Greetings Oak Park! We're your go-to source for what's happening in town. Read on to get plugged in! ☀️
In today's newsletter:
Also on today's calendar: Mint Cannabis Forest Park Grand Opening Celebration and 9 more events.
Today's riddle: What day of the year is trucker's day? 🤔 (Answer below!)
1. Target shoppers face a new 15-cent checkout fee per bag near Chicago starting January 1 (secretchicago.com) — Starting January 1, Oak Park shoppers at Target and other stores will pay 15 cents for each single-use bag, with the fee rising 5 cents annually until 2029. The village plans to fully ban plastic bags by 2030, while keeping paper bags available for a higher fee and exempting residents using SNAP, LINK, WIC and similar programs.
2. With goal of full funding, new payment model for fire pension explored by Finance Committee (oakpark.com) — Oak Park's finance committee is backing a new strategy to fully fund police and fire pensions by 2039 by redirecting home rule sales tax revenue and capping levy growth at 2% a year. The approach could save millions and eventually ease tax bills, but relies on bonding more small capital projects and assumes future market conditions cooperate.
3. Oak Park creates pricing tiers to reduce water use (oakpark.com) — Oak Park's village board has approved a new two-tier water rate system that will raise costs more steeply for higher users while keeping smaller increases for typical households. Officials say the change is needed to keep the water and sewer fund solvent, but park district leaders warn it could significantly increase costs for pools and other high-usage facilities over the next several years.
4. LIVE: Deal reached for Weiss and West Suburban hospitals, but reopening timeline remains unclear (abc7chicago.com) — West Suburban Medical Center in Oak Park and Weiss Memorial in Chicago have a new ownership deal that advocates say could finally reopen the long-closed safety-net hospitals. A new operator, Insight Health Systems, is expected to take over, but community leaders caution that a firm reopening timeline and concrete commitments to restore services are still to come.
5. 'Broadview Six' Continue Push for Inquiry Into 'Poisoned' Prosecution (wttw.com) — Oak Park Village Board Trustee Brian Straw is one of the so-called "Broadview Six" still pressing for an inquiry into what they call a politically tainted federal prosecution after a 2025 protest outside the Broadview ICE facility. Their attorneys want more hearings and a special prosecutor, arguing misconduct by Chicago federal prosecutors and possible outside influence from the Justice Department.
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Ok Oak Park! So now you're in the loop about what's happening today. Thanks for reading, and see you in your inbox next time! Oh -- and if you like what you're reading, invite a friend to Patch AM!
-- The Patch AM Team
P.S. The answer to today's riddle: 10-4, good buddy! (Thank you Jean H. for sending it in!)
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