IRMA's Featured Retailer
We Are Retail: M.D. Trains
M.D. Trains in downtown Woodstock is a full-service hobby shop owned by Matt Drennan, offering model trains, cars, and collectibles for hobbyists of all ages.
The store has become a welcoming community hub for those with a passion for railroading and model building. From vintage finds to modern supplies, M.D. Trains has it all for nostalgic and creative collectors.
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NOV 13, 2020
Cook County commissioners are poised on Tuesday to pass a $134 million budget for the county’s Forest Preserve District that manages to avoid layoffs, permanent closures or significant tax increases. But a longer-term crisis looms on the horizon if the county does not come up with more money soon for the network of public lands, district leaders say.
A jogger uses a trail in the Busse Woods, one of 22 Cook County Forest Preserves [Facebook/Forest Preserve District of Cook County] -
News in brief: Mah skeptical of GOP support for tax credits; Rezin, Ford call for COVID-19 legislative hearings; Illinois joins national cannabis regulators organizations
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NOV 12, 2020
Corporation Counsel Mark Flessner on Tuesday addressed aldermen during a hearing on the department’s budget.
A letter that Corporation Counsel Mark Flessner sent aldermen in September warning against demanding companies do more to meet the city’s minority hiring rules was back in the limelight Tuesday during the Department of Law budget hearing. -
NOV 12, 2020
It’s been three weeks since Mayor Lori Lightfoot introduced her 2021 budget proposal, and now aldermen say negotiations on funding and spending begin.
As the ordinance for Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s proposed 2021 budget will be presented next week, aldermen say now is when the grinding out of what will eventually become the city’s 2021 budget occurs. -
News in Brief: CFL pitches budget savings to prevent layoffs; Public health department introduces tiered risk level travel order map
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NOV 11, 2020
Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection Comm. Rosa Escareño speaks to aldermen during a budget hearing on Tuesday.
City licensing officials will keep up their efforts next year to keep businesses in line with rapidly-shifting COVID-19 restrictions despite a draw-down in funding from taxpayers and dwindling fine collections, officials said Tuesday. -
NOV 11, 2020
The Civilian Office of Police Accountability, including Chief Administrator Sydney Roberts answered budget questions on Tuesday.
Despite a drop early in the pandemic, the office that investigates police misconduct complaints is on track to receive about 5,500 complaints this year, in line what it saw in 2019, due to a "spike in complaints" over the summer "as a result of civil unrest," the office’s Chief Administrator Sydney Roberts told aldermen on Tuesday. -
NOV 10, 2020
Department of Family and Support Services Comm. Lisa Morrison Butler speaks to aldermen during a budget hearing on Monday.
The city’s Department of Family and Support Services plans early next year to launch a $4.7 million anti-violence initiative as a potential alternative to the city’s widely criticized Juvenile Intervention and Support Center (JISC), officials announced Monday. -
News in brief: Lightfoot congratulates Morita on Biden Coronavirus Task Force position; Brookins legal defense of former colleague triggers ethics review -
NOV 10, 2020
Chicago Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection Comm. Rosa Escareño speaks to aldermen during a committee hearing earlier this year.
The city’s response to COVID-19 and police misconduct are set to take center stage during the last scheduled day of departmental hearings on Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s proposed 2021 budget plan. -
NOV 10, 2020
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Mamadou Diakhate, acting executive director of the Commission on Animal Care and Control, addressed aldermen during a budget hearing on Monday.
Coyotes and other wildlife roaming Chicago neighborhoods proved a topic of concern among aldermen during a City Council hearing on the Commission on Animal Care and Control on Monday.
The city’s animal care and control department has responded to 2,001 calls for coyotes and 1,039 calls related to raccoons, possums and skunks, acting Executive Director Mamadou Diakhate told aldermen on Monday. -
NOV 09, 2020
Aldermen are scheduled during their penultimate day of budget hearings on Monday to grill leaders of the Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities as well as the city’s Commission on Animal Care and Control, Department of Administrative Hearings and Department of Family and Support Services.
Department of Family and Support Services Comm. Lisa Morrison Butler prepares to participate in the department’s annual Point-In-Time Homeless Count in January 2020. [Facebook] -
NOV 09, 2020
Cook County Clerk Karen Yarbrough addresses commissioners during a budget hearing on Friday
Cook County Clerk Karen Yarbrough on Friday promised a smooth takeover of the county’s Recorder of Deeds office and attempted to relieve scores of recorder’s office employees who fear they’ll be out of a job next month. -
NOV 09, 2020
Department of Streets and Sanitation Comm. John Tully, along with the department’s deputy commissioners, addressed aldermen on Friday.
City officials on Friday suggested implementing a city composting program as a potential solution to address the city’s paltry recycling rate, which continues to hover near 9 percent. -
Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart addressed commissioners during budget hearings on Thursday.
A plan to take a 4 percent bite out of Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart’s budget is “workable for this year only,” but the county’s largest law enforcement office will likely need to speed up hiring once the worst of the pandemic is over, Dart told county commissioners during a budget hearing on Thursday.
