Get the latest news from around Illinois.
The Center Square: Illinois health professionals soon to be required to take annual cultural training
Illinois health-care workers will now be required to undergo one hour of cultural training each year to continue working in their profession. Some say such training is not needed.
House Bill 2450 was sponsored by state Rep. Dagmara Avelar and requires health care workers in the state to receive one hour of racial competency training as part of their continuing education.
Chicago Tribune: ‘They didn’t have people who spoke Spanish’: Migrants staying at police station turned away from school
It was the first day of school Monday, but 6-year-old Hassly Cespedes stood in line at a soup kitchen instead of in a cafeteria lunch line.
With her hair tied up in two buns and wearing a floral jumpsuit, the young girl had been excited for her first day of school at Emmett Louis Till Math and Science Academy, said her mother, 26-year-old Eliany Piña, as they waited for a meal at Martin Temple AME Zion Church in Woodlawn. The family had arrived in Chicago from Venezuela 10 days ago.
Chicago Sun-Times: Prosecutors rest their case in perjury trial of ex-top aide to Madigan as jurors hear more secret recordings
Federal prosecutors on Monday rested their case in the perjury trial of Tim Mapes, the longtime chief of staff to Illinois’ once-powerful former House Speaker Michael Madigan.
Now it is time for Mapes’ trial to move to a new phase, in which his defense attorneys are expected to call witnesses of their own. They’ve said their case will likely last a day or so.
Daily Herald: Study: Chicago commuters lose more than $8,000 in wages each year sitting in traffic
Chicago commuters lose more than $8,000 in wages each year thanks to time spent in traffic, according to a new study analyzing expensive commutes nationwide.
Of the 170 U.S. cities studied, Chicago ranks 19th for the most expensive commute for drivers and ninth for the longest round-trip commute. The study, from the business website Chamber of Commerce, found that the nationwide average for wage loss from commuting is more than $5,700 each year.
WTTW: Retail Theft Costing Illinois Businesses Billions as Efforts to Steal Become More Organized
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce estimates that theft cost American retailers nearly $100 billion last year.
In Illinois, the chamber estimates more than $2 billion worth of goods were stolen from retailers in 2021, but it says the cost to Illinois businesses was more than double that when other factors are taken into account.
One major change occurring over the past decade or so is that organized crime gangs have moved into retail theft in a big way, say retail experts.
Chicago Tribune: Chicago Public Schools’ new year begins with help from the new mayor — and many old and looming challenges
When more than 320,000 Chicago youths resumed classes Monday, the sense of renewal brought by a fresh school year was underscored by the presence of Chicago’s new mayor, a former teacher who welcomed students and offered encouraging words at several stops around the district.
Yet the change at City Hall is also the beginning of a period of transition in Chicago Public Schools as it moves to an elected school board, and divorces itself from city oversight and funding, starting in 2024. The district will also be negotiating a new contract with the teachers union and will soon see the end of both COVID-19 relief funding and a moratorium on school closures — all while dealing with ongoing struggles such as chronic enrollment loss, a shortage of bus drivers and underpopulated, aging buildings.
Cook County Record: Appeals panel says Pritzker order may shield nursing homes from negligence lawsuits during Covid
A state appeals panel has determined one of Gov. JB Pritzker’s 2020 executive orders can shield nursing homes from lawsuits bringing “ordinary negligence” claim from incidents occurring during the time the order was in effect.
The Illinois Second District Appellate Court answered a certified question stemming from several consolidated wrongful death lawsuits filed against Geneva Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, which operates as Briar Health Services of Geneva, on behalf of people who died of Covid complications in the spring of 2020.
ABC 7: Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson reflects on 100 days in office, city's challenges
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson spoke with ABC7 today about his first 100 days in office as he faces challenges including crime and the ongoing migrant crisis.
Johnson spoke often about collaboration in dealing with some of the more pressing issues facing Chicago, but as he maneuvers the transition from union organizer to big city mayor he’s taking a measured approach.