“Potentially compounding Chicago’s pension woes is that Bally’s is facing financing issues of its own. The regional gaming company needs to come up with $800 million in financing to make the Chicago venue a reality, but its junk credit ratings make procuring that capital expensive and difficult.”

Cook County’s Medical Debt Relief Initiative used American Rescue Plan Act funds in this way, County Board President Toni Preckwinkle explained.

“Johnson — and he has reminded us of this fact — with his wife is raising three school-age children. No mayor can be expected to solve what appears to be an intractable problem: The prevalence of fatherless households in the black community. Nevertheless, ignoring this crisis certainly doesn’t create a path, however tenuous, to a solution. And as half of a parenting team, Johnson, a minister’s son, is an ideal spokesman to espouse the benefits of two-parent households.”

The Bronzeville Community Microgrid is a collaboration between the Illinois Institute of Technology, the Chicago Housing Authority and Commonwealth Edison. The CHA has committed to reducing carbon emissions by 50 percent by 2033. “We’re well on track, having reduced it just in one year by 5 percent,” CEO Tracey Scott said. “But also it has provided opportunities for new jobs.”

Ald. Raymond Lopez has a proposal to enhance penalties for those wearing masks committing crimes that would apply to both serious crime and minor infractions such as trespassing and blocking the public way. “Everyone wearing masks while taking over communities is what political extremists want to protect. Not you or your neighbors,” Lopez wrote on X.

“We’re telling people Union Park on August 19,” Hatem Aubdayyeh, national chair of the U.S. Palestinian Community Network, said. “If the city continues to make it difficult, if they deny those permits, if they continue to try to push us away from the United Center, then we are compelled to have to protest anyway.”

The feud between the iconic structures began in late June when The Bean, officially known as “Cloud Gate,” reopened to the public. In response to a tweet about that reopening, the Empire State Building’s social media team featured a clip of Wendy Williams saying “clap if you care” to a silent audience. The building took things a step further Wednesday when it said it was changing its banner image on X to a photo of The Bean, but instead posted a picture of a trash can.

Cook County has had a task force in the past to deal with dangerous funeral processions. Though former Cook County Commissioner Richard Boykin helped start the Cook County Funeral and Cemetery Violence Taskforce in March 2018, when he lost his re-election to Commissioner Brandon Johnson that November, the taskforce dissolved.