One year after the Chicago City Council approved what Lightfoot calls the Chicago Recovery Plan, city officials have spent just $130.5 million of the $1.227 billion earmarked for a host of programs including affordable housing, mental health, violence prevention, youth job programs and help for unhoused Chicagoans, according to data released as part of the mayor’s 2023 budget proposal.

Two Chicago high-rises hit the market, leaving more than 700 downtown apartments up for sale. And a loan tied to a distressed hotel in River North sells at a steep discount.

A building explosion on Sept. 20 left one person dead and several injured in the Austin community on Chicago’s West Side. With help from neighbors, residents are slowly starting to rebuild. 

Starbucks is shutting down one of the first Chicago locations where workers unionized – just days before the company was set to begin negotiations on a contract.

The cost-of living adjustment — the largest in more than 40 years — means the average recipient will receive more than $140 extra a month beginning in January, the Social Security Administration said Thursday.

Some members of Chicago’s tech and business communities say Google’s expansion into the Thompson Center shows the city’s potential to grow into a bigger tech hub.

United said Wednesday that it will resume seasonal flights from Newark, New Jersey, to Stockholm, which it dropped in 2019, and launch new summer service from Newark to Malaga, Spain.

Employees at Amazon’s MDW2 warehouse in Joliet walked off the job Tuesday afternoon, saying the company has not provided a safe work environment or adequate pay.

The Community Development Commission sent the proposal to the Chicago Plan Commission, which is scheduled to consider the issue at its meeting scheduled for Oct. 20.

A vote on a measure that would strip members of the Chicago City Council of their authority to ban commercial property owners from hiring a firms to patrol their parking lots and swiftly immobilize cars that are parked there illegally was delayed. A familiar lobbyist and campaign cash factor into the debate. 

Friday’s government report showed that hiring fell from 315,000 in August to the weakest monthly gain since April 2021. The unemployment rate fell from 3.7% to 3.5%, matching a half-century low.

The community’s 53rd Street is home to many locally-owned shops, nightlife spots and restaurants. There’s been some turnover during COVID, but a lot of the small businesses have hung on — even though they’re still facing challenges. 

It’s the sixth year in a row the city has landed in the top spot. More than 240,000 Condé Nast Traveler readers from all over the country ranked Chicago as their favorite city to visit.

Lack of rainfall in recent weeks has left the Mississippi River approaching record low levels in some areas from Missouri south through Louisiana. The U.S. Coast Guard said at least eight “groundings” of barges have been reported in the past week, despite low-water restrictions on barge loads.

There are more than 500 employment laws, policies and sanctions that prevent people with criminal records from accessing employment in Illinois. While those barriers exist in many industries, some employers focus specifically on hiring people who are re-entering society after prison.

The number of available jobs in the U.S. plummeted in August compared with July as businesses grow less desperate for workers, a trend that could cool chronically high inflation.