The Latest Breaking News from La Shawn Ford

CHICAGO — A new bill in the Illinois House aims to stop schools from working with police to issue students tickets for minor misbehavior, a harmful and sometimes costly practice that many districts have continued despite pleas to stop from the state’s top education officials.

Organizers say they will need more funding to complete the project and keep it running in the long term.

The medical examiner’s office has already confirmed 1,599 opioid overdose deaths for 2022, and it expects 400 to 500 of its pending cases will also be listed as death by opioid toxicity.

CHICAGO — The strain on Chicago’s resources from a continued influx of migrants was underscored this week when Mayor Lori Lightfoot asked the state for $54 million in emergency funding and her administration confirmed it will open a shelter at a former school in Woodlawn to temporarily house asylum-seekers.

Lawmakers have said that some components of the SAFE-T Act will have to be changed. But they are sticking with the overall concepts. The gambit could work. But it hasn’t come without political trouble for Gov. J.B. Pritzker.

The bill was introduced after Chicago police officials struggled to respond to the street takeovers and drag racing that gave way to clashes with police and possibly left a woman dead this weekend.

CHICAGO -- Cree Medley, 24, struggled with depression and anxiety throughout her time in college. While she was a student at the University of Illinois Chicago, the struggles started in 2015 and came to a head in 2016 in a suicide attempt.

CHICAGO -- Marine Corps veteran Justin Wigg was suffering from anger issues and other symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, but traditional medicine had been little help. So last fall, he traveled to Peru for a treatment that isn’t legal in Illinois — at least not yet.

An analysis shows since the first COVID death in 2020, Cook County has seen thousands of deaths beyond what would be expected — the equivalent of a plane crash every two weeks — and it’s not all from the virus.

Two years after issuing an executive order creating a committee to address the opioid crisis in Illinois, Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Monday announced the formation of a statewide Overdose Action Plan to tackle a problem that only got worse during the pandemic.

His supporters may be clamoring, but for Ford, 2023 could be another tall order.