Annual sales in the restaurant industry may have reached $783 billion in 2017, but that doesn’t mean that everyone is flocking to their local eateries. In fact, nearly 20% of 2016 survey respondents said that they use a food delivery service at least once a week, and millennials spend 44% of their food dollars eating out — much of which gets eaten up by services like GrubHub and Seamless or quick service restaurants. To compete in a market that’s based more on convenience with every passing year, Chicago dining establishments and food-related startups are finding they have to be a bit more creative than ever before.

When customers can’t find their favorite food spot on their delivery app of choice, they may end up spending their money elsewhere. Although delivery made up only 3% of all restaurant transactions this past year, customers ate in sit-down restaurants just 37% of the time. In contrast, 39% of customers opted for carryout, and 21% of all restaurant transactions were made at the drive-thru. In response, many area restaurant owners have had to take a crash course in the latest technology. On top of that, some have had to redesign their establishments — from food prep lines to expanded waiting areas — to account for the increasing demand for takeout. The average home kitchen in the U.S has around 25 feet of counter space, but some businesses have had to design new, separate kitchens just for mobile orders.

In Chicago, Duck Duck Goat added a quick carryout option, Duck Duck Ta Go, just four months after they opened their initial establishment. The “Ta Go” portion has its own small kitchen and offers dishes that aren’t available on the regular menu. Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises, a restaurant group with dozens of outlets to its name, recently opened a takeout- and delivery-only spot, Seaside’s, in Lincoln Park. Now that takeout is moving away from the bar area and into the main lobby of many locations (or even outside), restaurant layouts are being adjusted accordingly. Heat lamps and to-go shelving is in; cash register space is out.

But some restaurants are steadfast in their belief that delivery isn’t for them. And some, like Smoque BBQ in Irving Park, have been forced to give in due to the increasing customer demand to provide more takeout options. Around 40% of their transactions were already attributed to takeout orders, but they’ve begrudgingly started offering delivery now through Caviar, another food delivery service.

“We were getting a lot of pressure from customers,” co-owner Barry Sorkin told the Chicago Tribune. “This is how people get food now, whether we like it or not … We were still uncomfortable, but [Caviar takes delivery] seriously, and there’s a degree of professionalism.”
The fact that Caviar places limits on their delivery zones and uses thermal bags to keep food hot doesn’t hurt, either.

Still, some consumers may not want to deal with food delivery services yet are too tired to cook a big meal. Tovala, a Chicago-based startup, promises a solution in the form of a tech-friendly oven and meal preparation subscription service, combined. The oven steams, broils, and bakes food (either the meals obtained through the company’s weekly subscription service or the consumer’s own dishes) until it’s fully cooked and ready to enjoy. The smart oven costs $399 and the three-meal subscription service is $36 a week — but if you crunch the numbers, you might find it’s a bargain, depending on how much you normally spend on food in a given week.

Regardless of whether the smart oven catches on, it’s likely that consumers (especially younger ones) are going to continue to seek out convenient and delicious ways to eat. In other words, restaurants will need to stay on their toes and keep adapting if they want to stick around.

In August, Governor Bruce Rauner signed State Bill 1933, making Illinois the latest state to implement some form of automatic voter registration. Under this new law, which takes effect immediately, Illinois citizens will be automatically registered to vote when they register or renew their driver’s license.

The bill is similar to the one that Rauner vetoed a little more than a year ago. At the time, Rauner feared that automatic voter registration opened up the door for voter fraud, a concern that most experts say is totally unfounded despite its hold on the political Zeitgeist in the past few years.

Since then, Democrats have worked to make the bill more palatable for the Republican Governor, especially as political pressure from grassroot activist campaigns mounted.

“We retooled parts of this plan based on suggestions from both sides of the aisle. There’s no plausible reason Gov. Rauner shouldn’t sign it the moment it lands on his desk,” State Senator and co-sponsor of the Bill Andy Manar (D) said in a statement in May, according to Huffington Post.

And as it would happen, they succeeded.

“This is good bipartisan legislation and it addresses the fundamental fact that the right to vote is foundational for the rights of Americans in our democracy,” Rauner said during the bill signing ceremony in Chicago, as reported by The Washington Post. “We as a people need to do everything we can to knock down barriers, remove hurdles for all those who are eligible to vote, to be able to vote.”

Proponents of the bill are celebrating. They believe that it will help to reduce the barriers to civil engagement, thereby enabling more people to take part in the electoral process. Critics, on the other hand, still believe that automatic voter registration bills are problematic, in part because they feel it can lead to potential voter fraud, but also because they feel it is a governmental overreach.

