Working Lunch newsletter
Initiative to boost affordable homeownership on South and West sides wins Chicago Prize • U.S., Nippon Steel to reline Gary Works blast furnace this year
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Working Lunch

Tuesday, February 17, 2026

Proposed cuts to housing-first programs would be ‘going back like 30 years,’ advocates warn

The Trump administration seeks to scale back funding to permanent housing for the homeless. Advocates are sounding the alarm.

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Initiative to boost affordable homeownership on South and West sides wins Chicago Prize

Instead of building individual homes on scattered sites, Reclaiming Chicago aims to transform whole neighborhoods at once, taking over large vacant lots and planting groups of more than 100 affordable homes.

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U.S., Nippon Steel to reline Gary Works blast furnace this year

The reline for blast furnace #14 will cost $350 million and take 100 days, starting in May and ending in August.

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Chicago trading card magnate lists condo in One Magnificent Mile building

Bayer and his wife are the mystery buyers who paid $14.25 million in 2024 for a seven-bedroom, 15,000-square-foot Lincoln Park mansion.

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Chicago Cubs’ Tom Ricketts calls Marquee ‘maybe the smartest thing we’ve done’ amid shifting TV landscape

Looking back at the Chicago Cubs’ decision to launch Marquee Sports Network in 2020, Chairman Tom Ricketts said he wouldn’t do anything differently.

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River Forest seeks community feedback on Madison Street building plan

River Forest is moving ahead with plans to redevelop village-owned lots at the northeast corner of Madison Street and Ashland Avenue.

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Rivian finds a way to shine even as the EV market struggles in the dark

Rivian shocked the market with strong earnings results last week, proving itself an outlier in the electric vehicle market, which has been struggling with the end of government subsidies and cooling consumer excitement.

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Chicago Fire player Mauricio Pineda buys Loop condo for $680,000

Chicago Fire defensive midfielder Mauricio Pineda in June paid $680,000 for a two-bedroom, 1,111-square-foot condominium on the 26th floor of a 41-story tower in the Loop’s Southbank development.

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