Starting April 1, state-regulated electric, natural gas and utilities may begin to disconnect customers who haven’t paid their bills, according to Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul, who urged customers to contact their providers if they’re facing financial hardship.

Progressive groups launched a campaign Thursday to ratchet up the pressure on Mayor Lori Lightfoot and the Chicago City Council to spend the city’s $1.9 billion share of the latest federal COVID-19 relief package on direct aid to Chicagoans struggling amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Illinois may have as much as a quarter of all lead service pipes in the country, according to U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth, who is leading the push for a bipartisan infrastructure bill to rebuild the nation’s water systems. We discuss what else is being done to address the issue.

Metered parking is already in place at lakefront destinations like Rainbow Beach, North Avenue Beach, 31st Street Beach, 63rd Street Beach and Foster Avenue Beach. Now it’s coming to Montrose Harbor — and some residents aren’t happy about it.

“These conversations are a slap in the face to people that have suffered great atrocities over time in this country," said Ald. Jason Ervin, the chairman of the City Council Black Caucus.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot said the revised ordinance was “better” than her administration originally proposed and will “put our city on the right track to full ensuring that our residents have clean air, no matter what ZIP code in which they reside.” 

The series of changes proposed by Mayor Lori Lightfoot to the way the Chicago Police Department serves search warrants does not go far enough to prevent mistaken raids, Attorney General Kwame Raoul announced Wednesday. “These ‘wrong raids’ have traumatized innocent people, including children,” he said.

After the White House said it would add an Asian American Pacific Islander liaison to its staff, Sen. Tammy Duckworth’s spokesperson said the senator would not stand in the way of “qualified nominees — which will include more AAPI leaders.” 

Approximately 84% of all Chicagoans will be eligible to get the vaccine starting Monday, according to rules set by Mayor Lori Lightfoot.

The plan is designed to give developers incentives to build in parts of the city where there is little affordable housing or where longtime residents are vulnerable to displacement, officials said.

Two Democratic senators lashed out Tuesday at the lack of Asian American and Pacific Islander representation in President Joe Biden’s Cabinet and even vowed not to support nominations until the White House better promotes diversity — moves that could stymie their own party’s administration in filling key posts.

Aldermen are sharply divided on the issue after a proposal from Mayor Lori Lightfoot was significantly revised. Alds. Jason Ervin, Maria Hadden, Byron Sigcho-Lopez and George Cardenas weigh in.

Using tax money from the sale of recreational marijuana, the Chicago suburb of Evanston has become the first U.S. city to make reparations available to its Black residents for past discrimination and the lingering effects of slavery.

Dr. Allison Arwady, the commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health, said the uptick in virus cases in Michigan is of special concern because it appears to be driven in part by the spread of more transmissible variants of COVID-19.

The ordinance drew fierce opposition from cultural and preservation groups and those working to turn the homes of civil rights icon Emmett Till and blues legend Muddy Waters into museums, who said it could block their efforts. 

Vaccine eligibility in Illinois will open up to everyone by April 12, but there are a lot of different windows of eligibility leading up to that date.