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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APR 24, 2020
Mayor Lori Lightfoot unveiled a Covid-19 Economic Recovery Task Force on Thursday comprising elected officials, CEOs, labor leaders and nonprofit chiefs.
The task force will advise the Lightfoot administration over the “the next several weeks” and will be led by Sam Skinner, a Republican and former Chief of Staff to President George H.W. Bush. Skinner has served as the “point person for numerous emergencies and crises”, including natural disasters and terrorist bombings, according to a press release from Lightfoot’s office accompanying the announcement. -
APR 23, 2020
The Chicago City Council passed just two items from its 119-page agenda for their virtual meeting Wednesday before Mayor Lori Lightfoot moved to delay the meeting in light of what she called a “shameful” and “selfish” backlash to an ordinance that would have concentrated her administration’s power to approve coronavirus-related expenses. -
APR 23, 2020
UNLOCKEDThe Cook County Board of Commissioners is set to take stock of the devastation that the coronavirus crisis has wreaked on the county’s finances when it reconvenes for the first time in more than a month on Thursday.
Board members are scheduled to accept a report (20-1114) on the first-quarter operations of the Cook County Health and Hospital system when they gather for a virtual meeting via Microsoft Teams at 10 a.m. Thursday. Commissioners are scheduled to get back together at 1 p.m. Thursday for a meeting of the Cook County Forest Preserve District board. -
APR 23, 2020
Up to 560 hotel rooms will be provided as a “safe harbor” for suburban healthcare professionals, first responders and correctional officers in an effort to protect their families from coronavirus, Cook County officials announced on Wednesday.
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APR 22, 2020
City buildings department officials are temporarily letting the developer behind the botched Little Village smokestack demolition get back to work. Event planners announced a wave of festival cancelations for May and June. And Mayor Lori Lightfoot rolled out $7.5 million in funding for community groups for “violence interruption” efforts.
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APR 22, 2020
Mayor Lori Lightfoot is set to introduce a $3 million grant program on Wednesday aimed at propping up owners of affordable housing properties as she continues to spar with the City Council over the best way to help both tenants and landlords who are struggling to hold onto their homes.
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APR 22, 2020
This story was originally published by ProPublica Illinois
Combative and, at times, dismissive, Chicago’s first-term mayor gathers power as she leads the city’s fight against the coronavirus.
No one questioned that Mayor Lori Lightfoot has been firmly in charge of Chicago’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. But during a briefing Lightfoot had with the city’s aldermen on March 30, she made it clear anyway. -
On Tuesday, the Chicago City Council's Committee on Budget and Government Operations approved a measure that could give Mayor Lori Lightfoot and her department heads unprecedented emergency powers to address the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
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APR 21, 2020
Acting Chicago Police Supt. David Brown pledged to surpass the requirements of a federal consent decree and vowed to stay politically neutral on city policymaking during a marathon virtual confirmation hearing Monday ahead of a full confirmation vote in front of City Council Wednesday.
Acting Chicago Police Supt. David Brown during a virtual meeting of the City Council's Committee on Public Safety on Monday. [screencapture via Zoom]
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APR 21, 2020
The City Council budget committee is likely to host a lively debate Tuesday when aldermen consider a proposal boosting Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s emergency spending powers. Lightfoot gave an update Monday on the work of the racial equity task force she launched earlier this month. And the Cook County Board of Commissioners laid out their own plans for virtual meetings.
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot during a press conference Monday. [Screencapture]
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APR 21, 2020
A group of aldermen are seeking to enact housing payment grace periods to help renters and homeowners struggling through the coronavirus outbreak.
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APR 20, 2020
Mayor Lori Lightfoot declared on Friday that the developer overseeing demolition of the Crawford coal plant is solely responsible for the dust cloud created by the implosion, but some aldermen believe the mayor deserves at least some of the blame. Meanwhile, the City Council is gearing up for its first full week of virtual meetings, starting with a committee meeting to advance the nomination of Chicago’s next police superintendent.
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APR 20, 2020
Cook County Clerk Karen Yarbrough must overhaul hiring protocols until an independent monitor is satisfied that political patronage has been totally purged from her office, a federal judge ruled Friday.
Cook County Clerk Karen Yarbrough and attorney Michael Shakman [Heather Cherone / The Daily Line; provided]
In one of his last court opinions before he retires at the end of April, U.S. Magistrate Judge Sidney Schenkier wrote that anti-patronage attorney Michael Shakman found evidence to “suggest the improper use of political considerations” in Yarbrough’s office, violating the terms of a 1972 consent decree and subsequent 1991 court order that stemmed from Shakman’s long-running lawsuit against Cook County government.
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APR 17, 2020
Frank Aguilar, community affairs & special projects director for the Town of Cicero, was selected to fill an open seat on the Cook County Board of Commissioners.
Democratic party officials this week tapped longtime Cicero political operative and former State Rep. Frank Aguilar (R-Cicero) to fill the Cook County Board of Commissioners seat formerly held by Comm. Jeffrey Tobolski (D-16), angering west-suburban progressives who will be represented by the former Republican until at least December 2022.
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APR 17, 2020
Retail tax collection at the city level will be delayed until June 1, allowing businesses to keep the tax revenue to stay afloat until then, Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced Thursday. Meanwhile, Cook County has launched an online portal to track the coronavirus pandemic’s disproportionate impact on vulnerable communities and the city’s Plan Commission and Zoning Board of Appeals have delayed meetings for a third time.
