Stories by Heather Cherone

Former Ald. Ed Burke is sentenced to 2 years in prison and a $2M fine, U.S. District Court Judge Virginia Kendall rules.

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

The revised policy represents a “substantial improvement” over the original policy, according to a coalition of police reform groups that challenged the policy in federal court.

Judge Kendall sided with prosecutors, who blasted the request for a postponement as a “last-ditch effort” by Burke to avoid being sentenced on Monday for racketeering, bribery and attempted extortion.

“The public, as well as the victims in this case, have a strong interest in finality and bringing the case to a close,” prosecutors wrote. “Unfounded, eleventh-hour requests for delay like this one contribute to a general sense that the wheels of justice turn too slowly.”

A court order requiring the Chicago Police Department to change the way it trains, supervises and disciplines officers should not be expanded to include traffic stops, eight alderpeople told the federal judge overseeing the push to reform the department.

The renewed effort is finally getting off the ground more than six months after Johnson agreed to earmark $500,000 in the city’s 2024 budget for the task force, the first time city officials have promised to use taxpayer dollars to do more than just promise to talk about what Chicago owes its Black residents as a result of the legacy of slavery and segregation.

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle’s office is scheduled to release a detailed proposal to close the gap in October, but officials have no plans to hike taxes, cut services or layoff workers to cover the projected gap, a spokesperson told WTTW News. 

Ald. Matt Martin (47th Ward) said the plan, which is estimated to cost approximately $9.5 million per election, was designed to reduce the influence of “big special interest donors.”

The proposed settlement calls for taxpayers to pay $21 million and the city’s insurance company to pay $29 million.

“We are still living up to our values,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said. “We are providing care in a way that nowhere else in the country you’re seeing.”

Despite having a net worth of $30 million, now former Ald. Ed Burke was “steeped in corruption,” repeatedly choosing “spite and greed – not the public interest,” prosecutors told U.S. District Court Judge Virginia Kendall.

“We aren’t rising to the occasion,” said Doug Schenkelberg, executive director of the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless. He called the survey results “disheartening but not surprising.”

The acknowledgement that approximately 500 people returned to city shelters after living there for at least two months raises new questions about plans by officials to start evicting families with school-age children from city shelters on Monday.

U.S. District Judge Matthew Kennelly ruled there was enough evidence for a jury to conclude “that the city had a custom or policy of condoning racial harassment and discrimination at (the Water Department) as well as inaction in the face of a risk of potential constitutional violations.”

The Chicago City Council is poised to fill two long-vacant seats on the city's Board of Ethics after Mayor Brandon Johnson faced months of criticism from good-government advocates.

The proposal, based on a unanimous recommendation by the Chicago Board of Ethics, now heads to a final vote at the City Council meeting set for June 12.

Ronald “Ronnieman” Johnson, 25, was shot and killed by Officer George Hernandez in the early morning hours of Oct. 12, 2014, near 53rd Street and King Drive.

The City Council’s Finance Committee is set to consider the proposed settlement, which calls for taxpayers to pay $21 million and the city’s insurance company to pay $29 million.

After the three-hour hearing, U.S. District Court Judge Virginia Kendall declined to issue a ruling immediately, instead promising a written order “shortly.”

“I am heartened by the progress CPD has made,” Inspector General Deborah Witzburg said. “I think Chicagoans should be heartened. I think there are persistent concerns. I think there is time to address them.”

The Chicago Police Department has fully met just 7% of the consent decree’s requirements, according to the most recent report by the team monitoring CPD’s progress.

In all, Chicago spent $202 million on a host of programs including affordable housing, mental health, violence prevention, youth job programs and help for unhoused Chicagoans through March 31, records show.

The “Plow the Sidewalks” campaign sought to convince officials that the city has an obligation to ensure people with disabilities and other vulnerable residents can get around safely even in the worst winter weather.

Allies of the mayor used a parliamentary maneuver Wednesday to prevent a vote on the nomination of the Rev. Ira Acree to serve on the board of the Regional Transportation Authority, an acknowledgment they did not have the votes to confirm the politically connected pastor.

The vote represented a significant rebuke of Mayor Brandon Johnson and the central promise of his campaign, which vowed to address the root causes of crime and violence rather than focusing on law enforcement.