Stories by Heather Cherone

The victory was a coup for Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who urged national Democrats to pick Chicago, even though Illinois has not been a true swing state for more than a generation.

The mayor-elect has just 41 days to set up his administration and prepare to tackle the myriad problems facing Chicago.

Chicago voters rejected efforts by moderate Democrats and Republicans to turn Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson’s support for criminal justice reform into a fatal liability.

Nearly a quarter of the city will get new political leadership in 2023, a result of an unprecedented exodus of veteran alderpeople that led to a generational shift in Chicago politics, with six Black, Latina and Asian American women replacing veteran City Council members, all of them men.

Nearly a quarter of the city will get new political leadership in 2023, a result of an unprecedented exodus of veteran alderpeople that will herald — along with the election of a new mayor — the start of a new era at City Hall.

Chicago will elect a new mayor and voters in 14 wards will also elect a new alderperson to the Chicago City Council. 

“It is an absurd denial that lacks human generosity,” journalist Jamie Kalven said.

Both Brandon Johnson and Paul Vallas will spend the final days of what is expected to be the closest election in Chicago history scrambling for any possible advantage – and trying to make sure their supporters cast a ballot.

Led by former allies of Mayor Lori Lightfoot, the successful push to rewrite the rules for the City Council — which served as a rubber stamp for decades under Mayors Richard J. Daley, Richard M. Daley and Rahm Emanuel — is the result of years of effort to transform it into a legislative body determined to set policy for the entire city.

Polls show Brandon Johnson, a Cook County commissioner, and Paul Vallas, the former CEO of Chicago Public Schools, running neck and neck with a large portion of voters undecided.

The proposal – which has not yet been debated in public – could get a final vote on Thursday as part of supporters’ push for a quick vote before the runoff between Paul Vallas and Brandon Johnson set for April 4.

The three proposals would invest $550 million in the Loop to build 1,059 apartments in what is now mostly empty office space, including 317 units set aside for low- and moderate-income Chicagoans as part of an effort to reduce segregation in Chicago in return for $188 million in city subsidies, officials said.

The independent expenditure funded by the Illinois Network of Charter Schools, paid for $258,000 in cable television advertisements on March 16 and $359,000 in digital advertising on March 15, records show. 

Efforts by the leaders of large cities across the country to bring back officers amid a nationwide staffing crunch have fallen short, and experts on policing told WTTW News there is no evidence that Chicago will prove to be any different.

A new report says Chicago’s next top cop must be “a dynamic change agent” fully committed to implementing the court order requiring the Chicago Police Department to change the way it trains, supervises and disciplines officers.

The Chicago Police Department spent at least $210.5 million on overtime, 56% more than in 2021 and more than double the $100 million earmarked for police overtime set by the Chicago City Council as part of the city’s 2022 budget, according to data obtained by WTTW News. 

The race for Chicago mayor continues to focus nearly entirely on the crime and violence that both candidates agree threaten the city’s economic vitality. They offered wildly different solutions to the seemingly intractable problem.

If the ComEd deal faced an uphill climb before Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s defeat, its prospects declined precipitously afterward, handing her what is likely to be one last defeat and all but ensuring that it will be up to Chicago’s next mayor to negotiate a new deal with ComEd.

Fueled by changes made during the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of votes cast by mail soared by nearly 20% in the 2023 election as compared to the 2019 election, according to data from the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners.

Jesús “Chuy” García’s endorsement is designed to unite the city’s progressives behind Brandon Johnson, a critical part of Johnson’s path to defeating Paul Vallas, who has consolidated Chicago’s conservative political establishment under his banner.

“Seven years, and we still don’t have the answers. We still don’t know what happened to my son. Seven years, I’m still fighting, trying to find the truth.”

Sanders said he backed Johnson because the Cook County commissioner “understands the struggle of working people.”

The proposal requires human service organizations that contract with the city and have more than 20 employees to agree not to fight efforts by their employees to unionize as long as workers agree not to disrupt the company’s operations while they organize.

Drivers who park their cars in dedicated bicycle and bus lanes, as well as crosswalks, bus stops and no parking zones, will be ticketed if the infraction is captured by city cameras mounted on poles and on the front of buses and other city vehicles, officials said.

The proposal would launch the pilot program in dense neighborhoods and those pockmarked by vacant lots.

Mayoral candidate Paul Vallas’ plan to reverse decades of disinvestment on the South and West sides of Chicago focuses on the creation of an independent community development authority that would limit tChicago City Council members’ control of zoning in their wards.