The Chicago Reporter

In 2011 alone, 6,274 homes in the city of Chicago went through the final stage of foreclosure and were auctioned off, according to data from Woodstock Institute. A vast majority, 94 percent, ended up in the hands of banks.

Thousands are still sitting vacant. Many are in communities where the housing market is weak, to say the least, so the odds of selling them look slim.

Instead of standing abandoned, what if these properties were revamped and rented out to families in need of a home?

It's an idea that Action Now, a community-based nonprofit, was pushing at City Hall last week.

The proposal, dubbed "Rebuild Chicago," that was unveiled last Wednesday is modeled after a similar initiative in Cleveland. The...

On June 30th, the Tinley Park Mental Health Center shut its doors for good. The facility, which provided inpatient care to the mentally ill, closed down as part of a series of state budget cuts that are hitting services for the mentally ill.

What about the users of its services? News reports say they will be sent to other local area facilities, most likely community-care based ones, or private hospitals.

The cuts are just the tip of the iceberg. But a bill passed through the Illinois legislature hopes to set up safeguards for the mentally ill displaced by budget cuts from state-run facilities.

...

A kid who doesn't go to the dentist can wind up with something much worse than a toothache--poorer overall health, missed school days, expensive emergency room care and even sparse job prospects as an adult.

In Illinois, that's a majority of kids on Medicaid, according to a new report in the July issue of Pediatrics.

The study says that only one third of kids on Medicaid in our state have had a dental visit. The numbers are even lower for young children and adolescents. Among school age children, over half had at least one dental visit, but only 5 percent of kids under three, and one-quarter of those aged 15 to 18, had seen a...

Leaders from a ragtag Chicago taxi drivers union claim a five-hour citywide strike Monday is aimed at three issues they want the city to address.

The demands: A 22 percent fare increase, a city investigation into cab companies that the union alleges have illegally overcharged drivers who lease cabs, and a one-year moratorium of the new tiered-lease rates that went into effect on Sunday.

The United Taxidrivers Community Council is behind the strike.

Plans for the strike were hatched shortly after the city council passed an ordinance in January that Mayor Rahm Emanuel said would...