Saying the U.S. Supreme Court will decide soon if the lawsuit is even allowed, a group of oil and gas companies have asked a Cook County judge to bottle up, for now, the city of Chicago’s lawsuit seeking a potentially massive payout from the energy companies for allegedly “deceiving” people and businesses into using oil and gas to heat and power their homes, cars, factories and other necessities of modern life.

Right now, they grow everything inside a 500-square-foot space in trays with a hydroponic system for drip watering that recirculates. There’s no actual soil. It’s a cotton-like material. And LED lights are a fine substitute for sunlight inside a 137-year-old building.

Cook County Circuit Court Clerk Mariyana Spyropoulos is leading an effort to pass a law in Springfield that would create a statewide, optional, county-level will depository. It also would maintain the ability to deposit a will without hiring an attorney, which can cost hundreds of dollars.

“Selective enrollment high schools in Chicago produce better results, at a lower cost, than the system as a whole. Far from being damaging to academically gifted black, Hispanic, and low-income students, these educational institutions act as a lifeline for them.”

The announcement comes after relieving a total of $1.5 billion for people in Cook County. “There’s no application, no paperwork and no tax consequences,” Cook County Board President Tony Preckwinkle said. “Residents simply receive a letter in the mail informing them that their debt has been canceled.”

In the 2024 lawsuit, attorneys for the families asserted the court needed to step in to ensure the verdict was paid “amid a complete breakdown of the Village of Dolton’s accounting internal controls, and checks and balances,” leading to governmental insolvency in the village.

Sedrick Griffin, 31, was arrested on Christmas Eve 2024 and charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm, a charge he pleaded guilty to Nov. 5. His prior convictions include possessing a stolen motor vehicle and aggravated battery of peace officers.

Inspector General Deborah Witzburg, who is set to leave office next month after serving just one term in office, said her office obtained the records by submitting an “anonymous” Freedom of Information Act request for the records at the center of the dispute. Witzburg has now raised questions several times about whether the leadership of the Department of Law has attempted to shield high-ranking officials from public scrutiny.

In July 2021, a Cook County judge dismissed the criminal charges against Michael Williams, then 66, at the request of the Cook County state’s attorney, who said prosecutors did not have enough evidence to proceed. Williams sued the city in July 2022 and asked a federal judge to ban Chicago from using SoundThinking’s ShotSpotter system.

“If the state is willing to support infrastructure spending elsewhere, either through direct or indirect subsidy to facilitate a new sports stadium, then the state should be willing to support infrastructure spending in and around the Museum Campus for a similar development,” Chicago interim Chief Financial Officer Steven Mahr was quoted.

The borrowing for firefighter back pay and police misconduct settlements was “sold as a five-year deal,” not a ten-year deal with a backloaded debt structure, said one analyst. “Spreading it out over ten years makes it feel like we are now committing the cardinal sin of debt financing an operational need,” he said, noting that at five years, it didn’t necessarily feel that way.

It was reported last week that Mayor Brandon Johnson is structuring the city’s debt with a $500 million deal to cover back pay owed to firefighters and anticipated lawsuit costs.

A sharp cut in projected water use – from an initial 5 million to 6 million gallons of water per day to now 20 million gallons per year – comes as welcome news for