All Week Long
Originally published on chicagotribune.com 03/14/2024 | Photo: Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune
Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle has proposed chipping in as much as $70 million to help cover the city of Chicago’s cost to feed migrants in the city’s intake and shelter system and potentially pay for other expenses.
The proposal is part of Preckwinkle’s commitment, along with Gov. J.B. Pritzker, to help pay for expected costs of new migrant arrivals in Chicago this year. This is the first time the county will help pay for food. Until now, its contribution to the migrant response has centered almost entirely on health care at Cook County Health.
If passed by the Cook County Board, the measure would not add to the county’s bottom line. Preckwinkle is asking county commissioners to reallocate money already set aside in an emergency fund for migrant health care in this year’s budget and instead use it to “reimburse the City of Chicago for food service or other new arrival operating costs throughout calendar year 2024,” according to the proposal.
County commissioners are expected to vote on the matter next month.
Originally published on chicagotribune.com 03/19/2024 | Photo: Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune
Riding a wave of support from the Cook County Democratic Party as well as hundreds of thousands of her own dollars, Mariyana Spyropoulos upended Cook County Circuit Court Clerk Iris Martinez, limiting the clerk’s time in the office to a single term.
With 69% of precincts reporting, the Associated Press declared Spyropoulos the winner. She led Martinez with 65.7% of the vote to Martinez’s 34.3%.
The victory came as 20-year incumbent Cook County Board of Review Commissioner Larry Rogers was besting challenger Larecia Tucker in a high-spending race for a typically low-key seat. Tucker had received more than $750,000 in campaign contributions from Rogers’ rival, Assessor Fritz Kaegi and his family. It was the first major contest Rogers — the county Democratic Party’s pick — had faced since joining the board in 2004.
And in the race to fill Brandon Johnson’s seat on the county board through 2026, his union mentor, Tara Stamps, was the declared the victor by AP with a significant lead over opponent Zerlina Smith Members. Stamps was appointed to the seat last summer.
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