Newspapers' Woes Worsening

Federal officials on Wednesday reported more cases of E. coli poisoning among people who ate at McDonald’s, as government investigators seeking the outbreak’s source identified an “onion grower of interest” in Washington state. The Food and Drug Administration said 90 people across 13 states have fallen ill in the outbreak, up from 75 at the end of last week.

Two unions representing two sets of Chicago city workers, forced to bargain their contracts jointly, are in the midst of an extraordinary spat, accusing each other and the city of playing politics and failing to hold up their ends of the deal. City workers who are members of SEIU Local 73 bargain their contracts jointly with city employees who are members of IBEW Local 21. Local 73 says it represents more than 800 workers including traffic control, parking enforcement and aviation safety employees, while Local 21 represents more than 350 911 operators and dispatchers at the Office of Emergency Management and Communications and aviation communication officers based at both Chicago airports. The workers’ last contract expired in June 2022 and they haven’t had a raise since then, representatives for SEIU said. The city jointly bargained a new agreement with SEIU and IBEW, which SEIU took to a vote among its members for approval, the union said. IBEW, however, is still trying to resolve non-economic issues in the contract for its members, including additional compensatory time for 911 operators.

A former analyst at Outcome Health won’t serve time in prison for his role in a $1 billion fraud scheme at the once-lauded Chicago company, a federal judge decided Tuesday. U. S. District Court Judge Thomas Durkin sentenced Oliver Han to three years of probation and 200 hours of community service.

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Chicago will receive $15 million from the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development as part of an ongoing national effort to address youth homelessness. Marion Mollegen McFadden, HUD’s principal deputy assistant secretary for community development and planning, was joined by local HUD and city officials to share the announcement Wednesday afternoon at the Covenant House, an organization that provides support services to young people ages 18 to 24 experiencing homelessness. This latest round of funding comes as the city is merging the migrant shelter system with the existing homelessness system and follows a $60 million allocation from HUD early last year to fight homelessness in Chicago.

Blue Island officials are considering a proposal to convert the long-vacant site of a former landfill into a venue for hosting a Cook County Fair. Former Cook County Deputy Clerk John Mirkovic outlined his plans this month for the multiacre property at 119th Street and Vincennes Road in Blue Island. “I’ve been out there, I’ve looked at it.