Monthly Archives: July 2015

U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) today announced that the Senate has passed a long-term, bipartisan transportation bill that provides the certainty that businesses and state governments, like Illinois, need to plan critical infrastructure projects and create good-paying jobs. Since the previous long-term transportation bill expired in 2009, Congress has passed 33 stop-gap measures to keep the country’s major transportation and infrastructure programs from shutting down.

Congresswoman Cheri Bustos (IL-17), a member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, reiterated her call for a long-term, bipartisan highway funding bill to protect Illinois jobs and critical transportation projects. Earlier today, the House passed yet another short-term extension of the Highway Trust Fund. This short term bill to fund the program through the end of October did not unfortunately include a reauthorization of the job-creating Export-Import Bank, which creates jobs and economic growth throughout Illinois. It has been expired since the end of June.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today issued a Request for Applications soliciting proposals for Great Lakes Restoration Initiative grants to fund new projects to restore and protect the Great Lakes. Up to $13.9 million will be available during the 2015 funding cycle for grants to state, tribal, interstate and local governmental agencies, institutions of higher learning and other nonprofit organizations. Applications are due September 28, 2015

U.S. Representative Mike Quigley (IL-05) and members of the Quiet Skies Caucus including Reps. Ruben Gallego (AZ-07), Steve Israel (NY-03), and Grace Meng (NY-06) sent a letter to House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Rep. Bill Shuster (PA-09) and Ranking Member Rep. Peter DeFazio (OR-04) with recommendations for the 2015 Federal Aviation Administration Reauthorization Act that would help address the harmful impacts of aircraft noise on communities across the country

Rep. Jan Schakowsky reintroduced the Eleanor Smith Inclusive Home Design Act, which would require new homes built with federal dollars to meet accessibility standards – including a zero-step entrance, wheelchair accessible doorways and bathrooms, and climate controls that are at a height reachable from a wheelchair. Rep. Schakowsky released the following statement about the bill

This newsletter is to inform you that City crews will soon be grinding and patching various sections of roadway within your neighborhood. Weather permitting, construction activities are anticipated to begin on Monday, July 27, 2015 and be completed by August 14, 2015. The work being done will neither address all pavement deficiencies in your neighborhood nor deficiencies with the curb and gutter; instead, pavement patching operations will concentrate on the worst sections of roadway

The North Shore and Barrington housing market remains strong as we reflect upon the first half of the year. According to data from the North Shore – Barrington Association of Realtors (NSBAR), the number of closed sales and the median sales price for homes has increased in June compared to this time last year

U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) and U.S. Congresswoman Tammy Duckworth (IL-08) announced that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) awarded a $218,182 Assistance to Firefighters Grant to the Addison Fire Protection District for a driver simulator for emergency vehicles. This simulator will allow the fire Department to practice defensive driving skills without jeopardizing the public

U.S. Representative Mike Quigley (IL-05), Vice-Chair of the Equality Caucus, joined more than 130 colleagues in introducing the Equality Act, comprehensive legislation to ban discrimination against LGBT individuals in public accommodations, housing, employment, and other core areas of daily life.

U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) announced today that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), part of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), has awarded grants totaling $3,161,281 to communities throughout Illinois. Today’s funding will support and improve the capability of each department to respond to fires and other types of emergencies

Illinois home sales in June surged 12.5 percent higher than last year while median prices also saw strong gains, according to the Illinois Association of REALTORS. Statewide home sales (including single-family homes and condominiums) in June 2015 totaled 17,972 homes sold, up 12.5 percent from June 2014 when 15,982 homes sold

Without Congressional action by the end of this month, transportation funding to states and mass transit agencies will be slowed down or stopped, jeopardizing infrastructure projects and good paying jobs in Illinois and across the country, U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) said today at a construction site near the Stan Musial Veterans Memorial Bridge. It’s been nearly two months since the Senate passed a stop-gap measure to keep the country’s major transportation and infrastructure programs running through the end of July, when the Highway Trust Fund is expected to become insolvent

U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 5 Administrator Susan Hedman and other community leaders joined the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago (MWRD) in unveiling the new disinfection facility at the Calumet Water Reclamation Plant (WRP) on Friday

U.S. Representative Mike Quigley (IL-05), a member of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies (THUD), hosted a roundtable discussion with minority and women-owned businesses and transportation agencies about the need for a long-term, fully funded transportation bill and the effect it would have on Chicago’s economy

Debra Grand, incoming Board Chair, and Mark Angelini, President of Mercy Housing Lakefront Mercy Housing Lakefront, one of the first to develop permanent supportive housing projects of significant size in the Chicago area, will use the grant to expand its Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative (NRI).