The effort to sharpen the state’s Affordable Housing Planning and Appeal Act is one of multiple bills pending in Springfield that aim to boost housing construction and widen affordability.
Investigating Responses
Posted inInvestigating Responses
What to know about your county’s mental health court
This story is a collaboration between Illinois Answers and the Chicago bureau of MindSite News. Mental health courts have proliferated across Illinois in recent decades. Now, the state has 31 courts across […]
Posted inInvestigating Responses
Prison or treatment? Thousands participate in mental health courts. Half graduate — and millions are left out
This story is a collaboration between Illinois Answers and the Chicago bureau of MindSite News; sign up to receive their newsletter here. Bloomington native Shayla Woodworth had struggled with mental illness and […]
Posted inInvestigating Responses
Illinois’ Low-Cost Library Program Takes on the Justice Gap
A pilot program in 18 libraries across nine counties trains staff to help residents navigate civil court proceedings, offering a lifeline in communities where legal aid and public transit are scarce.
Posted inInvestigating Responses
Illinois Is Turning to Local Jails to Treat Mentally Ill Defendants. Some Early Results Offer Hope — and Warnings
It’s not often that Menard County Jail has a detainee who has been found unfit for trial. The jail, just north of Springfield, is small. With a census that can […]
Posted inInvestigating Responses
These Counties Spend Transit Tax Money on Ride Services. They’re Lifelines for Thousands of Residents
Fledgling dial-a-ride networks are filling gaps in public transit in the collar counties, but they struggle to meet demand.
Posted inInvestigating Responses
Wasted Waters: How Southern Illinois is Coping with Decades of Sewage Flooding… and Why it Still Isn’t Solved.
Five dozen communities in Southern Illinois account for a third of the reported sanitary sewer overflows in the state in the last decade. But with low revenues, population declines, and bureaucratic delays, solutions are hard to come by. Meanwhile, residents face property damage flooded yards and basements and governments that still haven’t fixed the problem.
Posted inInvestigating Responses
Explainer: What is a sanitary sewer overflow?
Sanitary sewer overflows, SSOs, are a release of untreated or partially treated waste from a city sewer. Sanitary sewer overflows are illegal. But when normal systems become overloaded through heavy rain or a larger load from an increasing population, SSOs occur.
Posted inInvestigating Responses
Cook County Tried to Rid People of Medical Debt, but, for Many, Help Comes Too Late
Since 2022, Cook County has spent more than $4 million to forgive nearly $500 million worth of medical debt for some 278,000 residents, becoming a pioneer among local governments and garnering waves of positive publicity for their efforts.
But an analysis of Cook County’s debt relief accounts show that many people like Ciaccio saddled with debt should have qualified for free care, a sign that local hospitals are failing to screen for some of the region’s poorest patients even as some use aggressive tactics to collect debt.
Posted inEquity & Economic Opportunity
‘Most Drivers Aren’t Making Money:’ App-Based Gig Work Promised Freedom and Flexibility. Workers Feel Exploited and Unsafe.
As the app-based informal economy grows, its many low-wage workers are demanding the same protections and benefits that many other full and part time workers have – to limited success in Chicago.