In 2015, Oregon was the first state to sign a law for automatic voter registration. Like the Illinois bill, the DMV was central to their plan.

As of 2015, 218 million of the nearly 245 million American adults had a driver’s license. That means the DMV database has important information like social security and citizenship status for 89% of the entire population, making it an ideal agency to handle voter registration.

Since then, the law has been deemed a success, with more than half of all registered voters participating in the 2016 election, according to the New York Times.

The United States has a complicated history with voting rights. Over the past two and a half centuries, voting rights have spread beyond landholding white men, always marching towards greater inclusion. In 1920, women won for themselves the right to vote after a long campaign of suffrage.

Americans of color were granted the right fifty years earlier in 1870, but oppressive measures during the reconstruction and Jim Crow era made it near impossible for many African Americans to exercise the right to vote. That changed with the passing of the Voting Rights Act the year after the Civil Rights act passed, banning discrimination in public facilities.

And while there might still be a great deal of controversy and speculation over voting rights, bills like SB1933 keep progress moving forward.

UPDATED 10/22/20

Welding tools are finding more uses than connecting metal parts to each other this month, as more and more consumers purchase welding glasses to enjoy the total solar eclipse.

Welding shades, specifically “Shade 14,” have become the item to have for people that wanted to observe the solar eclipse without cooking their retinas in the process. Just before the eclipse, many stores increased the price of their protective eyewear. According to WSVN, some listings of “eclipse glasses” rose as high as $129.95.

However, according to Susan Barnette, the Director at Buehler Planetarium and Observatory, there were a lot cheaper options.

“These are so strong that they will block out the same amount as these solar filters,” said Barnette, talking about welder’s glasses.

There are more than 500,000 welders employed in the U.S. today, according to the American Welding Society. And that means that these glasses are very, very common. Especially when one considers that many homeowners with workshops might weld as a hobby.

One doesn’t even need to purchase actual protective gear, according to Barnette. They just need to purchase the glass panel.

“All I did with this is took the piece of glass, and I taped a little shield around it,” Barnette said, “so that I would make sure people would be safe. You don’t wanna risk seeing the surface of the sun.”

And Barnette was not the only one to take advantage of this fact, hundreds of consumers across the nation have as well. Welding shops all over were also taking advantage of the trend.

Like Dressel Welding Supply and Roberts Oxygen, in Hagerstown, Maryland.

“We’ve been getting calls left and right about it… We had a few calls (earlier), but this week it’s been kind of nuts,” Roberts store Manager Jerry Jacobson said.

The extra dark lenses, such as shade 14, can be used to see the eclipse safely, according to the NASA website:

“Experts suggests that one widely available filter for safe solar viewing is welders glass of sufficiently high number. The only ones that are safe for direct viewing of the Sun with your eyes are those of shade 12 or higher. These are much darker than the filters used for most kinds of welding. If you have an old welder’s helmet around the house and are thinking of using it to view the Sun, make sure you know the filter’s shade number. If it’s less than 12 (and it probably is), don’t even think about using it to look at the Sun. Many people find the Sun too bright even in a Shade 12 filter, and some find the Sun too dim in a shade 14 filter — but shade 13 filters are uncommon and can be hard to find.”

There has been such a demand for these lenses that stores across the nation have sold out and created back orders, with some even creating waiting lists as long as 22 people. Unfortunately, not everyone got their lenses in time for the eclipse, leaving some unlucky eclipse viewers with welding glass they can’t actually use.

Considering that most welding helmets come with a shade 10 lens, not a shade 14, there was never really much need for something so dark. In fact, most welding suppliers don’t keep a large amount in stock.

There are lots of useful tools available today. A customer who is looking for a welder and compressor might specifically decide to get a welder air compressor and compressor welding machine. These sorts of devices are able to serve multiple functions at once. People will have the chance to use fewer devices overall when they decide to use products as versatile as a gas powered air compressor generator. 

The simple act of storing a lot of different tools can be difficult for a lot of people, especially if they work on a lot of complex home improvement projects. Units that have more than one different function can help people avoid making multiple purchases in the first place. They’ll be much less likely to run out of space in their workshops or garages when they decide to rely on these kinds of sophisticated units instead.

Some individuals enjoy collecting tools, and might want to own a very broad range of devices. These people still might want to get devices like these, which are valuable to own. The people who are specifically interested in the capabilities of these devices will be even more interested in units that give them the chance to save money. 

Putting a halt on legislative back-and-forth, Illinois lawmakers have voted to approve a new state budget. But some critics point out that the plan has ignored workers’ compensation reform. The Chicago Tribune reports that the vote was instated to override Gov. Bruce Rauner’s veto on the budget.

