccuracies in a trailer promoting ‘Dumb Money’ and raised those with the studio. As I told CNBC a few weeks ago, I haven’t seen the film, but I look forward to watching it. I hope the studio produced a great movie and that it offers important lessons for

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Halfway built, the Obama Presidential Center is already a South Side landmark – Chicago Sun-Times

An aerial view - looking north - of the Barack Obama Presidential Center construction site at 6001 S. Stony Island Ave.When details of the project were made public six years ago, there was an estimate that the center could be completed by 2021. Federal reviews, which the initial planners did not fully take into account, took years to complete. Obama and former first lady Michelle were at the ceremonial groundbreaking in September 2021. Lori Healey, the foundation’s senior vice president overseeing the construction, says the target date for completion is now

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Editorial: Mr. Mayor, proposing new taxes is your job, not the work of some subcommittee – Chicago Tribune*

“In a session with journalists Friday to discuss his proposed budget, (Mayor Brandon) Johnson was asked repeatedly about the status of his many plans, from restoring mental health clinics to instituting a permanent guaranteed-income program for lower-income residents. The answer came back repeatedly: That’s the job of the subcommittee on revenue. This panel ‘will be essential to budgets to come,’ he said.”

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Chicago: Where violence and dismal education intersect – Wirepoints

There’s a good reason why Chicago Teachers Union President Stacy Davis-Gates is sending her son to a private school instead of the public one in her neighborhood. Roseland is one of the 20 worst communities in Chicago where violence and a dismal education intersect, creating a toxic environment for families.

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How states can avoid a COVID relief fiscal cliff – Route 50

Twelve states, including California, Illinois, Michigan, New York and Pennsylvania, used state and local relief funds to cover recurring costs that were equivalent to a significant 2.5% or more of their fiscal 2022 general fund expenditures. These 12 states, which are home to about 40% of America’s population and total state general fund spending, thus face a moderate to elevated risk of encountering fiscal cliffs if they don’t find money to replace the federal dollars used to shore up their budgets before those funds expire.

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After latest ‘street takeover’ on Lower Wacker, Ald. Ray Lopez says it’s time to hold parents responsible for their kids – Chicago Sun-Times

People watch as a car drifts in circles during a street takeover at West 119th and South Halsted streets on the Far South Side.The ordinance that Lopez introduced at Monday’s City Council meeting would make it a crime for any parent or legal guardian to “willfully and/or knowingly allow a minor in their charge to engage in a host of offenses wreaking havoc on the quality of life in Chicago neighborhoods.” Fines would range from $1,000 to $5,000, depending on the offense. All of the crimes would require offenders to

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As evictions tick back up in Cook County, new proposal aims to help renters who land in court – Chicago Tribune/MSN

Residential eviction filings stand at more than 18,000 through August 2023, with last year’s total filings — which include a small number of commercial evictions — reaching over 29,000, around the same number of filings as in 2019. Chicago’s Right to Counsel Pilot Program would become permanent in 2027 under an ordinance introduced to the City Council by Mayor Brandon Johnson and the Chicago Department of Housing.

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