Comment on Jobless claims fall, labor market recovery advances

Drivers eagerly awaiting the reopening of the reversible center lanes on the Kennedy Expressway will have to wait a little bit longer. Reopening the express lanes, and the conclusion of the second of three years of construction on the highway, has been pushed back to January. Though lane closures began weeks earlier than usual this spring and work was initially slated to wrap up in the fall, integrating the technical components of the access system to the reversible lanes proved to be more complicated and time consuming than expected and pushed back the reopening date, officials with the Illinois Department of Transportation said. “The remaining work, which includes the configuring and connecting of the individual components to the overall system, is currently being completed behind the scenes,” said Jonathan Schumacher, IDOT’s bureau chief of construction.

Federal regulators have cited solar panel company Sunrun Installation Services for allegedly exposing workers to what were described as “deadly” fall hazards in the Chicago suburbs, the U. S. Department of Labor said Monday. Investigators for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration found Sunrun workers were installing solar panels at heights of up to 18 feet without required protection from falls, according to citations issued by the agency.

Barnes & Noble will be returning this spring to downtown Naperville, a little more than a year after the closed its longtime downtown location. Janine Flanigan, the company’s vice president of store planning and design, confirmed that the country’s largest book retailer plans to open a new Naperville store in the former Pottery Barn space just up the street from its old location. The 9 W.

A state board has approved Ascension’s plan to sell nine of its Illinois hospitals for more than $370 million to a large California-based health system. The state Health Facilities and Services Review Board voted unanimously Tuesday morning to green-light Ascension’s plan to sell the hospitals — more than half of its hospitals in the state — to Prime Healthcare. The hospitals to be sold to Prime include Ascension Holy Family in Des Plaines, Ascension Mercy in Aurora, Ascension Resurrection in Chicago, Ascension St.

Advocate Health Care plans to spend $1 billion overhauling how it provides health care on the South Side of Chicago – replacing Advocate Trinity Hospital with a smaller facility with far fewer beds, while expanding access to primary and specialty care. It’s a plan that Advocate leaders say will address the health disparities that have long plagued South Side residents, by focusing more on keeping them healthy and focusing less on hospital beds.

Chicago Stars President Karen Leetzow wants to further the conversation and education about equity in women’s sports. As the Stars navigate building a training center and venue, Leetzow and other key figures within the Chicago women’s soccer and basketball scene finally had an opportunity to address equality in public funding to Illinois state representatives. Leetzow was among members of the Stars and Chicago Sky organizations, the National Women’s Soccer League and organized labor representatives to give testimony Monday to the Illinois House of Representatives Revenue & Finance Committee in favor of passing House Bill 5841. The amendment would ensure some Illinois Sports Facilities Authority bonds are either used or set aside for funding women’s sports whenever men’s sports are funded. “When we talk about professional women’s sports teams, we don’t always think about the history of how those women’s sports teams have had to claw and fight to get to the point where they are today,” said Democratic Rep.