-- Connecting the dots between our economy, government and business --
One year after the Chicago City Council approved what Mayor Lori Lightfoot calls the Chicago Recovery Plan, city officials have spent just $130.5 million of the $1.227 billion earmarked for a host of programs including affordable housing, mental health, violence prevention, youth job programs and help for unhoused Chicagoans. By comparison, the city spent nearly $1.1 billion in federal COVID-19 relief funds in 2021 and 2022 and will use another $152.4 million in 2023 to shore up the city’s pandemic-devastated budget.
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Audio and summary Why the Holdup Using Artificial Intelligence to Cut Illinois Government Costs? – Wirepoints
May 19, 2026
10 Comments
A largely unasked question is becoming glaring: Is Illinois doing all it should to use artificial intelligence to make government cost less and work better? So far, the evidence says no.
Note to readers from Mark Glennon re: Ukraine
May 6, 2026
4 Comments
Everybody needs a side hustle these days, and mine is Ukraine, where I am now.
Wirepoints’ Mark Glennon on AM560’s Morning Answer – Chicago’s struggling commercial real estate and more
April 22, 2026
5 Comments
Summary and audio linked here.
Oh No! Another grand plan from Lori goes nowhere! Maybe she has extra time since she doesn’t do anything about anything. Her standard response is to throw money at the community. She surrounds herself with people who can’t figure out how to open a door, but they got nice nails!
How short are we in the city of Chicago? It seems we have an expensive blueprint. Another news agency can’t articulate where we are but throws out a lot of numbers. Looks bad!
I thick for general public (me) the problem with fed covid relief spending by city or state is nobody has any confidence the gigantic sums are being spent as intended or aren’t simply going to gigantic salaries, gigantic ot, cronyism, fraud, etc? Or that all the gigantic sums go to anything tangible–$16.25 million to fight gender violence, what’s that? No new big physical projects are being built? No tangible evidence of progress? Just dish out the $ to nonprofits or city agencies for a lot of airie progressive platitudes about fighting vague notions of systemic inequalities bs with apparently ZERO… Read more »