“Public funding of healthcare coverage for the uninsured pays for itself in a panoply of benefits that reach well beyond the individuals who receive such assistance.” 

So says the “The Benefits of Health Coverage for Immigrants in Illinois” report conducted by the Great Cities Institute (CGI) at the University of Illinois Chicago, commissioned by the Healthy Illinois Campaign and released Friday at a symposium at the North Lawndale Employment Network offices. 

Lincoln Park may move a step closer to getting its first dispensary following a key committee vote this Tuesday. 

The City Council Committee on Zoning, Landmarks and Building Standards will consider the proposal during its 10 a.m. meeting in City Council chambers.

Fred Tsao of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights speaks during a Cook County Board of Commissioners Legislation and Intergovernmental Relations Committee hearing on Wednesday.

A decade-old firewall designed to prevent the U.S. Office of Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from getting ahold of Cook County data hasn’t stopped the federal agency from trying anyway, and county officials are straining to reinforce confidence that some data won’t slip through the cracks.

In Fiscal Year 2020, ICE issued more than 1,000 detainer requests to Cook County, which Cook County law enforcement agencies rejected due to the county’s sanctuary policies. The Cook County Board of Commissioners’ Legislation and Intergovernmental Relations Committee met for a hearing Wednesday to investigate whether ICE is bypassing the county’s sanctuary protections through the use of data brokers.

The tent city at Belmont Avenue and the Kennedy Expressway in November 2019. [Mina Bloom/Block Club Chicago]

Chicago leaders are seizing on tens of millions of dollars in federal cash to expand the city’s homeless shelter network, but they acknowledged the endeavor will still only reach a fraction of Chicago’s population experiencing homelessness.

The city’s Department of Family and Support Services Comm. Brandie Knazze detailed the expansion of the city’s shelter system through the conversion of hotels and motels during Monday’s meeting of the City Council’s Subcommittee on the Chicago Recovery Plan. The meeting was the fourth of six meetings being held by aldermen to check in on the city’s spending of Chicago’s federal stimulus dollars as a part of the Chicago Recovery Plan.

Chicago Park District leaders also used the meeting to describe how they are using federal funds to expand the system’s infrastructure, and cycling advocates seized on the meeting to demand safer streets.

Amber Ritter of the Chicago Department of Aviation shows plans for the demolition of a telecommunications building that will be replaced with a new passenger concourse.

A key step in the $8.5 billion O’Hare 21 airport expansion plan was passed through a City Council committee on Wednesday. 

The City Council Committee on Aviation convened virtually to take up an ordinance that would advance one part of the airport redevelopment initiative. The ordinance (O2022-1703), proposed by Mayor Lori Lightfoot, would grant a limited ground lease to AT&T so the company can replace the airport's copper wiring with fiber while gradually moving their office site out of the airport.