Stories by Heather Cherone

A 20-second video released Wednesday by Mayor Brandon Johnson’s office of a small City Hall room crammed with gifts his office accepted on behalf of the city is “not a substitute for public access to public property,” Inspector General Deborah Witzburg said.

No longer will gifts accepted by Chicago’s mayor on behalf of the city be covered by an “unwritten arrangement” dating back to the late 1980s during the administration of former Mayor Eugene Sawyer, Board President William Conlon said.

The proposed policy “impermissibly allows officers to use race, ethnicity, and other protected characteristics when making decisions on whether to stop, frisk or search people, in violation of federal and state law,” according to the coalition led by the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois.

Finance Committee Chair Ald. Pat Dowell (3rd Ward) failed to hold a vote on the agreement as scheduled Monday, an indication that the deal does not have enough support to advance to the full City Council.

During the past six years taxpayers have spent at least $472.4 million to resolve police misconduct lawsuits, setting a new record, according to a WTTW News analysis.

The lawsuit is the latest indication that the Trump administration, which is attempting to strip self-proclaimed sanctuary cities of all federal funding, will target Chicago directly.

The City Council’s Finance Committee is set to consider the proposed settlement on Monday, which calls for taxpayers to pay $20 million and the city’s insurance company to pay $7 million. A final vote of the City Council could come on Feb. 19.

A Chicago Police Department spokesperson told WTTW News in a statement the department does not “utilize quotas” for traffic stops.

City Clerk Anna Valencia said she would take additional steps to ensure “this does not happen again.”

Mayor Brandon Johnson’s appearance is likely to represent a flashpoint in the ongoing battle with the GOP-controlled U.S House and the Trump administration, which is attempting to strip self-proclaimed sanctuary cities of all federal funding.

The renewed tension between Mayor Brandon Johnson and the city’s business leaders comes after Johnson endured a bruising battle over the city’s 2025 budget and is under intense pressure from President Donald Trump.

James Gibson said he implicated himself in a 1989 double murder after being burned, punched, kicked and slapped by Chicago Police detectives supervised by disgraced former Chicago Police Commander Jon Burge during a three-day interrogation.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker directed state hiring officials to block the employment of anyone who took part in the attack that claimed the lives of five members of the U.S. Capitol Police and injured an additional 174 officers.

“At the point of which we go for this revenue again, let’s not allow the interests of the corporations as well as the ultra rich to dictate what working people deserve in this city,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said. “We have to pass Bring Chicago Home.”

"These gifts are, by definition, city property; if they are squirreled away and hidden from view, people are only left to assume the worst about how they are being handled," Inspector General Deborah Witzburg said.

Property tax bills for Cook County residents are available online at cookcountytreasurer.com and should hit mailboxes this week.

Despite the top cop’s attempt to reassure the tens of thousands of undocumented immigrants and their relatives who live in Chicago, Trump administration officials have repeatedly vowed to deport everyone who is in the United States without authorization.

If Mayor Brandon Johnson refuses to appear as requested, it could open a new front in the ongoing battle with the GOP-controlled U.S House and the Trump administration, which is attempting to strip self-proclaimed sanctuary cities of all federal funding.

Ald. Jim Gardiner spent nearly three times as much on legal fees during 2023 and 2024 than any other member of the Chicago City Council, according to a WTTW News analysis of records filed with the Illinois State Board of Elections.

A statement from the Secret Service said the agents were investigating a threat against an official they are charged with protecting.

“We are not going to be intimidated by those acts of terror to radically shift our way of living,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said. “That’s what individuals who stoke fear into people want to see happen.”

A 33-page evaluation of the first year of the push dubbed the People’s Plan for Community Safety promises to continue working to reduce crime and violence by “addressing the root causes of harm and investing in communities and people.”

Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Mayor Brandon Johnson have both said they are prepared to confront President-elect Donald Trump's policies head-on. But it is unclear how Trump will make good on his promises of retribution, and what power city and state officials will have to resist or thwart federal authorities.

After days of increasing alarm among advocates for immigrant rights, the showdown over whether to amend Chicago’s Welcoming City ordinance, was anti-climactic.

The City Council voted 49-1 to create a working group to come up with ways Chicago can change its traffic ticketing system so Black, Latino and low-income residents are no longer disproportionately hit with fines.

In all, the settlements approved Wednesday account for nearly half of the city’s annual $82 million budget to cover the cost of police misconduct lawsuits.