Cook County Demolishes 3 Jail Buildings As Inmate Population Shrinks
Cook County is demolishing three divisions, representing close to a half-million square feet of cell space, as the jail population has hit the lowest level in 25 years.
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Cook County is demolishing three divisions, representing close to a half-million square feet of cell space, as the jail population has hit the lowest level in 25 years.
A penny-an-ounce tax on sugary and artificially sweetened drinks has been adopted by the Cook County Board of Commissioners in Chicago.
County Board President Toni Preckwinkle said the sugary beverage tax would help close a $174 million budget gap and avoid layoffs.
The most controversial issue at the moment in Cook County politics is not even something on which you can vote Tuesday.
The price of a pop could go up next summer in Cook County. Board President Toni Preckwinkle has proposed a new tax on sweetened drinks in her budget address on Thursday.
Retailers were speaking out Wednesday amid published reports Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle is considering a new tax on sugary soft drinks, up to a penny an ounce.
Cook County has made a major upgrade to its official government website, and officials said it's truly user-friendly now.
Cook County government and healthcare officials on Tuesday applauded the American Medical Association's decision to declare gun violence is a public health crisis that requires federally funded research.
Dr. Stephen Cina took over in 2012 after the previous medical examiner resigned amid criticism that bodies were stacking up in the morgue. Preckwinkle says Cina took the office from "crisis to full accreditation."
It has sat vacant for nearly 15 years, and become a popular target for graffiti artists, but the old Cook County Hospital building could get new life as a hotel and apartment building, with stores at ground level.
A CBS 2 and Better Government Association investigation found that Cook County has failed to collect up to $20 million in fines for the tax violations.
When the office lost accreditation in 2011, there was a shortage of staff, and overcrowding that led to bodies being stacked on top of each other.
Members of the Cook County Board spoke to county department heads on Tuesday about how the state's budget impasse is affecting local services.
Cook County has launched a two-year program to try to better identify people who have trouble putting food on the table for their families and getting them help.
Civic leaders and representatives of the Christian, Jewish and Muslim communities came together today to denounce the anti-Muslim, anti-refugee sentiment that has been picking up steam around the country.
Ousted Chicago Police Supt. Garry McCarthy appeared Friday at a public event with his former boss, Mayor Emanuel, and Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez.
The continued tension over the Laquan McDonald case was a hot topic Friday morning at an annual prayer breakfast attended by some of the state's leading politicians, business leaders, and clergy.
The head of the Chicago's official tourism agency has warned a planned Cook County hotel tax could hurt the city's convention industry, but Mayor Rahm Emanuel seemed less concerned.
Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle has said she has enough votes to approve a new countywide tax on ammunition for handguns and rifles.
There had been a lot of opposition to the amusement tax hike, which would have hit cable-television customers, bowlers, golfers and others involved with for-profit sports activities.
Three months after pushing through a plan to raise sales taxes by a penny on the dollar, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle is seeking some more new taxes to balance the budget next year.
The Inspector General's 15-page report also refers to Cook County's animal control unit as "efficiently operated," but says there is an "over-reliance on euthanasia."
Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle met with a group of anti-violence activists on the South Side on Wednesday, and announced the county would spend $500,000 on so-called "restorative justice" programs in an effort to help prevent ex-cons from going back to court or jail, and to curb violent crime.
Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle was making her final pitch for a sales tax hike, as the Cook County Board met Wednesday to debate a tax increase she railed against five years ago.
Board President Toni Preckwinkle is seeking to reinstate the tax -- first enacted during the administration of predecessor Todd Stroger -- primarily to cover the county's pension shortfall.
