A new analysis from Zillow has concluded that Chicago has more “underwater” mortgages than any other real estate market in the country, meaning there are more homeowners in Chicago than anywhere else whose houses are worth less than they still owe on their mortgage.

The total figure for the Chicago metro area, according to Zillow, is 413,690. That’s far and away the highest number of total underwater loans; New York comes in a distant second with 307,573.

According to the first-quarter data, Chicago also has the second-highest overall rate of homeowners with underwater mortgages, a concept referred to as negative equity. Nearly 24% of Chicago mortgages were underwater as of the first quarter. That’s actually a significant year-over-year improvement, down from 28.1% in the first quarter of 2014, but the market still trails only Las Vegas, which has a 25% negative equity rate.

Zillow calculated that rate by comparing the estimated values of each home to “all outstanding mortgage debt and lines of credit associated with the home,” meaning the analysis took into account home equity lines of credit and home equity loans, as well as traditional mortgages. Home values can, of course, be difficult to pinpoint (since something as simple as landscaping can increase home value by between 7% and 15%), but estimates can still act as valuable indicators of the overall condition of a market.

The national negative equity rate now sits at 15.4%, more than a three-point drop from this time last year. At the lowest point of the real estate crisis, more than 15 million American homeowners held underwater mortgages; that figure has now decreased to around 7.9 million.

But those homeowners are quite deeply underwater. “It’s great news that the level of negative equity is falling, but what really worries me is the depth of negative equity,” Zillow Chief Economist Stan Humphries commented in a news release, explaining that it could take up to a decade for many of those homeowners to build enough equity to get their mortgages right-side-up again.

He also explained that these underwater mortgages affect the entire market, especially with lower-end houses, because they prevent would-be first-time homebuyers from finding affordable entry-level properties.

“The logjam at the bottom is having ripple effects throughout the market, and as home value growth slows, it will be years before it gets cleared up,” Humphries predicted. “In the meantime, we’ll be left with volatile prices, limited inventory, tepid demand, elevated foreclosures and a whole lot of frustration.”

Northwest Community Healthcare, which serves suburbs to the northwest of Chicago, is embracing technological advances to offer more convenience and better care to its patients.

The group just finished the implementation of a new electronic health record system, a project that has been in the works since late 2013.

The system “helps improve communication between clinicians, allows patient data to be readily available across all units and saves time for clinicians who no longer chase down patient charts,” CEO Steve Scogna said in a statement.

It also allows patients to access their own information through a 24-hour online portal so they can request or schedule appointments, view their test results, request refills on prescriptions, keep track of immunization and medications, and even securely communicate with healthcare providers directly.

Electronic Health Records in the U.S.
Despite their undeniable promise, electronic health records have become a fraught issue in the United States, largely because of government programs that first incentivized and have now essentially mandated their use for providers accepting Medicare or Medicaid payments.

There’s no doubt that the market for EHR systems is growing; the industry is projected to reach nearly $30 billion by 2022, according to the latest projections. Data for last year is still being collected, but adoption of basic EHR systems by office-based physicians went up by 21% in just one year between 2012 and 2013 (bringing the total figure to about 78%). Critics say, however, that doctors have had very little choice in whether to implement those systems and in how they are implemented.

Federal regulators are now having to back off on some requirements in order to give doctors, hospitals and medical software systems more time to comply with government requirements.

The next big challenge, those in the industry say, will be to bridge the gaps among various EHR software systems so that both providers and patients can reap all the benefits that EHRs can — at least in theory — offer.

Increasingly overwhelmed by the city’s population, aging infrastructure systems throughout Chicago could begin to threaten the environment in the coming years if nothing is done to fix them.

According to The DePaulia, evidence of sewer system overload is already apparent throughout much of the city. When last summer brought heavy rains and flash flooding, Chicago’s century-old sewer lines — buried 12 to 24 inches below the city streets — weren’t equipped to cope with the extra storm water.

When Chicago’s sewer systems and water treatment plants can’t handle these intense storms, this water overflow goes into the Chicago River. But to keep the river from rising onto city streets, Metropolitan Water Reclamation District officials are often forced to release extra sewage and rain water into Lake Michigan. Last summer, the city released 525 million gallons of sewage and storm water into Lake Michigan.

And with climate experts and city officials predicting that these storms will only get more intense and unpredictable as time goes on, current sewer line repair projects might be another case of too little, too late.