In 2013 alone, there were 917,100 occupational injuries that resulted in an average of eight days missed work per person. This makes workers’ compensation an ever-present part of state legislation — though it may be taking a back seat in Illinois.

According to Chicago Tribune, the final budget came out to $36.1 billion and increased the corporate income tax to 7% and the personal rate to 4.95%. Toff Maisch, CEO of the Illinois Chamber of Commerce, told Chicago Tribune that it’s problematic for the budget to skip over rising property taxes and increased workers’ compensation insurance costs.

“The fact that there are no reforms at all is an incredible missed opportunity,” he said.

Robert Reed echoed this thought in his recent Chicago Tribune column, stating that this decision undermines a long-standing battle for better workers’ compensation policies in Illinois.

“The business withdrawal is another lost opportunity to sensibly revamp this complex, publicly backed structure that needs to bring costs down while still properly serving those who are legitimately injured on the job,” he said. “While workers’ compensation changes never come easy in the Illinois General Assembly, there was hope earlier this year that pro-business Republicans and pro-labor Democrats would lay the groundwork for bipartisan compromise.”

According to Chicago Tribune, Gov. Rauner is a supporter of workers’ comp rights and other business policies, making him a favorable candidate for CEOs and small business owners. While the budget did not include new workers’ compensation provisions, Chicago Tribune reports that two workers’ comp bills passed the General Assembly this legislative session. One of the bills designates $10 million for a government-funded insurance company to compete with private insurance companies. The bills are moving on to Gov. Rauner.

However, business interest groups say these bills don’t go far enough in reducing insurance costs for business owners. When someone is injured driving a company car, for example, their company can face steep costs. The three most common causes of car accidents are distracted driving, drunk driving, and speeding, carrying great risk for any commercial driver — and potentially a great financial burden.

As for a solution going forward, Reed suggests a more realist approach.

“Illinois should not have to gut workers’ rights to remain competitive with neighboring Indiana or other Midwest states,” he writes. “At the same time, realistic safeguards against negligent employers and systemic abuse, along with more checks and balances on who gets workers’ compensation, and for how long, are instrumental to the state’s economic health.”

Working at a municipal water department isn’t always easy. There are hazards when working in the confined spaces, and the occasional loud noises reaching over 85 decibels can cause permanent hearing damage. But employees at the Chicago Water Department faced a different type of danger in recent years.

This month, seven employees at the Chicago Water Department filed a class action lawsuit against the department over workplace harassment. In the suit, the plaintiffs claim they had been denied promotions, subjected to racist remarks, and sexually harassed on the basis of their race.

“In 2017, many black people at the Water Department still cannot go to work and make a living without being subject to a hostile work environment,” Derrick Edmond, one of the plaintiffs and an engineer with the department, said to CBS Chicago. “I feel less than the man that I am when I’m talked to disrespectfully.”

That disrespect, according to the lawsuit, included use of the N-word and terms like you people. And when Edmond spoke out, the lawsuit alleges, he faced harsh discipline.

While there are around 16,000 municipal wastewater treatment facilities operating in the United States today, few have faced more scandal than those under the Chicago Water Department, which saw its Commissioner, Barrett Murphy, forced to resign in May.

Murphy’s resignation came after an investigation into the department turned up racist and sexist emails. Two other resignations followed closely after; William Bresnahan, the agency’s managing deputy commissioner, and Paul Hansen, a district superintendent of water distribution.

A spokesperson for Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel speaking to the Chicago Tribune said at the time, “We were made aware of an IG investigation into the culture at the water department. The mayor acted quickly and decisively, asking for the commissioner’s resignation and appointing a new commissioner to lead the department forward and change the department’s culture.”

Unfortunately for the city, the action did not come soon enough. Of the plaintiffs in the class action lawsuit, two are women and five are men. While the number of plaintiffs is relatively small so far, attorneys have said there are at least 30 others employees with similar claims

“This lawsuit falls on the heels of our mayor of our city having to acknowledge that the culture of the Water Department is indeed hostile and abusive,” William C. Martin, a lawyer representing the plaintiffs, told CBS Chicago. “This is the next step in this admission process.”

Another day, another example of police brutality. In this case, the victim lived to tell the tale and will even get a settlement from the city of Chicago. In an incident from 2014, Patassa Johnson alleged Sgt. George Granias beat her while she was handcuffed at the 11th District police station. Johnson and her lawyers filed a federal lawsuit, an act which subsequently revealed that Granias was the owner of several websites with racist and offensive domain names.

