A knowledgeable source says the next tranche of refugee aid to be announced early in the week will include $19.3 million for Illinois, with just over half of the aid — $10.5 million — allocated for Chicago. Both surely wanted more; the Chicago City Council just appropriated more than $50 million to pay for food, shelter and other expenses through June. But it’s a lot better than the $8.5 million they had to split in the last award in May.
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.