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Aurora issued a warning Tuesday after officials reported finding “elevated” lead levels in the drinking water of some city homes.The city is advising residents to use filters for tap water and get children tested for lead exposure, though they are specifying the levels represent “lead found in specific qualified homes that participate in the sampling program,” and not the entire city.Residents whose homes tested positive were contacted and the city has published a map of impacted service lines, it said in the alert.The notice, released Tuesday, said lead service lines were to blame, and that between January and June of this year the city’s Water Protection Division had found more than 10% of the 100 samples collected exceeded the “action level for lead” set by the Environmental Protection Agency.The readings trigger the city to be responsible for “public education, adjusting treatment and lead service line replacement.”"The lead action level is a measure of the effectiveness of corrosion control treatment in water systems," the city said. "The action level is not a standard for establishing a safe level of lead in a home. … [and] this does not mean that every property that receives drinking water from the City of Aurora’s Water Production Division has lead in the drinking water.”Lead is especially harmful to children with developing brains and can cause a number of serious health conditions in adults. Lead can damage the brain and nervous system, as well as cause slowed growth and developmental, behavioral and learning difficulties, according to the Illinois Department of Health.Last year, about 180 ZIP codes across 47 counties, or roughly 13% of the state, were added to a state health department list that requires children be tested for lead exposure.“Exposure to lead in drinking water can cause serious health effects in all age groups,” the city warning said.Filters rated to remove lead, labeled NSF/ANSI Standard 53, and particulates, labeled NSF/ANSI Standard 42, can help reduce exposure, according to the state health department. Residents can also get their water tested and clean their sink screens, among other preventive measures, though boiling water does not remove lead. Related Why is it so expensive to replace lead pipes in Chicago? Trump administration gives Illinois nearly $300 million to replace toxic lead pipes Can replacing Illinois’ toxic lead pipes lead to a workforce boom?

Illinois has confirmed 240 cases of the diarrhea-causing illness cyclosporiasis, the state’s public health department confirmed Wednesday.Cyclosporiasis is not considered a deadly disease and is more of an inconvenience that in rare cases could have complications, said Dr. Emily Landon, an infectious diseases specialist at UChicago Medicine. In Illinois, 21 people have been hospitalized so far, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health. Most in Illinois who contracted the illness had traveled recently — 105 people internationally and 111 domestically. It’s unclear if the other 24 traveled.Higher numbers of cyclosporiasis are typically reported in the summer months, but this year has seen an especially high number, health officials said.The increase in Illinois is part of a larger number of cases in most states. Across 34 states, 1,645 cases have been reported, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Here's what you need to know about cyclosporiasis in Illinois.What is cyclosporiasis?Pronounced sigh-klo-spore-EYE-uh-sis, cyclosporiasis is an intestinal illness caused by the microscopic parasite cyclospora. Infection often comes after eating fresh fruits and vegetables, and can lead to watery diarrhea, stomach cramps, gas and nausea.The heat-loving parasite infects the bowels and spreads through feces. In the past, people have been infected by consuming fruits or vegetables that were exposed to feces-contaminated irrigation water.What is causing cyclosporiasis in Illinois?No definitive source has been identified for the current outbreak, but past outbreaks have been linked to imported fresh produce, like bagged salad kits and berries, according to IDPH.Cyclosporiosis is not transmitted from person to person, Landon said. Even if a person becomes sick, people don’t usually contaminate objects in their house enough to spread it to someone else.How long does it take to recover?People should talk to their doctor about getting tested if they have symptoms, so health officials can continue to track the outbreak, said Gwen Biggerstaff, the CDC’s Deputy Director of Foodborne, Waterborne, and Environmental Diseases.Most who contract the illness recover in one to two weeks, according to the CDC. Many can recover with rest and plenty of fluids, but some may need antibiotics.People can experience bloating, gas and even dehydration but rarely have more complications.