The city has permits to replace just over 2,000 lead service lines this year. Only hundreds of thousands left to dig. “We have the world’s best water, and many, many households are drinking it through a toxic straw,” Ald. Gilbert Villegas said.

West Side Ald. Monique Scott said it’s “mind-boggling” that the city has already shelled out $28 million to lease space across the street from City Hall for six city departments.

Mayor Brandon Johnson said “discovering toxicity [at the site] wasn’t a surprise,” but said “the contract that the state of Illinois went into with Gardaworld, as they continued to build out on this site, there was no indication throughout this entire process, that a standard or a different methodology was preferable by the state of Illinois.” Johnson acknowledged alternate locations are being explored, but did not specify which could be a likely backup.

The fund and its trustees decided to invest in private credit following results of a study spurred by changing expectations for returns from higher interest rates and inflation, Fernando Vinzons, chief investment officer for the Chicago Teachers’ Pension Fund, said in an emailed statement Monday. The future allocation, with no exact deadline, of $300 million to $350 million will represent about 3% of the fund’s assets.

With 50% more car thefts this year compared to 2012, what’s happened to the arrest rate? It’s fallen to the lowest level in the past 11 years: 2.5% so far this year compared to 5.3% in 2012.

213 W. Institute Place, a vintage seven-story loft office building in River North just sold for 61% less than was paid for the building in 2017. It’s another data point illustrating the decimated value of office buildings as companies shedding office space have driven up vacancy and as higher borrowing costs have whittled the pool of prospective buyers. Many office properties in the heart of the city are now worth less than the mortgages tied to them, fueling a historic wave of distress.

Mark Tebbe, who has led WBC’s efforts to attract and retain startup and technology companies since 2014, plans to step down as chair of its innovation and technology council by mid-May. “I don’t see the focus on the business community that I have seen with other mayors,” said Tebbe, who has worked for three Chicago mayors during his tenure at World Business Chicago in an unpaid role. “The behind-the-scenes work to make (economic development) happen just hasn’t been demonstrated.”

In the absence of a coherent city plan, volunteers helped migrants find work or enroll their kids in schools around the police station they were placed in. It’s a challenge to be told with one day’s notice they could be moved to a completely different side of the city, said Groth Searle said, of the neighborhood group Southwest Collective. Even though the conditions at the police stations are egregious, “it is some stability.”

Gov. JB Pritzker said in a prepared release, “We will not proceed with housing families on a site where serious environmental concerns are still present.” The release explain, “Given the significant time required to conduct additional sampling, to process and analyze results, and to implement corresponding further remediation, the state will work with

Moog had served as CEO since 2020, overseeing the merger of the Chicago Sun-Times and WBEZ, creating the largest local nonprofit news organization in the country. His departure came as unions representing WBEZ and the Sun-Times disclosed to their membership “hostile work environment” allegations against what leaders in one of the labor groups characterized as a “Chicago Public Media executive.”

“What we witnessed was millions of dollars going to nonprofits to manage a crisis that a Democratic mayor invited to Chicago. We saw migrant families sleeping on the streets, locals infuriated with the situation, and a crisis in the brewing.”

In order for a third referendum to be added to the March primary ballot, City Council would need to approve the move before the end of the year. A handful of Chicago City Council members want voters to weigh in on whether Chicago should stay a sanctuary city for undocumented immigrants. Mayor Brandon Johnson’s allies have their own proposed referendum that would ask voters if the city should have spending limits on migrants.

The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency “still has questions regarding the study,” said Jordan Adudayyeh, a spokeswoman for Gov. JB Pritzker. Pritzker is committing $65 million for the shelter and directing the contractor on the site.

Demolishing the record set in each of the past three years, $1.3 billion poured into the city’s 127 TIF funds in 2022, according to the annual report from the clerk’s office. That accounts for approximately 41% of the nearly $3.15 billion in property tax revenue banked by city officials. The burst of additional TIF revenue allowed Mayor Brandon Johnson to declare $433.8 million in TIF funds to be in surplus — returning $100 million to the city with the rest headed to Chicago Public Schools and other taxing districts.

A new study from the University of Chicago’s To&Through Project showed just 30% of Chicago Public Sschools graduates at bachelor’s-granting universities received their degrees in four years. The six-year graduation rate was over 20 percentage points higher at 51%. Although both those rates have increased in the past decade, even as the number of college enrollees from CPS doubled, that’s significantly less than the national four- and six-year graduation rates (47% and 64%, respectively), the study says.

And even among Black women, girls under 18 are hardest hit. Our investigation revealed for every white girl battered in 2022, fourteen Black girls were attacked and injured. “Even as the top prosecutor, it was jarring to me to see the disparity,” the Cook County state’s attorney said. “Again, personal narrative aside, we have a real problem here. It’s not just in crime. We have a fundamental issue with valuing Black women across all measures.”

Police officer retention has been a big concern in recent years, with retirements outpacing the city’s ability to hire and train new recruits and staffing levels falling far below ideal numbers. Now, the union representing the rank and file is renewing a two-year-old push to extend the retirement age from 63 to 65.