Radio accompany you to work. And now from the air WGN's traffic copter brings you live, updates on your daily commute traffic on the outbound, Stephen So you're right to work isn't work on Chicago's very own wtn. Tuesday afternoon in Chicago, and another day we're all wishing for just a little bit of sunshine. I'm Lisa Dan in for an ID of Lantus. The headlines always say that everybody is moving out of Illinois, and there are statistics to prove that and there might be a little bit of spin on this story. I pulled it from the patch, and I find it a bit amusing because, the headline says Three Illinois cities are among the U. S news. Best places to live. Anybody want to take a guess as to what those three cities are? Best places to live. They looked at 150 metropolitan areas across the nation and three in Illinois made the top 50 list. One of them comes in at 1 33. So is I mean, yes, by, you know, by their criteria that that is one of the top 1 50 places to live, but really So new additions to the nationwide list include to Illinois suburbs and Chicago. One third of Americans say the coronavirus pandemic has them. Reevaluating where they live. I think we're all going through that. Maybe that's what's behind the big House sales boom, But with that in mind, some of them say they actually want to move to Illinois. Where are these people? Who did they interview? Peoria, Chicago in Rockford are now listed. As number 87 12 and 1 33, respectively, as the best places to live in the United States. That's according to a new ranking released this week by U. S News and World Report. Now I find that stunning because I was born and raised in Rockford and Rockford always gets a bad rap and often with good reason. Um, they have a tough time They have some struggles. They came in at number 1 33 on this top 1 50 list. Peoria came in at number 87 Chicago came in at 102. So it's the 21 22 list that ranks the countries 150 most populous metropolitan areas. And it's based on affordability, job prospects and desirability, and I heard John Williams talking today about you know some of the the best places to live. You know how that factors in and there's just so many different lists like this? But this year, researchers also looked at how the top communities fared. Through the pandemic and how much work is needed to recover because that's a big factors. So for the second consecutive year like I heard, John Williams say, Boulder, Colorado is named the number one place to live due to the high quality of life. Their robust job market and high desirability scores. Raleigh and Durham, North Carolina jumped nine spots to take number two in Huntsville, Alabama. Moves. 12 spots up to number three and a lot of that again has to do with how they reacted to the pandemic and what has happened since then. So overall, Peoria received a score of 6.5 on a 10 point scale. Their job market comes in at 6.3 the value It's really the value of the house and and how you can live as 8.1 and quality of life. Chicago followed with the score of 6.3 and a 10 point scale. And they had our quality of life at 6.3. But the desirability was at 7.7. And then Rockford received a score of 5.8 still makes the top 150 cities to live in the job market is only a five point. Oh, but the value is a 7.4. Quality of life is only a 5.8 So pandemic related unemployment played a big role in where these cities landed on this year's ranking, and some of the biggest changes included Boston, which fell 13 spots. Vegas, which dropped 50 spots in San Diego, which is supposed to be you know, America's finest city. Dropped 52 spots. Honolulu fell 42 spots. Interesting. Um, somebody just from 815 said. Have you been to Rockford lately? Check us out. I'm in Rockford every week. That's for my family lives. So, yes, I do Love Rockford. It was where I was born and raised. But being a kid who went to Rockford East High School In my first year of high school, they passed a referendum that eliminated all sports All theater. All drama, every extracurricular activity that carries with you for a long time. Sometimes in Rockford, Decisions were made that might not have been in the best interest of the people who live there. So I get it and I love Northern Illinois, or I simply wouldn't live here. There's a lot of news being made about what is happening at school board meetings are trying to track somebody down. Who was at the Naperville School board meeting. Were you there last night? I'd like to talk to you 312981 72 100. Apparently a lot of division as you can imagine, because parents are divided over whether masks should be mandatory win. School resumes when when your kids go back to school in the fall. Do you want to wear a mask? Or do you not want him wearing a mask? Lake Force superintendent of schools called on Governor Pritzker to let the schools make the decisions about the masks and the vaccines. But apparently last night it got kind of got kind of heated at Naperville District two Oh three school board meeting because they were talking about keeping students and staffs staff fully masked when the classes resume. August 16th. Yeah, back to school. In just over a month. And that comes despite the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendation that school guidelines be relaxed, but they were talking about making sure that the staff and the students are fully masked when they go back, and every parent, of course, has a different viewpoint on this, it's going to be interesting to see Where where it falls. What school districts make this decision to say kids don't have to wear a mask. Teachers don't have to wear a mask or whether they do and you know that, you know, in your own family. That's a heated debate. Let alone if you try and bring together a whole community of people with many different points of view and Children with a variety of needs, or or accommodations that need to be made. It's It's a very difficult situation to have, and I would not want to be on a school board these days and have to Moderate or even answer those questions in a form like a school board meeting, But that's what needs to happen. Everybody's got their voice. Everybody's voice should definitely be heard. Okay. If you are furious at your parents for aging, apparently you're not alone. I'm kind of saddened by this story. Apparently, some people are getting angry, especially those in the sandwich generation, meaning that not only are they taking care of a school age child in dealing with masks and At school teaching and all that kind of stuff, But they're also dealing with a parent who needs attention and financial support as well. And they say, if you are struggling because you're witnessing your parents age and maybe decline, you are not alone because it is a very stressful transition. They say when adult Children begin to see their parents less is capable caregivers and more as those needing care themselves. They're really looking at their own future, and that's what causes stress because you're like. Is that going to be me? Am I going to be the one that needs a hearing aid at age 70? Or am I going to be using a walker at 75? Children begin to wonder how quickly they'll declining When I say Children, we're talking about people in their forties or fifties. They're also concerned about how financially sound their parents are and what their future living situation will be. Those are all very difficult things that we all have to face at some point. I mean, I consider it a blessing that I got to face that. With my mom. You know the last four years of her life. She lived with us because it was too hard to take care of her house and my house. And that means you know, the snow shoveling and the law knowing and everything else. Otherwise, she would have been Been fine to live in her house on 28th Street in Rockford, Illinois, even up to age 93 or 94, except the neighborhood had declined just a little bit. So if you're one of those people going through a stressful situation, they said, just hang in there and rely on other caregivers. And it is interesting that hair dye in wrinkle cream are kind of embraced. You know all the things to keep us younger. When we you know, are faced with hearing AIDS and walkers. It's kind of like, Oh, now we're getting old. Everybody just wants to beat the age thing. Half of adults in their forties and fifties have a parent 65 or older and they're still raising a young child or financially supporting a child, 18 or older and still trying at the same time to take care of their parents offers something Maybe it is lawn mowing or, you know, shoveling snow. One in seven in the U. S. Is financially supporting both an aging parent and a child. Have you been in that situation?.