“The problem with this disease is it can be kind of persistent,” Landon said. “And you can feel pretty sick and then you can be starting to get better and then the diarrhea can come back again.”Should I stop eating fresh fruits and vegetables? If a person is immunocompromised or has an underlying medical condition, they should take more precautions, Landon said. That’s especially true, for example, for those undergoing surgery soon or cancer treatments.Everyone can follow typical food safety guidelines like washing hands and thoroughly washing and scrubbing fresh produce. Illinois health officials also suggest:Incorporate more fruits and vegetables with peels or outer layers.Eat canned fruits and vegetables.Keep produce separate from raw meat and seafood.Refrigerate cut, peeled, or cooked fruits and vegetables within two hours.Refrigerate perishable produce.Cook vegetables to at least 158 degrees Fahrenheit Is it safer to buy produce from my local Illinois farmers market? Fruits and vegetables coming from a smaller, local producer are likely to have less of a risk for contamination than food from massive manufacturers, Landon said. That’s especially true if an outbreak is centered around a certain product, but officials this time around don’t know if that’s the case.So you shouldn’t assume there’s zero risk in buying from a local vendor because any farm can become contaminated especially because of the current weather, Landon said.How is Illinois tracking the cases?The Illinois Department of Public Health is working with local health officials to collect data on the cases. They are also working with the CDC to investigate a potential source causing the illness.The CDC has identified one common source linked to outbreaks in Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia and Kentucky, and the agency is tracking other cases to identify likely sources. Michigan has reported 3,762 cases as of Wednesday, which is more than the total national figure the CDC has reported.But several states — including Illinois — have reported cases unrelated to that cluster, said Biggerstaff, of the CDC. The federal agency also is investigating other outbreaks that could be connected.The number of cases locally and across the country could be higher, Landon said. That’s because testing for cyclosporiasis is expensive and some insurance may not cover it. But as cases of cyclosporiasis are more in the news, doctors will likely start testing more patients or prescribe antibiotics to treat it if the person has symptoms.If a person is confirmed to have cyclosporiasis, Landon said it’s important to cooperate with the local health department to detail everything they ate so officials can pinpoint the outbreak source.Are federal cuts impacting the outbreak? Last summer, the federal government scaled back a program, known as the Foodborne Diseases Active Surveillance Network, that monitored foodborne illnesses, NBC News previously reported. As part of the changes, reporting for cyclospora parasites became optional in 2025, according to the program’s website. The government had previously collected that data since 1997.The scaled-back federal program worked with the FDA to proactively test certain foods to check if recalls were necessary, Landon said.It’s hard to assess how much changes on the federal level are playing a role in the current outbreaks, Landon said. But it’s something health officials across the country should consider.“It’s a combination of the nature of the illness, the fact that it’s happening at a time when there’s other sporadic cases and then the lack of infrastructure and resources available for testing does matter,” Landon said, summing up the factors driving the outbreak.

Chicago Public Schools leaders announced drastic plans Wednesday to close the district’s massive deficit, including laying off 760 teachers, 801 teacher aides and 162 central office and citywide staff.The district also plans to freeze spending midyear and furlough staff for five days that students were not supposed to be in attendance, such as those that were set aside for planning, training or report card pickup.Not paying staff for five days would save the district around $85 million, but staff would experience a 2.3% pay cut, which for the average teacher translates to about $2,300.CPS has not furloughed staff in a decade, and the CTU and other staff unions are likely to challenge them, as they would eliminate some of their negotiated pay raises.District officials said the spending freeze and furloughs won’t take place until the second half of the school year and could be prevented if the city, county or state comes up with more money for CPS — likely a bid to capture the attention of lawmakers and other officials who have so far ignored pleas for more funding.On Wednesday, CPS Supt. Macquline King said that the district “is facing serious financial challenges” and there are tradeoffs in the budget.“These are all impacts that are disruptive to the education of our students, the learning experience, and ultimately the academic outcomes that we're projecting for next year,” said King, who is also the district’s CEO.Still, she described it as a “responsible” and “entirely student-centered” budget that would prevent the district from taking on more debt and interest payments, which would hurt future classroom spending. And she noted that some of the district’s financial problems are not of its own making.“Enrollment is declining while, at the same time, the needs of our students are growing,” she said. “Funding at the state and federal level has not kept up with these growing needs.” CPS Supt. Macquline King said Wednesday that the district is facing serious financial challenges and that state and federal funding has not kept pace with students’ growing needs. Candace Dane Chambers/Sun-Times file CPS must pass a balanced budget by the end of August and officials have spent months trying to close a $732 million deficit. Wally Stock, CPS treasurer and acting CFO, told board members last month that the district should pass a budget in July because it is so short on cash that it urgently needs a short-term loan to keep the district running and pay staff. The district must have a budget in place to get those loans.Stacy Davis Gates, president of the Chicago Teachers Union, called the budget “dead on arrival” even before CPS officially released it.