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  "path": "/wbez-newsletter/2026/02/06/the-rundown-the-employers-whose-workers-still-need-snap",
  "publishedAt": "2026-02-06T21:45:00.000Z",
  "site": "https://www.wbez.org",
  "textContent": "<p><i>Good afternoon! It’s Friday, and I’ll be attending opera and techno shows back to back tonight. Here’s what you need to know today.</i></p><p><a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://www.wbez.org/politics/2026/02/06/walmart-amazon-cps-top-employers-illinois-workers-still-need-snap-benefits-trump-work-requirements-lose-benefits\" target=\"_blank\" ><b><u>1. Walmart, Amazon and CPS top the list of employers where Illinois workers still need SNAP benefits</u></b></a></p><p>Among the Chicagoans 22 or older living in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program households, 47% are employed but still need government support to buy groceries, according to 2024 U.S. Census data.</p><p>Chicago Public Schools stands out as the lone public body among the list of large, profitable and mostly publicly traded corporations like Walmart, Amazon, McDonald’s and FedEx, whose chief executive officers get paid as much as tens of millions of dollars each year. The school district, which employs about 60,000 workers, is among the state’s largest single employers.</p><p>Home care agencies top the list. Help at Home had the most workers — about 5,700 — who received food assistance. Addus, another home care agency, employed more than 3,700 people who needed SNAP benefits, making it the third-largest employer.</p><p>This month marked the expansion of work rules as part of President Donald Trump’s tax and spending bill approved by Congress last summer. In Illinois, it’s the first time since March 2020 that all SNAP recipients deemed able-bodied adults will have to abide by work rules. Recipients must work or volunteer at least 80 hours a month if they don’t receive an exemption. [<a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://www.wbez.org/politics/2026/02/06/walmart-amazon-cps-top-employers-illinois-workers-still-need-snap-benefits-trump-work-requirements-lose-benefits\" target=\"_blank\" ><u>Chicago Sun-Times</u></a>]</p><p><a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://www.wbez.org/immigration/2026/02/06/skokie-joliet-flossmoor-lansing-burbank-franklin-park-chicago-suburbs-census-diversity-race-ethnicity-black-latino\" target=\"_blank\" ><b><u>2. Dozens of Chicago suburbs have shifted to majority nonwhite</u></b></a></p><p>A generation ago, north suburban Skokie was more than 90% white. The latest census figures show the racial and ethnic breakdown of the village’s roughly 66,000 residents is now 48% white, 25% Asian, 11% Latino and 10% Black, my colleague Amy Qin reports for WBEZ.</p><p>Skokie is one of more than 30 Chicago-area suburbs that have shifted from majority-white communities to majority-nonwhite ones in the past two decades, according to a WBEZ analysis of demographic data for nearly 300 suburbs in Cook County and the five collar counties from 2005 to 2024.</p><p>Suburban communities across the country have been diversifying for decades, but in recent years, the number of Chicago-area suburbs whose demographics have flipped has accelerated. Between 2015 and 2024, 18 flipped from majority white to majority nonwhite, up from 12 during the prior 10-year period spanning 2005 through 2014.</p><p>Demographic changes began after laws and practices prohibiting racial and ethnic integration in the suburbs were dismantled, including redlining and restrictions on selling homes to nonwhite residents. More recently, increased job opportunities in the suburbs and a growing cost of living in the cities have also pushed residents further out. [<a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://www.wbez.org/immigration/2026/02/06/skokie-joliet-flossmoor-lansing-burbank-franklin-park-chicago-suburbs-census-diversity-race-ethnicity-black-latino\" target=\"_blank\" ><u>WBEZ</u></a>]</p><p><a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://chicago.suntimes.com/2026/02/06/federal-judge-will-let-marimar-martinez-release-text-messages-sent-by-border-patrol-agent-who-shot-her\" target=\"_blank\" ><b><u>3. A federal judge will let Marimar Martinez release text messages sent by the Border Patrol agent who shot her</u></b></a></p><p>U.S. District Judge Georgia Alexakis says the text messages from agent Charles Exum “provide insight into his perspective of the shooting. They bear on his credibility. They provide insight into how others within [Department of Homeland Security] leadership and within other government entities responded to the shooting.”</p><p>She pointed to the government’s lack of concern for Martinez after prosecutors said the release of text messages could “sully” Exum’s reputation.</p><p>Federal prosecutors filed an assault charge against Martinez after her Oct. 4 encounter with Exum. The feds dropped the case Nov. 20. However, Homeland Security has yet to rescind its past comments that Martinez is a “domestic terrorist.” [<a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://chicago.suntimes.com/2026/02/06/federal-judge-will-let-marimar-martinez-release-text-messages-sent-by-border-patrol-agent-who-shot-her\" target=\"_blank\" ><u>Chicago Sun-Times</u></a>]</p><p>Martinez plans to attend Trump’s State of the Union address later this month. [<a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://www.wbez.org/immigration/2026/02/06/marimar-martinez-shot-5-times-by-border-patrol-in-chicago-plans-to-attend-trumps-state-of-the-union\" target=\"_blank\" ><u>Chicago Sun-Times</u></a>]</p><p><a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://chicago.suntimes.com/city-hall/2026/02/05/chicago-aviation-chief-michael-mcmurray-ohare-expansion-video\" target=\"_blank\" ><b><u>4. Chicago’s aviation chief unveiled a video of O’Hare’s $1.3B concourse now in the works</u></b></a></p><p>With demand for air travel surging and O’Hare Airport terminals operating at capacity, travelers got their first glimpse inside a new 19-gate satellite concourse to meet the demand, Fran Spielman reports for the Chicago Sun-Times.