Matthew Blake

The Cook County Health and Hospitals System has initiated CountyCare applications for about 141,000 county residents who are eligible for the program that began in January 2013 for those newly eligible for Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act.

Linda Diamond Shapiro, chief strategy officer for CCHHS, revealed at a finance committee board meeting Friday, “We’ve touched about a third of the people eligible,” adding that, “It gets harder and harder” to find eligible applicants because “we get the easy-to-reach first.”

The Community Development Commission on Tuesday approved the creation of two new Tax Increment Financing economic development districts, including an 884-acre TIF in the economically-blighted Roseland neighborhood on Chicago's far South Side.

Alderman Carrie Austin, whose 34th Ward encompasses the new Roseland TIF district, said that she has fought for its creation for “forever – probably 20 years.”

The Metropolitan Water Reclamation District Board on Thursday approved an agreement with the Village of Glenview that is intended to reduce the risk of flooding for more than 1,000 homeowners in the flat, flood-prone North Shore community.

David St. Pierre, executive director of MWRD, explained to the board that the Glenview pact should be the first of several agreements MWRD reaches to transfer cash to municipal governments for flood prevention infrastructure.

“We’re working with each community in Cook County to come up with a localized flooding plan,” St. Pierre said.

The City Council voted 43-4 on Wednesday to approve a $900 million bond sale proposed by Mayor Rahm Emanuel, even though some had expressed concerns about the city’s overall debt picture and a lack of specifics on how Emanuel plans to use the money. Also by a 43-4 vote, with the same four aldermen voting "no," the council approved the sale of $1 billion in bonds to pay for improvements at Midway Airport.  

The Metra Board on Friday picked interim agency CEO Don Orseno as the permanent head for the scandal-scarred commuter rail agency, effective immediately.

The agency’s 11 board members unanimously voted for Orseno as CEO following a closed-door meeting during which the board interviewed four candidates for the leadership position.