Daily Whale Originals

Mayor Rahm Emanuel hopes a new city-sponsored business center will lure young biotech companies downtown.

The center will serve as a space for startup companies in the biotech and pharmaceutical industries to set up shop and network with Chicago’s established medical community.

The project will be Chicago’s second recent jaunt into business incubation; last year, the city helped launch 1871, a tech company startup space located in Merchandise Mart.

With the federal government considering a sweeping overhaul of the tax code, the Illinois government and Cook County Board are waging a preemptive strike against Washington potentially ending the tax-exempt status of municipal bonds.

Illinois Senate Minority Leader Christine Radogno said on Monday that state lawmakers made progress during the current legislative session toward addressing Illinois’s estimated $100 billion in unfunded pension liabilities. But the Republican leader from Lemont also criticized Speaker of the House Michael Madigan (D-Chicago) for his focus on downstate teacher pensions.

“We’ve won the battle on acknowledging the problem,” Radogno said of pensions at a City Club of Chicago luncheon. “Now, of course, the difficulty is finishing the war.”

As state lawmakers squabble in Springfield over competing bills regulating concealed carry, Illinois’ Lt. Gov. Sheila Simon has released suggestions developed by a working group she headed on the essential components of an effective new concealed carry law.

Simon discussed the recommendations Friday while speaking at a luncheon at the Union League Club of Chicago hosted by the Chicago Area Public Affairs Group.

Ald. Robert Fioretti took to the stage at a City Club of Chicago luncheon Monday to voice both his support for proposed state legislation that would redirect tax-increment-financing dollars to Chicago’s public schools and his frustrations with the mayoral administration’s handling of school closings and other CPS-related matters.