Inside the nation’s oldest faith-based homeless shelter, witnesses shared how work made possible their journey from poverty to self-sufficiency during a Ways and Means Subcommittee on Work and Welfare hearing on Tuesday. The hearing made Congressional history as the first hearing held in a homeless shelter by a House committee. A common theme among witness testimony was the power of work to provide not just an income, but also dignity, purpose, and meaning.

Proposed Tier 2 pension enhancements in Illinois could come at a taxpayer cost of “billions,” according to a state legislator.

State Rep. Blaine Wilhour, R-Beecher City, said originally lawmakers’ conversations surrounding the Tier 2 pension system were about fixing Tier 2  to ensure it didn’t run afoul of safe harbor, a requirement where certain public employees do not have to pay into Social Security as they are covered by pension plans that provide retirement benefits deemed equivalent to Social Security benefits.

The state of Illinois and the city of Chicago will split equally $19.3 million in new federal funding to help pay for the soaring costs of taking care of migrants Texas Gov. Gregg Abbott has sent to the city, Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., announced in a Friday statement.

The grant for the Chicago and Illinois state governments comes from $300 million in spending Congress earlier approved for the Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency and the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agency to deal with the migrant crisis.

Shortly after wrapping up an inaugural legislative session in 2019 that included hiking the state’s minimum wage, legalizing cannabis and passing a historic $45 billion statewide construction program supported by expanded gambling and a host of increased taxes and fees, Gov. J.B. Pritzker sought to reassure a group of Chicago business leaders that he wasn’t just another tax-and-spend liberal.

Addressing the Executives’ Club of Chicago, Pritzker, a billionaire heir to the Hyatt Hotels fortune and a prominent tech investor, said he would pursue a “rational, pragmatic, progressive agenda” that ultimately would pay dividends for the state budget and Illinois’ economy.

Amid the yearlong property tax dispute at Arlington Park, the Bears also face a series of legal, financial and political hurdles to building a new stadium on the Chicago lakefront, two lobbyists for three Arlington Heights-area school districts said.

John Dunn and Matt Glavin of Cozen O’Connor Public Strategies, the firm hired by the school districts last year, have met with political leaders and fellow lobbyists for the NFL franchise as the team navigates the corridors of the state Capitol in its latest bid for public subsidies.

Chicago police officials have unveiled a “four-pillar plan” to address car thefts and robberies, which have remained stubbornly high in recent years.

Police officials joined Mayor Brandon Johnson and Ald. Pat Dowell (3rd) on Friday to announce the plan, which utilizes technology, focus missions, public engagement and accountability, Chicago Police Supt. Larry Snelling told reporters at Public Safety Headquarters, 3510 S. Michigan Ave.

Lead pipes in public water systems and drinking fixtures have been banned in new construction since 1986, when Congress amended the Safe Drinking Water Act, but they are still in use across the U.S. and in Illinois.

The presence of lead pipes has persisted due in part to a lack of a centralized federal or state removal strategy, as well as inadequate funding and insufficient inventories of where lead pipes are located.