“Students have had to learn in overcrowded classes, practice under unpaid coaches, and be counseled by caseworkers with loads beyond compare all year, and now CPS thinks they can plan a week of furloughs and tell the staff who serve them they don’t have a job? Please,” Gates said in a statement.CPS officials are especially hopeful that the city will bail out the school district as it did last year by pulling a record amount of money out of special taxing districts called TIFs. When city officials decide TIF funds are not needed for economic development projects, they can declare a surplus and disperse that money to taxing bodies, like CPS.City council members, however, often have plans for any extra TIF dollars and want to hold onto them. When Chicago Mayor Johnson declared a record $1 billion TIF surplus last year, city council members initially fought against giving it to CPS.And it’s unclear how much TIF funding might be available to CPS. The city does not announce how much it plans to declare as surplus until the fall.A growing chorus, including the CTU, other unions, school board members and CPS officials, are pushing for Gov. JB Pritzker and state lawmakers to call a special session to increase education funding. They say it’s not an unreasonable request, since lawmakers were willing to do it for negotiations over the Chicago Bears’ football stadium.So far, state leaders have rejected those calls. But King said she is still hopeful that the state and city will come through.“This will require a unified call to action,” she said. “My hope is that in the next few months, we will all come together in a joint advocacy … in the service of our Chicago’s children.”The announcement that CPS is laying off 760 teachers was expected. When principals received their staff allocations for the 2026-27 school year back in May, they were told that the district would raise the student-to-teacher ratio to save money. An analysis by WBEZ found that would likely result in about 700 fewer teachers.The school district also is cutting some teachers and aides due to enrollment declines or a decrease in how much special education support and services students need at individual schools.Many of the teachers and aides who are losing their jobswere already informed by their principals, though official layoff notices will go out Wednesday. District officials note that most laid-off staff get rehired by CPS, because positions open up when staff quit or retire.Ben Felton, chief of talent, said that the overall number of aides and teachers is actually going up, largely because of rising special education needs across the district.CTU sent CPS leaders a letter Wednesday requesting bargaining over its planned layoffs. The letter called on the district to take legal action against the Cook County treasurer because the office has been delayed in releasing the property taxes that CPS and other government entities rely on to make payroll.CPS faced a massive deficit in last year's budget, too. Officials closed that $734 million gap after months of contentious debate through staff cuts, debt refinancing and tapping into one-time funding sources, like $550 million in TIF funding from the city.CPS laid off 500 custodians, 250 lunchroom workers, over 100 crossing guards and dozens of office workers. The district also slashed central office staff and instituted a hiring freeze.At the time, CPS’ budget director said that there was no more “low hanging fruit” to cut and that future cuts would have to impact classrooms. Related CPS plans to cut teacher positions, raise class sizes in bid to shrink $732 million deficit As CPS cuts staff to plug deficit, educator unions and school board members press for more state funding CPS says it won’t cut instructional time or Safe Passage program in upcoming budget

La Agencia Federal de Pequeños Negocios planea establecer Centros de Alcance para Préstamos por Desastre para las personas afectadas por las tres rondas de tormentas que devastaron el área de Chicago el mes pasado.Los centros abrirán este miércoles y estarán disponibles hasta el 30 de julio. Habrá representantes disponibles para responder preguntas sobre el programa de préstamos por desastre, explicar el proceso de solicitud y ayudar a llenarlas. Se aceptarán visitas sin cita previa y se pueden hacer citas en línea.Los dueños de casa y los inquilinos pueden solicitar hasta $100,000 para reparar o reemplazar bienes personales dañados o destruidos, como electrodomésticos y muebles, así como hasta $500,000 en préstamos de bajo interés para reparar o reemplazar propiedades dañadas o destruidas durante las tormentas del 10 de junio, 11 de junio y 17 de junio. La Voz Chicago WhatsAppEncuentra más noticias en nuestro canal de WhatsApp. Síguenos. Las empresas y organizaciones sin fines de lucro calificadas pueden solicitar préstamos de hasta $2 millones para cubrir los daños. La fecha límite para solicitar indemnización por daños a la propiedad física es el 8 de septiembre, aunque las solicitudes por daños económicos tendrán plazo hasta abril próximo.Las ubicaciones en Chicago estarán en dos sucursales de las Bibliotecas Públicas de Chicago: Pullman, en 11001 S. Indiana Ave., y Thurgood Marshall, en 7506 S. Racine Ave.La sucursal de Pullman estará abierta de 10 a.m. a 6 p.m. los lunes y miércoles, y de 12 p.m. a 8 p.m. los martes y jueves; la sucursal de Thurgood Marshall estará abierta de 12 p.m. a 8 p.m. los lunes y miércoles, así como de 10 a.m. a 6 p.m. los martes y jueves. Ambas estarán abiertas de 9 a.m. a 5 p.m. los viernes y los sábados.Una ubicación en el suburbio de Blue Island estará en 2434 Vermont St., y otra en el suburbio de Alsip, en 4500 West 123rd Street. Ambas estarán abiertas de 9 a.m. a 6 p.m. de lunes a viernes, y de 10 a.m. a 2 p.m. los sábados.Los condados de LaSalle, Coles y Effingham también tendrán sus propias oficinas. Se puede encontrar la oficina más cercana y sus horarios en el sitio web de la Agencia Federal de Pequeños Negocios.Traducido con una herramienta de inteligencia artificial (AI) y editado por La Voz Chicago