</p><p>The video, unveiled yesterday at a City Club of Chicago event, vividly showcases the design by an architectural team led by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill that was first revealed nearly two years ago. The project is expected to be complete by late 2028.</p><p>“Passengers arrive in a skylit, multilevel space shaped by gentle curves and landscaped forms. This central gathering space introduces moments of rest, dining, retail and play,” a narrator states in the video.</p><p>You can see the video in the link. [<a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://chicago.suntimes.com/city-hall/2026/02/05/chicago-aviation-chief-michael-mcmurray-ohare-expansion-video\" target=\"_blank\" ><u>Chicago Sun-Times</u></a>]</p><p><a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://chicago.suntimes.com/things-to-do/2026/02/06/where-to-watch-bad-bunny-super-bowl-halftime-show-chicago-bars-restaurants-suburbs\" target=\"_blank\" ><b><u>5. Here’s where to watch Bad Bunny’s halftime show in the Chicago area</u></b></a></p><p>Puerto Rican superstar Bad Bunny is about to put on the first-ever Spanish-language Super Bowl halftime show.</p><p>Because of the much-anticipated performance, which many people are calling the “Benito Bowl” (the artist’s full name is Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio), Chicagoans are planning Puerto Rico-inspired pregames and watch parties.</p><p>In Chicago’s biggest Puerto Rican neighborhood, Humboldt Park, the organizers behind the annual Fiestas Puertorriqueñas are hosting a sold-out party in their VIP Residencia pop-up space at 2701 W. Division St. Meanwhile, island-inspired cocktails are on the menu at their Galeria Chicago’s pop-up in Old Town, and the team behind La Parranda Boricua is bringing their “casita” to HVAC Pub in Wrigleyville.</p><p>You can see more options in the link. [<a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://chicago.suntimes.com/things-to-do/2026/02/06/where-to-watch-bad-bunny-super-bowl-halftime-show-chicago-bars-restaurants-suburbs\" target=\"_blank\" ><u>Chicago Sun-Times</u></a>]</p><p><b>Here’s what else is happening</b></p><ul class=\"rte2-style-ul\" style=\"margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0;padding-inline-start:48px;\" id=\"rte-ad19b5b0-03a0-11f1-8862-f34f59d5fa5b\"><li>Trump deleted a racist social media post depicting the Obamas as apes. [<a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://www.npr.org/2026/02/06/nx-s1-5704281/trump-posts-racist-meme-of-the-obamas-then-deletes-it\" target=\"_blank\" ><u>NPR</u></a>]</li><li>The White House unveiled a TrumpRx website for medication discounts. [<a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://www.npr.org/2026/02/05/nx-s1-5702493/trumprx-drug-prices-discounts\" target=\"_blank\" ><u>NPR</u></a>]</li><li>Watch the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics. [<a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://apnews.com/live/milan-cortina-winter-olympics-2026-opening-ceremony-updates\" target=\"_blank\" ><u>AP</u></a>]</li><li>The Chicago Housing Authority backed off a ban on contracts with a commissioner’s daughter. [<a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://www.wbez.org/housing/2026/02/06/chicago-housing-authority-contracts-commissioner-debra-parker-daughter-lovie-diggs\" target=\"_blank\" ><u>WBEZ/Chicago Sun-Times</u></a>]</li></ul><p><b>Oh, and one more thing …</b></p><p>Next month, the Goodman Theatre will open former Talking Heads frontman David Byrne’s new immersive theater installation, “Theater of the Mind,” in an office building on the edge of the Loop. WBEZ theater reporter Mike Davis recently got a first look at the project.</p><p>As Davis writes: “It’s a head-scratcher. But it’s also kind of cool.”</p><p>The show will allow 16 people at a time through a series of rooms led by a tour guide named David. This David will be clad in a wardrobe consisting of a seersucker shirt, shorts and sandals with socks. The outfit is identical to one worn by a 2-year-old Byrne in a photo on the wall of the installation.</p><p>In one portion, each audience member will be given a new “identity” at the start, and their experience will be fueled by a story that’s fictional to them and semi-autobiographical to Byrne.</p><p>“Theater of the Mind” opens March 11. [<a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://www.wbez.org/theater-stages/2026/02/05/david-byrne-chicago-theater-of-the-mind-goodman-talking-heads\" target=\"_blank\" ><u>WBEZ</u></a>]</p><p><b>Tell me something good …</b></p><p>What is your favorite outdoor activity during winter in the Chicago area?</p><p>Rebecca writes:</p><p>“Walking the 5-mile trail around the Orland Park Prairie Grasslands. You’ll be treated to coyotes, deer, rabbits and bald eagles if you are very lucky. The standing seed heads are so dramatic and uncommon birds flock to them. It’s breathtaking at dawn and dusk!”</p><p>And Laura writes:</p><p>“Even though I am 60 years old, one of my favorite winter things to do is</p><p>to make a snowman/woman/dog/cat.”</p><p>Thanks for all the responses this week! It was great hearing from everyone.</p>",
  "title": "The Rundown: The employers whose workers still need SNAP",
  "updatedAt": "2026-02-06T21:45:01.030Z"
}