In the News
Several years after the city cracked down on Southeast Side facilities for releasing black clouds of lung-damaging petroleum coke into surrounding neighborhoods, a new federal bill aims to set in motion the first comprehensive study on the health and environmental impacts of the pollutant.
A bill introduced in Congress on Monday would require the federal government to examine potential health risks from exposure to petroleum coke, or petcoke, a solid byproduct of the oil refining process that had for years been stored in uncontained piles along the Calumet River.
Connected devices are notorious for their shoddy security and Congress is hoping to fix that.
Members of the US Senate and House of Representatives introduced the Internet of Things Cybersecurity Improvement Act on Monday, hoping to bring legislative action to the emerging technology.
Connected devices are expected to boom to 20.4 billion units by 2020, but they don't all have the same levels of security. Hackers often target IoT devices that don't have built-in security, leading to problems like default passwords and vulnerabilities that can't be fixed.
Congresswoman Robin Kelly personally delivered 150 books last week to Sandridge Elementary School in Lynwood as part of the Library of Congress' Surplus Book Program.
"These donations not only help our schools and public libraries expand their collections, it's an opportunity for me to visit with students and answer their questions about government and issues that are of real concern to them," Kelly said.
Sandridge received books that included biographies, fiction, folklore, poetry and science.
A member of the famed Tuskegee Airmen who lived in Olympia Fields would have the post office in that suburb named in his honor under legislation introduced by U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly, D-Matteson.
Last October, Olympia Fields village officials passed a resolution in tribute to Robert Martin, who died last July at age 99.
House Democrats say their increasingly visiblealliance with politically active physicians helped them pass legislation mandating federal background checks on all gun sales. But they so far haven't broken through the wall of opposition in the GOP-majority Senate.
It's been a busy week for south suburban U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly, D-Matteson, and among the most significant weeks of her six years in Congress.
On Tuesday night, Lori Lightfoot — the top vote-getter in Chicago's mayoral primary — first thanked family, campaign staff and volunteers, then Kelly during her victory speech.
"I want to thank those who had the courage to stand with our campaign against the (Democratic) Machine," Lightfoot said. "Thank you to my friend, Congresswoman Robin Kelly," who had endorsed Lightfoot.
U.S. Reps. Bobby Rush (D-1st) and Robin Kelly (D-2nd) have been appointed to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce by the Democratic Steering and Policy Committee.
The record-setting partial government shutdown that enters its 24th day today is having a damaging effect on the nation's cybersecurity, both now and in the future.
Many agencies' cybersecurity teams are down to skeleton staffs. Critical services related to cybersecurity are not being provided to the public. In addition, experts say, the shutdown is encouraging the most talented employees to leave for jobs in the private sector and will make it difficult to recruit in the future.
Keeping and recruiting tech talent is already a struggle for the federal government, and one lawmaker warns the shutdown will make the problem worse.
The House of Representatives acknowledged the victims of last weekend's Orlando massacre in predictable fashion on Monday: not with discussion of why a man once on an FBI terror watchlist was able to legally purchase the guns he used to kill at least 49 people, but with a time-honored ritual that has become so commonplace as to lose all meaning: the moment of silence.