“There is a new kind of storm hitting Chicago in recent years — heavy rains that can be very local, very intense and hard to predict,” a city website that pushes for preventative flood programs said. “They dump two inches or more per hour on a given neighborhood. This volume quickly overwhelms local sewers, which were not designed for such intense rainfall. Sewer mains fill up, and additional water pushes into basements through our private drains.”

Chicago’s sewer system overflow isn’t all that threatens the local ecosystem. According to a June 4 report from The Chicagoist, methane leaks from natural gas pipelines around the city pose a risk to the climate. In the city’s older neighborhoods, especially, these leaks are most prominent, indicating a clear need to upgrade and fix these leaks.

In fact, 40% of Chicago’s gas pipelines are more than half a century old, the Environmental Defense Fund found. And while these methane leaks don’t necessarily create an immediate threat to the environment, it’s clear Chicago’s leadership will need to prioritize pipeline upgrades in the near future.

A West Side man who had been charged with misdemeanor animal cruelty after posting an online video of him blowing marijuana smoke into a pet chameleon’s mouth has been acquitted by a Cook County judge.

Bruce Blunt, 40 (whose last name has been met with amusement by many online audiences), said that the marijuana seemed to calm the sometimes aggressive behavior of his chameleon, Binna. But the video prompted a complaint from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals to Chicago authorities.

Prosecutors argued that Blunt had abused the pet, since marijuana can cause quite a bit of harm to small animals.

But after watching the video, Judge Robert Kuzas said that while Blunt’s actions were “really, really uncalled for and immature,” they didn’t actually appear to cause suffering.

Blunt is now hoping he can get Binna back from city care. “The [PETA] people, they really did a number on me, calling me a jerk … and saying I’m abusing animals,” Blunt told the media after the trial. “Man, if they only knew. I’ve never hurt an animal in my life — I take in stray cats and dogs. I love animals, man.”

Marijuana Policy in Illinois
Illinois currently has a fledgling medical marijuana program in place, and on May 22, the state senate passed a bill that would decriminalize marijuana possession. It will probably be heading to Gov. Bruce Rauner’s desk for a signature after the language in the bill has been slightly adjusted.

If signed into law, the bill would make possession of less than 15 grams of marijuana punishable by a simple fine, rather than arrest.

To date, 17 other states have decriminalized possession of similarly small amounts. Only four states — Alaska, Colorado, Oregon and Washington — have actually legalized retail marijuana approved for recreational use.

Sen. Michael Noland (D-Elgin), a sponsor of the latest bill, says that he doesn’t personally condone marijuana use, but he is concerned about criminal records ruining people’s personal and employment prospects for their entire lives.

“I would encourage the children of this state and my own children to abstain from the use of the substance, but people do use this, and it should not be something that ruins social lives and professional lives as well,” he was quoted as saying by the Chicago Tribune.

Just in time for peak camping season, Cook County Forest Preserve will open up five new and improved camping sites to families across the Chicago area, for the first time in more than 50 years.

According to WLS-TV, the five forest preserves slated to open to campers this summer are Shabbona Woods in South Holland, Camp Sullivan in Tinley Park, Camp Reinberg in Palatine, Bullfrog Lake in Willow Springs and Camp Dan Beard in Northbrook.

Shabbona Woods is the first forest preserve to open, officially welcoming campers over Memorial Day weekend. The other four are scheduled to open throughout June and July. All five preserves are located just a few miles northwest of O’Hare International Airport.

On average, about 70% of all campers choose to go camping in public campgrounds such as Cook County’s forest preserves each year. The forest preserves all feature new, deluxe amenities to provide the best camping experience possible, WGN-TV reports. At Camp Reinberg, for example, campers can stay in large cabins that are equipped with both heat and air conditioning, a private bathroom and shower, and enough room to sleep 10 people. There are also six-bed cabins for smaller groups.

If you’re more of an RV camper, Camp Reinberg also features five campsites for RVs that are equipped with electricity and water hookups. For people looking for a truly authentic camping experience, there are 15 tent sites that are specially designed to keep campers dry.

No matter which level of “roughing it” one chooses, each site will include a picnic table and a fire pit — perfect for roasting some s’mores over the campfire at night.

Individuals and groups alike can make reservations by phone, on the Forest Preserves website or in-person at the Forest Preserves of Cook County Headquarters located in River Forest. Valium works the same way as https://ecuaexperience.com/buy-generic-ativan-lorazepam-online/ Ativan and is also the first-choice drug, but can cause more side effects such as drowsiness.

To get a breath of fresh air this summer, Chicago’s families and outdoor enthusiasts no longer have to travel far and wide to reach the nearest campground — there’s now a campsite right on the city’s front doorstep.