Daily Whale Originals

Old Town residents packed the Commission on Chicago Landmarks meeting room Thursday to encourage commissioners to approve a preliminary landmark recommendation for West Burton Place. Advocates for the designation also called on a local developer not to follow through on the planned demolition of a building located within the district.

Facing legal pressure from advocates for low-income patients, Illinois has agreed to reactivate funding for hospitals that rely on Medicaid payments.

On Wednesday, Chief Deputy Attorney General Brent Stratton told Judge Joan Lefkow of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois that the state would resume processing Medicaid payments that had been held up by the current budget impasse in Springfield.

Officials in Illinois had mixed responses on Monday to President Barack Obama’s Clean Power Plan, which is designed to cut greenhouse gas emissions from coal-burning power plants in the coming years and put more focus on renewable energy sources.

During a meeting of the Cook County board’s Criminal Justice Committee on Wednesday, commissioners approved an ordinance that would increase fines for individuals illegally in possession of assault weapons.

Commissioner Richard Boykin (D-Chicago) sponsored the ordinance, which amends the county’s Blair Holt Assault Weapons Ban. Under Boykin’s measure, fines for first-time violations of the assault weapons ban would increase from between $1,000 and $5,000 to between $5,000 and $10,000. Subsequent violations could result in fines between $10,000 and $20,000.

During a meeting of the Chicago City Council Committee on Budget and Government Operations Tuesday, alderman gave initial approval to a proposal to end city refuse collection services for 1,800 properties currently receiving such services pursuant to a grandfather clause in legislation the City Council approved in 2000.