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Quick Hit
by Brandon Campbell
4:57pm
Sun May 20

Hundreds Descend On Mayor’s Home Decrying Mental Health Clinic Closures (VIDEO)

Hundreds of protesters were met by dozens of Chicago police officers outfitted with riot gear in front of Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s North Side Ravenswood home Saturday afternoon. While the Mayor wasn’t home, his house was guarded by a line of officers who created a makeshift barrier using their bicycles.

The protesters, many of whom sat down in the middle of North Hermitage Avenue for about 20 minutes, decried Emanuel’s closing of six city mental health facilities. Some of the mental health advocates in attendance were patients of the now-defunct clinics.
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PI Original
by Matthew Blake
9:29am
Fri Apr 20

City Officials And Mental Health Advocates Continue Stand Off In Chicago

From partly undoing cuts for branch library hours to extending the school day seven – not seven and a half – hours, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel has scaled back major policy changes in response to public criticism. Thus far, this is not the case with the city’s plan to close six of its 12 mental health clinics, despite vehement protests planned to continue at least through next week.

Quick Hit
by Matthew Blake
2:56pm
Fri Apr 13

Protests Against Mental Health Clinic Closings Intensify (VIDEO)

From Christmas Carols calling Rahm Emanuel a Grinch to a proposal that the city pay for mental health care through raising the yacht mooring tax, the Mental Health Movement coalition has spent months energetically fighting the city’s plan to close six of its 12 mental health clinics.

That resistance has escalated. Police arrested 23 protesters at the Woodlawn clinic at 1 a.m., and activists and mental health patients said at a press conference today outside the Woodlawn clinic that there might be more confrontations. Read more »

Quick Hit
by Matthew Blake
1:21pm
Tue Apr 10

Stark Report Looks At Cook County Pension Problem (UPDATED)

The Cook County Board’s pension committee chairman, Bridget Gainer (D-Chicago), released a report yesterday on the county’s growing pension problem – the system has endured a meteoric rise in liabilities and will run out of money by 2038 if the trend continues. Read more »

Quick Hit
by Matthew Blake
6:09pm
Thu Feb 16

Mental Health Employees Receive First Layoff Notices

On Monday, we reported that patients of city mental health clinics received a letter stating when six of the city’s 12 mental health clinics will close and what might happen to their care.

The Chicago Department of Public Health has also sent initial layoff notices to clinic employees – including some of the therapists that are supposed to help patients transition through the clinic closings.

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Quick Hit
by Matthew Blake
8:34pm
Wed Feb 15

Chicago Turns Toward Outstanding Parking Tickets For Revenue

The Chicago City Council passed a law today that will subtract a person’s outstanding parking and speeding ticket debt, and other such citations, from their state income tax return. The law is revealing of Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s approach toward taxes. Read more »