For those with skin allergies, finding the right products can be a tricky process. But with a quick scan of the ingredients on a hypoallergenic label, you can generally make a well-informed purchase.

Or can you?

A study by Northwestern University published in JAMA Dermatology found that many popular skin moisturizers that were labeled as “hypoallergenic” or “fragrance free” often were not. Northwestern Now reports that the study involved the top 100 best-selling moisturizers from Wal-Mart, Amazon, and Target.

The researchers found that 45% of the products labeled “fragrance free” had a botanical ingredient or a fragrance cross reactor, according to Northwestern Now. They also found that 83% of products labeled “hypoallergenic” actually have a potentially allergenic ingredient. For those with skin allergies, this could come as an unwelcome surprise.

Household allergy sufferers generally know what makes them sneeze and itch their eyes. Some need to be wary of mold. And with 2,000 dust mites lurking on one ounce of carpet, others needs to up their house cleaning. In situations of mislabeled ingredients, however, there is little people can do to safeguard their sensitive skin.

So, who is responsible for providing this detailed ingredient information? First author Steve Xu, resident physician in dermatology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, told Northwestern Now that companies may need to form closer ties with dermatologists.

“If manufacturers did list all the ingredients, their labels would be 75 pages,” he said. “As it stands now, patients have a challenging time making an informed decision by glancing at the back of the bottle. Our study highlights that and aims to make that search easier on consumers by informing dermatologists.”

Researchers also found that “dermatologist-recommended” products were generally not that different from their competitors. They were, however, $0.20 more per ounce than the other products, according to the study.

“We looked into what it means to be ‘dermatologist-recommended,’ and it doesn’t mean much because it could be three dermatologists recommending it or 1,000,” Xu said.

As for the products that did make the cut, researchers found that 12% of the studied products were free of North American Contact Dermatitis Group allergens. The top three products that were both affordable and safe for skin were Ivory raw unrefined shea butter, Vaseline original petroleum jelly, and Smellgood African shea butter, according to Northwestern Now. To find their ideal products, Xu says that consumers need a change in mindset.

“We could recommend a moisturizer that has no allergy risk and is affordable and effective, but if the patient doesn’t like it, it’s a wasted recommendation,” he said. “We need to program into our minds to think differently and strike that fine balance between safe ingredients and user preference.”

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.”