April 2
“Chicago is not doing so well when it comes to air pollution,” the commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public health (CDPH), Olusimbo Ige, told the City Council Committee on Environmental Protection and Energy at its meeting. The city is outpacing national averages in pollutant concentration, which the city’s top health chief says is a result of residential segregation and Chicago’s role as a transportation and industrial hub. To ensure the city meets state and federal air pollution standards, the public health department is charged with regulating industry sites through the city’s Office of Environmental Permitting and Inspection (OEPI). Inspections are prioritized based on complaints and historical violations. In 2024, OEPI’s three inspectors conducted thirteen percent of routine inspections for the 1,972 permitted facilities across the city while completing ninety-eight percent of investigations into complaints. Despite knowing about repeat offenders, the health department can only issue citations, which are then reviewed by the city’s Department of Law through administrative hearings. Council members pressed Ige over the lack of enforcement for repeat offenders citing Sims Metal Management in Pilsen. “We want to make sure that your department and our city has more enforcement to shut down operations,” said Chair Alderwoman Maria Hadden (49th Ward). In 2023, a civil rights complaint over a planned Southeast Side scrap-metal plant sparked an investigation that found the city had been engaging in environmental racism, leading to a three-year federal agreement with the city. As part of that, CDPH plans to install 220 sensors by this summer and publish data by this fall.
April 3
At its meeting, the Commission on Chicago Landmarks approved the final landmark recommendation for Bronzeville’s Morning Star Baptist Church of Chicago at 3993 S. King Drive. “The heritage of Morning Star is really interwoven with the Great Migration which transformed Chicago’s political, cultural, and artistic landscape,” said architectural historian Matt Crawford of the Department of Planning and Development. Last year, the historic South Side neighborhood was one of ten districts designated by the state for its historical and cultural identity. The original building was constructed in 1912.
April 8
At its meeting, the Public Building Commission of Chicago Board approved the appointment of minority-owned Milhouse Engineering and Construction, Inc., as the engineering firm for the Chicago Department of Transportation Shoreline Restoration (67th Street to 75th Street) Feasibility Study Project. “Milhouse Engineering and Construction has … extensive project experience with communities of the South and West Sides and understanding the public engagement process for outreach in the development of projects,” said the board’s Executive Director, Ray Giderof. The project is designed to maintain, expand, and diversify access to the city shoreline. Giderof also announced a new text messaging service that notifies contractors about bidding opportunities on construction projects, requests for proposals, and networking. Users can sign up online to receive these updates from the Public Building Commission, which oversees construction of police stations, firehouses, libraries, schools, parks, and other city facilities.
April 9
Meeting the need for affordable housing in Chicago without relying on federal funding—especially in light of the current uncertainty of such funding—is the goal of the Green Social Housing Ordinance, according to a presentation made to the City Council Joint Committee: Finance; Housing and Real Estate at its meeting. The ordinance would establish an independent nonprofit in charge of a $135 million lending fund to finance energy efficient mixed-income developments. The initiative is expected to produce 1,200 affordable apartments each year. “It is an innovative plan that provides permanent affordability, supports mixed-income communities, and promotes environmental sustainable housing without relying on overburdened federal programs,” said Chicago Department of Housing Commissioner, Lissette Castañeda. The nonprofit’s board is slated to have five members from the Mayor’s office and five to seven City Council-approved appointments. The Mayor’s deputy assistant director of policy, Jung Yoon, said the Low Income Housing Tax Credit, the city’s primary tool to address affordable housing, “is not enough to meet the demand.”
At its meeting, the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) Board approved a $1.2 million contract to expand a pilot program using artificial intelligence (AI) to identify guns in surveillance video and to alert police. Twelve percent of eighty-two alerts since August, or just under ten, identified guns and led to six arrests. But the board is concerned about the program’s effectiveness. “They are not relying one hundred percent on AI,” said Kevin Ryan, vice president of CTA security. “AI makes the detection, but they send it to a control center where former military or law enforcement … make a determination.” A reduced-fare regional transit pass for unlimited CTA, Metra, and PACE access for twenty-four hours is set to cost $9.50 on weekends, $10 on weekdays.
April 14
Illinoisans ages forty-two to sixty-four in the country without legal status could lose health care coverage July 1, the Board of Directors of the Cook County Health and Hospitals System learned at its meeting. Due to a shortfall, Governor J.B. Pritzker’s FY26 budget proposal would end the Health Benefits for Immigrant Adults (HBIA) program, saving $330 million. Building upon the Health Benefits for Immigrant Seniors program, HBIA began in 2022. Together the programs cover older adults who could qualify for Medicaid but whose immigration status makes them ineligible. Cook County Health anticipates a loss of sixteen thousand to seventeen thousand members if the program ends. “The biggest immediate concern is the HBIA population and that transition in terms of the impact on that population. We’ve seen a lot of gains in the health status of those individuals, and I think we’re all very concerned about seeing that slide backward,” said Aaron Galeener, chief administrative officer of health plan services at Cook County Health. “A lot of us are still in this ‘wait and see mode’ until we understand some of the federal policy changes that are going to happen and also what happens with the HBIA program and the state legislative session.” Cook County Health is looking at ways to support current HBIA members during that transition to ensure they continue receiving treatment and care, Galeener said.