PHILADELPHIA — It’s just the first inning in this year’s collective-bargaining negotiations for a new basic agreement. The current five-year deal expires on Dec. 1.But if one listens to the principals at this point, there seems to be little wiggle room on the main contention of the talks — a salary cap. Both sides are immovable. The result will certainly be an owners' lockout of the players this offseason; the only question is whether games will be missed during the 2027 season if both sides remain locked in their positions.Bruce Meyer, the new executive director of the Major League Baseball Players’ Association, and Rob Manfred, in his waning days as baseball commissioner, said on Tuesday their sides are solidly for or against the cap. Both men elaborated on their positions at an annual meeting of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America in the hours before Tuesday’s All-Star Game at Citizens Bank Park won by the American League over the National League, 4-0.“I have an ownership group that’s more united than any time I’ve been in baseball,” said Manfred, who succeeded Bud Selig in 2015 and has said he will retire at the end of his current term in 2029.“Salary caps are a bad offense,” said Meyer, who replaced Tony Clark this past spring after eight years as the union’s general counsel and lead negotiator. “Salary caps prevent teams from doing the things they believe are in the interest of making the team better.”The players have had a long-standing aversion to a cap that goes back decades, and the current alignment under Clark and Meyer has been saying for the past two years that a cap is a non-starter.Of course, in their first foray at negotiations, the owners proposed a cap of $245.3 million and a floor of $171.2 million. They then added a dismantling of the amateur draft system completely excluding high school players.“Seventy to 75% of our players are college players now,” Manfred said. “That’s the state of play. Years ago, decades ago nobody had a good word to say about college players. That’s changed dramatically. The college programs are great.”For the owners, this is all about saving money and consolidating their profits. Add a continued escalation of team valuations, Meyer said.The players have become even more united every time MLB puts a new proposal on the table.“They’ve made it easy,” Meyer said.MLB lags behind other salary-capped leagues in valuations. For instance, the NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers were sold last year to Dodgers owner Mark Walter for $10 billion. The NFL’s Seattle Seahawks were just purchased by San Francisco 49ers limited partner Vinod Khosia for $9.6 billion.The Padres are in the process of being sold to investment firm and European soccer owner Jose E. Feliciano and his wife Kwanza Jones for an MLB record valuation of $3.9 billion. Of course, baseball’s highest valued franchises, the Yankees ($8.2 billion) and Dodgers ($7.8 billion), according to Forbes, are not for sale. The average MLB club is valued at $2.9 billion.The players are no paupers, either, with an average salary this season of $5.34 million, up 3.4% from 2025.The owners see a salary cap and cost certainty as a way of getting to where the other higher-valued leagues are now.“Owners try to maximize their profits at the expense of players in every sport since the dawn of time,” said Meyer, who’s also worked in the player unions in the NBA, NHL and NFL. The players, going back to Marvin Miller, who came from United Steelworkers of America and had no sports background, have never had an executive director with Meyer’s sports labor experience.Clark was a former player and former union executive director Don Fehr was a lawyer from within the MLBPA system.“Owners in all of sports have tried to keep as much control over players’ lives and careers as they could and to wrest back any advances,” Meyer added. “Again, that’s what they do. I understand it from their standpoint. But our job is representing players, and players believe they are representing the game and the fans.”Manfred stipulated on Tuesday that these negotiations are all about competitive balance and MLB is listening to fans, particularly in smaller market cities where there’s a perception their teams have little chance to win.Manfred said MLB’s process of listening to fans “is very sophisticated.”“We use professional pollsters,” he said. “We cut our demographics — big market, small market, by age, by ability. We do focus groups to get a more granular view of what people are saying. We pay attention to those things.”It’ll be a long, hot summer of this kind of posturing, but don’t expect negotiations to get serious until after the Dec. 1 deadline.Right now, it’s the top of the second inning.