COOK COUNTY RECORD

New Jersey has enacted a new law allowing striking workers to collect unemployment benefits during a labor dispute. But an attorney monitoring such developments has heard no rumblings similar legislation is imminent in other states dominated by Democrats, such as Illinois.

Revenue collected in the city of Chicago's Tax Increment Financing (TIF) districts will increase 23.9 percent this year, according to a report recently issued by Cook County Clerk David Orr. But it appears that failing neighborhoods that need revitalization the most are not seeing as much benefit from TIF, relative to areas that are already thriving.

The Illinois Labor Relations Board has ruled the Village of Oak Lawn can talk with the union representing its firefighters about establishing a rule requiring the village's firefighters to live within 50 miles of Oak Lawn.

The widow and two adult children of a patient who died of cardiac complications hours after spinal surgery were recently awarded a $7.75 million verdict by the Cook County Circuit Court in their lawsuit against the doctor who performed the spinal surgery.

CHICAGO – Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan filed a lawsuit against a suburban recycling company following a tire fire that the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA) claims jeopardized air and water quality. 

The decision by a Chicago federal court not to block a merger between Advocate and NorthShore University health systems may be a glimpse into a trend under which market pressures will push more hospitals to merge in order to survive, a health care attorney said.

CHICAGO – The Cook County Board of Commissioners approved a package of Home Rule Tax Ordinance reforms on earlier this month that the board said is aimed at providing individuals and businesses with a simplified process while improving the efficiency of the Cook County Department of Revenue.