News in brief: Energy bills headed to House floor; Pritzker announces funding for park renovation projects 

COVID-19 outbreaks subside at veterans’ homes as investigations continue 

No staff or residents are currently positive for COVID-19 at any state-run veterans’ facilities, officials told lawmakers Tuesday. 

Meeting for the first time since former Illinois Department of Veterans’ Affairs director Linda Chapa LaVia resigned, the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee convened for an update on the aftermath of the deadly COVID-19 outbreak that hit the LaSalle Veterans’ Home last year.  

O’Hare, Midway in line for $87M in federal grants set for appropriation Wednesday 

Aldermen are set Wednesday to consider designating more than $100 million in new and carried-over federal COVID-19 grants to the city’s airports and to three city departments.  

The City Council Committee on Budget and Government Operations is scheduled to consider the appropriations (O2021-747) ordinance during its meeting scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. 

County must step up efforts to vaccinate nonwhite suburbanites: commissioners 

Cook County health officials vowed on Tuesday to expand access to COVID-19 vaccinations among Black and Latino suburbanites amid prodding from commissioners who said those efforts have so far fallen short. 

About 21 percent of residents in the county’s north and northwest suburbs have received at least one dose of the vaccine, according to data presented Tuesday by leaders of the Cook County Department of Public Health. But just 13.7 percent and 16.2 percent of residents have respectively been vaccinated in the county’s more diverse south and west suburbs. 

Tax incentive to rehab Bridgeport warehouse gets OK; home business ordinance stalls 

Aldermen on Tuesday gave their OK to a class 6(b) tax incentive that would help a developer rehab an “industrial loft building” in the 11th Ward and lease it out to 11 other small businesses.  

The application for the tax incentive (O2021-752) comes from Delaware-based Tara Management Co., who plans to lease the building at 1100 W. 37th St. to Bubbly Dynamics, operator of The Plant business incubator in Back of the Yards, who in turn would sublease out the rehabbed space to 11 small businesses, John Edel, president of Bubbly Dynamics, told aldermen Tuesday. 

Land trust renewal ordinance breaks through following gush of support from nonprofits 

A measure designed to stretch the life of a city-backed affordable homeownership program secured a near-unanimous endorsement from a City Council Committee on Tuesday after a chorus of nonprofit housing advocates voiced their support. 

The ordinance (O2021-446), introduced in January by Mayor Lori Lightfoot on behalf of the Chicago Department of Housing, would restart the clock on city-imposed 30-year affordable housing covenants every time each home changes hands. It only applies to for-sale homes administered through the Chicago Community Land Trust, a city-backed nonprofit designed to forge a path to homeownership for low- and middle-income residents. 

News in brief: National Guard return to Illinois; Mendoza offers relief for low, moderate income taxpayers

Phase 4½? Pritzker set to release plan to relax COVID-19 mitigations, Ezike says 

Gov. JB Pritzker is set later this week to announce a plan would allow Illinois to further relax COVID-19 mitigations, according to his top health official. 

Illinois Department of Public Health Director Ngozi Ezike told members of the Senate Health Committee on Monday that the state was “getting close” to moving from the current Phase 4, which limits gatherings to 50 people or less, to Phase 5. 

News in brief: Cook County launches ‘My Shot’ vaccine campaign; Chicago Department of Housing releases Racial Equity Impact Assessment; Mendoza announces tax relief 

Affordable homeownership renewal ordinance set for reconsideration Tuesday 

Aldermen are scheduled Tuesday to take a second pass at a measure designed to stretch the longevity of a city-backed affordable homeownership program.  

The ordinance (O2021-446), introduced in January by Mayor Lori Lightfoot on behalf of the Chicago Department of Housing, would restart the clock on city-imposed 30-year affordable housing covenants every time each home changes hands. It only applies to for-sale homes administered through the Chicago Community Land Trust, a city-backed nonprofit designed to forge a path to homeownership for low- and middle-income residents. 

Aldermen to consider loosening restrictions on home businesses 

Aldermen are scheduled Tuesday take up a proposed ordinance that would make it easier for solo entrepreneurs to run their businesses out of their homes.  

The City Council Committee on Economic, Capital and Technology Development will consider the ordinance (O2021-332) proposed by Ald. Gilbert Villegas (36), who chairs the committee. The committee will also consider approving new property tax incentives for two businesses.  

Industrial zoning ordinance passes committee after fresh concessions to industry 

Aldermen on Monday overwhelmingly advanced a proposal by Mayor Lori Lightfoot to tie more regulations around new industrial development, breaking a five-month stalemate following multiple revisions aimed at softening the measure’s impact on developers. 

Aldermen passed the “Industrial Air Quality and Zoning” ordinance (O2020-4590) out of the City Council’s Committee on Zoning, Landmarks and Building Standards in a 14-4 vote, with opposition from Ald. Anthony Beale (9), Ald. Michael Rodriguez (22), Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez (25) and Ald. Maria Hadden (49).  

News in brief: Pritzker signs hospital transformation bill; Pritzker amendable to Biden’s May COVID-19 vaccine goal 

Legislative redistricting process set to kick off this week as committees take shape 

After months of little public action on redistricting, Illinois lawmakers are set this week to begin the months-long process of drawing new legislative and congressional boundaries. 

Starting Wednesday, lawmakers will begin holding redistricting-related meetings, with a looming June 30 deadline set by the state Constitution. Unlike in previous remapping efforts, this year’s process is complicated by the delayed release of data from the U.S. Census Bureau.  

Lightfoot’s revised ‘clean air’ ordinance resurfaces for committee consideration Monday 

Changes to Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s long-stalled “clean air” ordinance mean certain industrial developments would be required to go through tougher reviews by the city’s transportation and public health departments instead having to go before the Zoning Board of Appeals or the Chicago Plan Commission.  

The substitute ordinance allows shipping and logistics warehouses to open by right instead of requiring a special-use permit, as a previous draft of the ordinance laid out. 

Cook County in line for nearly $1B in federal stimulus, putting Preckwinkle’s equity goals to the test 

The federal government is about to rain $998 million in direct aid on Cook County, facing county leaders with immense questions about the region’s priorities as they look to unwind the county’s mammoth criminal justice infrastructure and build an economic recovery centered on racial equity. 

The staggering aid package is more than double what the county received in federal aid last year and represents almost 15 percent of the entire budget county leaders allotted for 2021. It stands apart from about $1.8 billion coming to the city of Chicago and $7.5 billion headed to Springfield, plus billions more headed to Chicago-area schools and public health agencies. 

News in brief: Pritzker announces latest round of transportation grants; rural hospitals added to COVID-19 vaccine pilot program; food insecurity plan released 

Legislative investigations will halt if funding runs out, watchdog warns 

The Illinois office of the Legislative Inspector General would have to stop all its ongoing investigations if the agency were to use its entire budget. 

That’s what Legislative Inspector General Carol Pope told members of the House Appropriations General Services Committee on Thursday.  

News in brief: Preckwinkle announces $72.8M rent relief program; Lightfoot proposes tougher rules for scofflaw building owners 

Chicago, Evanston aldermen press reparations subcommittee to begin work immediately 

Aldermen and other advocates urged members of the City Council Committee on Health and Human Relations Subcommittee on Reparations not to delay work on implementing reparations initiatives in Chicago. 

The subcommittee, tasked with exploring reparations for Black residents, held its inaugural meeting on Thursday after a previously scheduled February meeting was canceled.