The Chicago Resilient Communities Pilot, a monthly cash assistance program also known as universal basic income, is now fully enrolled, Mayor Lori Lightfoot and the Department of Family and Support Services say.

The plan provides 5,000 eligible households with $500 a month for 12 months to provide more financial stability. This month, all 5,000 households have received at least their first $500 direct cash payment.

President Joe Biden said Thursday that a tentative railway labor agreement has been reached, averting a strike that could have been devastating to the economy before the pivotal midterm elections.

Railroads and union representatives had been in negotiations for 20 hours at the Labor Department on Wednesday to hammer out a deal, as there was a risk of a strike starting on Friday that could have shut down rail lines across the country.

Called to the carpet by members of Chicago City Council on Wednesday, CTA officials responsed to complaints about unreliable, dirty and unsafe buses and trains with a repeated pledge that they’re doing everything possible to overhaul the transit agency’s service.

But the effort to convince City Council there’s light at the end of the subway tunnel for Chicago’s public transit riders was overshadowed by CTA President Dorval Carter’s decision to skip the hearing, held by the council’s Transportation and Public Way Committee.

In Illinois last year, 7% of residents — about 875,000 people — lacked health insurance coverage, according to U.S. Census data released Thursday.

That number was up slightly from about 6.8% in 2020, though the margin of error this year was 0.2.