In addition to initial state funding, the center will receive $250 million from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative over 10 years to fund research into inflammation, part of the body’s innate response to irritation and disease.

Officials are still scouting locations for the massive tents, which could shelter, feed and care for as many as 1,000 migrants in a single location.

Illinois Department of Children and Family Services Director Marc Smith will resign effective Dec. 31, he told colleagues in an all-staff town hall meeting Wednesday morning.

Without naming GOP figures like Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, Pritzker blamed political leaders who “have shipped people to our state like cargo in a dehumanizing attempt to score political points.”

Ald. Pat Dowell called on Mayor Brandon Johnson to center the need of Black Chicagoans and warned that every bus that arrives “is eating away at the goodwill of the people of the city of Chicago.”

The cost of caring for the migrants through the end of the year is now estimated to reach $345 million, according to updated financial projections shared by Cristina Pacione Zayas, the mayor’s first deputy chief of staff. Three weeks ago, those costs were pegged at $302 million, according to city data.

With approximately 7,400 people taking up every available spot in 20 city shelters, more than 2,100 men, women and children are being forced to sleep on the floors of police stations across the city and at Chicago O’Hare International Airport, according to city data.

The law provides an exception for Illinoisans who already owned such items before it went into effect. Those people are required to submit an endorsement affidavit through their Firearm Owner’s Identification Card account before Jan. 1, 2024.

The state Department of Agriculture, which hosts the fair each year, reported on Tuesday that about 708,000 people attended the fair, an 11% increase from 2022.  

The programs are for noncitizens over age 42 who would otherwise qualify for Medicaid if not for their immigration status.

Mayor Brandon Johnson and his top aides did not identify where they planned to build the massive tents that could shelter and feed as many as 1,000 migrants, or precisely how much it would cost Chicago taxpayers, sources told WTTW News.

The roughly $2 billion project is set to create 2,600 jobs and begin production in 2024. The plant will produce battery cells, battery packs like the kinds used in electric vehicles and large-scale energy storage systems.

More than 2,000 men, women and children are being forced to sleep on the floors of police stations across the city and at O’Hare Airport, according to city data released by the mayor’s office Wednesday.

In May, four of former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan’s allies were found guilty on all charges of conspiring to bribe the former speaker to shepherd and pass ComEd’s legislative agenda. Madigan’s former chief of staff, Tim Mapes, was convicted last week of lying to federal prosecutors to protect “the boss.”

Governor J.B. Pritzker announced Tuesday that chapters of FFA – the group once known as Future Farmers of America – will be eligible for $1,000 grants to fund mental health awareness programs in schools and rural communities.

The governor issued what’s called an amendatory veto, striking only the portion of House Bill 3445. He left the rest of the bill, which modifies a state grant program and requires several policy studies, untouched.