The land bank has been mired in controversy since June 2019, when the FBI raided the offices of then-Ald. Carrie Austin; her chief of staff Chester Wilson owed more than $200,000 in property taxes and interest on a building he donated to the land bank, which wiped out the tax, then sold it to Wilson’s former partner for $40,000. It was later reported that the land bank had sold two vacant lots to a drug dealer who was under federal indictment and rejected higher bidders when it sold an Oak Lawn home to the assistant of the land bank’s then-executive

City officials Thursday could not offer specifics on how they organize families or groups as they move them from police stations to shelters, or what they do to bring people back together who may have been separated in the process, underscoring how rapidly the plan is unfolding.

“If teaching were baseball, I would have been sent back to the minors after my first year at Chicago Vocational High School…For my sophomore class in 1985, I thought S.E. Hinton’s novel “The Outsiders” might improve attitudes toward learning. Other than being white, Hinton’s characters mirrored my students in age, in economic levels, and in problems with gangs, peer pressure, dysfunctional families and self-image.”

Elaine Pierce, who receives no government money, says the migrants get food from a local pantry, and neighbors and friends pitch in. “They’ve been just as much a gift to me as I am to them,” Pierce said. “I get hugged and kissed six times a day, and the kids call me abuela…I can’t give away money and have some huge foundation or discover some Nobel-winning prize for a cure for some illness. But I can do one tiny little thing, and that’s okay.”

The biggest expense: $93 million paid to the company named Favorite Healthcare Staffing. That’s 68% percent of the total money spent.

In October, approximately 2,000 migrants relocated to two buildings, one located at 344 North Ogden and the other at 1640 West Walnut Street. Citing the Kinzie Industrial Corridor Planned Manufacturing District established in 1998, the Fulton Market Association asserts that these buildings are not zoned for residential purposes.

There are currently more than 13,000 migrants staying in Chicago’s shelter system and the city has spent more than $250 million handing the crisis this year. It’s not much when compared to the $4 billion spent by New York City’s government. The mayors of Chicago, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles and New York have been pressing for more federal aid to deal with the surge in asylum seekers.

A LaSalle Street office landlord seeking taxpayer help converting part of its building into apartments has taken a step toward doing it without city subsidies or affordable units, a sign of impatience with the city’s LaSalle Street Reimagined initiative while Mayor Brandon Johnson waffles over his support for the program. A joint venture of Corebridge Financial and Chicago developer Golub is seeking permission to convert part of the office building at 30 N. LaSalle St. into 349 apartments, according to a zoning application introduced

The six-story brick building and its adjoining one-story wood-paneled building look like many other properties in Pilsen’s industrial corridor: rundown, with some windows boarded up and the facade haphazardly painted to cover graffiti. More than 2,300 recently-arrived migrants now call it home. In recent weeks, migrants described outbreaks of various illnesses, including chickenpox, the flu, and upper respiratory infections, spreading without sufficient medical attention. “All my kids had eye infections because the ceiling is shedding fibers,” one resident said.

“We’ve been reactive to crime for so long,” said Garien Gatewood, the deputy mayor of community safety. “And this is why we have over 4 million people in the state of Illinois with arrest records. If we continue to be reactive, we’ll continue to be in the same cycle.”

In a Poynter op-ed from September calling on antitrust regulators to investigate hedge funds and private equity firms that own newspapers, Rebuild Local News president Steven Waldman wrote: “Half of the daily newspaper circulation in America is now owned by hedge funds or private equity firms. Studies (and our own eyes) have shown that when financial firms like Alden buy local newspapers they cut local reporting staffs far more than family papers or nonprofits do.”

Chicago has 11 selective-enrollment high school. The schools are not just the best in Chicago – but rank among the top high schools in the entire country.

Asked about his union giving money to a politician whose decisions can affect its members, a spokesman for Local 73 – representing more than 1,000 Chicago city janitors, window-washers and aviation security officers, as well as 10,000 CPS employees and 2,000 Chicago Park District employees – said, “The law allows it, so it’s appropriate.” Altogether, more than 80% of the $13.6 million that the mayor’s