A WTTW News analysis of CTA bus and train operator work records from 2015 to 2021 shows a growing number of employees paid for long average workweeks, which experts say raises questions about worker and passenger safety and the agency’s bottom line.
Politics
Federally indicted Ald. Ed Burke finally calls it a career after 54 years. Lightfoot and García officially file their paperwork to run for mayor, Latino neighborhoods got socked with higher property taxes. And the SAFE-T act gets a revamp.
The president’s direction came as the DNC rules committee gathered in Washington on Friday to vote on shaking up the presidential primary calendar starting in 2024. Members now expect to approve new rules putting South Carolina first, followed by New Hampshire and Nevada on the same day a week later.
Federal officials popped into Chicago Friday to celebrate the awarding of a $20 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation to the Englewood Nature Trail.
President Joe Biden signed a bill Friday to avert a freight rail strike that he said could have plunged the U.S. into a catastrophic recession.
The SAFE-T Act package passed as law two years ago, in January 2021. But only in January 2023 will its most controversial part, the Pretrial Fairness Act, take effect. Illinois lawmakers spent all of Thursday – their last day of session in 2022 – making last minute changes to the law
If you are a homeowner in certain portions of the city, you’ve seen your bill go up quite a bit. On the predominately Latino Lower West Side, there was an increase of 46%, according to a new study.
As head of a regional Fed bank, Goolsbee will have a vote on the central bank’s interest rate decisions in 2023. Each year, four of the regional bank presidents rotate into voting positions on the Fed’s rate-setting committee.
The Senate passed a bill to bind rail companies and workers to a proposed settlement that was reached between the rail companies and union leaders in September. That settlement had been rejected by some of the 12 unions involved, creating the possibility of a strike beginning Dec. 9.
One of Republicans’ major concerns has been that the legal standards were too narrow for determining when a defendant could be kept in jail as they await trial. A Democratic proposal addresses that by expanding the list of crimes for which someone can be denied pretrial release.
Proposed changes to the controversial SAFE-T Act that ends cash bail in Illinois. Our politics team weighs in on that story and more.
The International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150 backed U.S. Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García in the Chicago mayor’s race, splitting from the Chicago Teachers Union and Service Employees International Union Local 73.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot should be investigated for accepting a $25,000 contribution to her re-election campaign from Chicago Fire owner Joe Mansueto, according to a complaint filed by Ald. Raymond Lopez (15th Ward), who is running for re-election to the City Council.
The measure passed by a vote of 290-137 and now heads to the Senate. If approved there, it will be signed by President Joe Biden, who urged the Senate to act swiftly.
On Tuesday, leaders announced a bipartisan plan, which also has the backing of business and labor, to eliminate the $1.8 billion remainder of that debt, including paying back an interest-incurring federal loan that had been used to shore up the fund.
In an interview, Sen. Tammy Duckworth spoke on a number of legislative issues that U.S. lawmakers are taking up during the lame-duck session before a new Congress is sworn in early next year.
