Yearly Archives: 2016

Following a Chicago Tribune report that highlighted numerous incidents of childhood lead poisoning in Chicago, Illinois, U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) wrote Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julián Castro to urge the Department to conduct a thorough review of its regulations of acceptable lead exposure levels for children living in federally subsidized housing

“Low interest rates and improved employment made for a good year for the local residential real estate market,” said Keith Hancock, president of the North Shore-Barrington Association of Realtors® (NSBAR). “Median home prices were up more than 2 percent for the year compared to 2014, and the number of closed sales year-over-year increased nearly 4 percent.”

ongresswoman Cheri Bustos hosted the Third Annual Economic Summit at Augustana College, building upon roundtables she hosted earlier this year with manufacturers in Rockford, Peoria, and the Quad-Cities. This year’s summit focused on developing solutions to address the skills gap in the manufacturing industry, and the challenge of retaining young talent in the region

Illinois home sales and prices climbed higher in December and capped off a 2015 housing market that showed a return to a more balanced market with total year-end sales and median price gains surpassing 2014, according to the Illinois Association of REALTORS

U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) today met with mayors from across Illinois who are in Washington, D.C. for the annual U.S. Conference of Mayors. At the meeting, Durbin discussed local priorities for 2016, including transportation and infrastructure initiatives and local economic development issues.

The Illinois Emergency Management Agency (IEMA) and the American Lung Association in Illinois (ALAIL) today announced the statewide launch of an initiative to encourage home builders to install activated radon mitigation systems in new homes. The systems reduce levels of radon, a radioactive gas that is the leading cause of lung cancer in non-smokers and the second-leading cause of lung cancer overall

ongressman John Shimkus (R, Illinois-15) voted this week to block two of the Obama Administration’s most controversial water rules. On Tuesday, the House passed H.R. 1644, the STREAM Act. This legislation would require the National Academy of Sciences to conduct a comprehensive study of existing stream protection rules before additional regulations can be proposed by the Office of Surface Mining

Mercy Loan Fund (MLF), a leading Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI), announced that it has partnered with Heartland Housing, Inc. (HHI), a developer and manager of affordable housing, to preserve more than 100 affordable homes at Leland Apartments, located in the Uptown neighborhood of Chicago, Ill.

A coalition of consumer groups are calling on Acting Illinois Insurance Director Anne Melissa Dowling to reverse her “do-nothing” position and start protecting Illinois consumers from the unfair use of certain information unrelated to insurance risk – such as personal consumer shopping data – to set auto and homeowners insurance prices.

“Medical related properties featuring long term leases with multiple rental escalations continue to be highly sought after amongst the investor community as they provide an inflationary hedge” said Randy Blankstein, President of The Boulder Group.