Banking. All banks require a valid Social Security number prior to opening any form of account, including checking, savings, certificates of deposit, credit cards, vehicle loans and mortgages. They use this for exclusive identification purposes, as no two people have the same number.
The first official Christmas tree in the city of Chicago was installed in 1913 in Grant Park and lit on Christmas Eve by then-mayor Carter Harrison. This first tree was a 35-foot (11 m) tall spruce tree.
As Chicagoans rang in the New Year, Cook County ushered in the highest sales tax in the nation. Chicago is the county seat of Cook County, whose officials voted in July to raise the countyâs portion of the sales tax, bringing Chicagoâs combined rate to 10.25 percent from 9.25 percent. Chicago is now right back where it was in 2008, when the county raised its rate to 1.75 percent from 0.75 percent (the same leap as the 2015 increase). Former Cook County Board President Todd Stroger hiked the sales-tax rate in 2008, and lost his re-election bid to current Board President Toni Preckwinkle in 2010.