According to an FBI report, there was a 3.9% increase in the estimated number of violent crimes in the U.S. in 2015, and over the last few years, the nation’s eyes have been fixed on violent events between police departments and people of color.

For many, Johnson’s story is all too familiar. The suit alleges that Johnson was pulled over on suspicion of a DUI. Although she denied the charges (and they were later dropped), Johnson was handcuffed, put in the back of a squad car, and driven to the police station. It was there, Johnson’s lawyers say, that Granias grabbed her and brought her inside the station. Then, “Defendant Granias beat [Johnson] while [Johnson] was in handcuffs.” Johnson required medical attention for the injuries she sustained during this time.

“She was beat up at the police station by a Chicago police sergeant because she was a vocal black woman,” said Brendan Shiller, Johnson’s lead attorney, to The Root.

While Johnson’s legal team was preparing for the case, they found something curious: a site called n**gadown.com, purchased by Granias.

“We came across that URL and said what the hell is this?” Shiller told The Daily Beast. Each month, over 100 billion global web searches are conducted, and many people wrongly assume they can operate anonymously online.

Although the site was blank, because it showed up in Google search results, this suggested to Shiller that Granias actually launched a website after buying the domain name.

“He made it live and accessible to the public,” said Shiller. “You can create a website, but Google wouldn’t know about it unless you make it live and accessible.”

The team subsequently found other domain named owned by Granias, including n**gaguns.com, murdertech.com, deathcomescalling.com, necroarmy.com, supremegirl.com, naomiscarlet.com, conditionaldating.com, patquinnsucks.com (a dig at former Illinois governor Pat Quinn), and several others.

On the day CBS Chicago reported the discovery, an individual who identified himself as George Granias requested that n**gadown.com remove the page that listed him as the owner of the site.

“Please remove my info from n**gadown.com,” read the post. “I haven’t owned it in years and your information is false.”

The website is no longer active, but Granias’ registration is. It will not expire until the end of 2017.

In the meantime, Johnson and her legal team reached a settlement with the city, according to Shiller. The amount is still pending approval from the City Council, but the city is expected to pay $185,000 to Johnson. However, she says the compensation isn’t the same as justice.

“He needs to be fired,” Johnson said. “If he’s fired, then I’m happy because I know he will not be able to do it to anyone else.”

While the Chicago PD has reportedly launched an internal investigation into the websites, Granias is still employed as a full-time officer with the department.

Residents of Chicago’s Bronzeville district will now have easier access to fresh produce and other goods thanks to a new community shopping center. But this commercial hub isn’t like other stores in Chicago.

It’s made out of shipping containers.

Chicago Magazine reports that the shopping center, called “Boxville,” opened this week and is home to a grocery center called Produce Box, a small boutique, and a bike repair shop. The project was created by developer Bernard Loyd, who has worked to bring local investment to Bronzeville.

“The idea was always to have a community plaza with vending opportunities, something informal,” Loyd said in a statement to Chicago Magazine. “We’re trying to create a progression of spaces.”

The shipping containers look like “four giant metal Lego pieces,” according to Chicago Magazine. These structures are highly durable, lasting an average of 25 years and requiring minimal maintenance. These properties have made them a popular option in recent years for popup commercial centers.

Mashable reports that Produce Box is funded by Chicago non-profit Green City Market, bringing affordable produce and Italian ice to local residents. Previously, Bronzeville’s produce choices were greatly limited, Green City Market’s operations manager, Kathleen Williams, said in a statement to Mashable.

“Produce Box will impact the community by providing a space for neighborhood residents to gather around food,” she said. “Parts of the Bronzeville community have not had access to produce in two generations and Green City Market will work to change this by bringing produce on a weekly basis in addition to food demos.”

Commerce isn’t the only industry using shipping containers to spark affordable community development. These containers are mainly made out of steel, and four of the most common metals used in the construction industry are carbon steel, aluminum steel, copper, and stainless steel. With the construction durability of these products, they have become a key resource for new affordable housing projects around the county.

In Chicago specifically, Boxville is building off of another $9 million developmnent effort headed by Loyd, who was once a Bronzeville resident. This project, called Bronzeville Cookin’, is a dining center and business incubator, according to Chicago Magazine. Lloyd said in a statement that the city of Chicago has pledged $3 million to the project.

Michelle E.L. Merritt, owner of Aplomb, Boxville’s boutique, said in a statement to <emthat Loyd’s projects are not being implemented as top-down efforts for capital gain. Rather, he is meeting the community where they are to build up one of Chicago’s main cultural hubs.

“He’s not landing on the community, but really engaging the community in the effort,” she said.