CTA will use the money to upgrade its bus fleet, renovate the Wilson Red Line “El” stop and fund a study to improve lakefront bus service. more ›

From the inbox: Irv & Shelly's Fresh Picks, the popular service that provides farm-fresh foods to customers via CSAs and weekly produce boxes, has been awarded an $81,000 grant by the United States Department of Agriculture's Small Business Innovation Research Grant Program to "increase the fair trade supply of local food." more ›

Last year it was announced the city might be a high speed rail hub. Today, it was confirmed as Illinois learned how much funding will be received to build a high speed rail link between Chicago and St. Louis. The Obama Administration announced Illinois will be awarded $1.23 billion of the $8 billion in economic stimulus grants, under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, for the designated 31 states to develop 13 high-speed rail corridors linking major cities and the rural areas between them. Illinois officials, along with Gov. Pat Quinn, hoped the city would receive at least $2 billion. The grant will serve as a down payment towards construction of a Midwest high speed rail network, which will total $2.6 billion and connect every major city within 400 miles of Chicago. more ›

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced this year's recipients of the USDA Farmers Market Initiative Program. Green City Market was awarded a grant for $76,300. The grant money will help fund GCM's Farmer Scholarship Program, which helps facilitate participating farms in obtaining 3rd Party Organic and/or Sustainable Certification by 2012; staff salaries; the Edible Gardens program; and marketing materials for the market's electronic benefits transfer (EBT) program. [Inbox] more ›

CityArts is the largest of four arts grant programs administered by the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs. Other city-funded grant programs include the Neighborhood Arts Program and the Cultural Outreach Program, both of which provide assistance to educational arts programs directed towards the city's underserved communities. The two year NAP grants are given to individual teaching artists, while COP grants are awarded annually to organizations. Through NAP, the DCA is dispersing $64,177 to twenty-one people this year, and COP will provide twenty-seven groups a combined total of $593,333. more ›

• The B.F. Shaw Printing Co., parent company of the McHenry County-based newspaper Northwest Herald, has sued Cal Skinner Jr. of the McHenry County Blog for damages based on a post Skinner made regarding an alleged loan to the paper, claiming such a loan never happened.
• The City has filed applications for grants that would provide upwards of $106 million meant to hire 400 new police officers. But the grants, good for three years, contain the provision that the officers have to remain on the city payroll for at least one additional year after.
• At yesterday's Pride Parade, Sen. Roland Burris supported civil unions but stopped short of endorsing gay marriage - a view shared by Pres. Barack Obama.

Congratulations to Steppenwolf, who was recently named the recipient of two major grants – each helping to fund unique initiatives and programs within the company. more ›