Stories by Heather Cherone

None of the City Council members appointed by Lightfoot, who lost her bid for a second term as mayor on Tuesday, won their seats outright.

Starting in May, each of Chicago’s 22 police districts will be overseen by a three-person council as part of an effort to rebuild trust in the Police Department, which is governed by a court order requiring city leaders to change the way it trains, supervises and disciplines officers.

Ald. Carrie Austin, 73, who did not seek a seventh term on the Chicago City Council, stepped down the day after Chicago voters went to the polls to pick a new mayor and City Council. 

Facing eight challengers, it is unlikely Mayor Lori Lightfoot — or anyone else, for that matter — will win more than 50% of the vote. That means the top two finishers Tuesday night are likely headed to an April 4 runoff.

The Fraternal Order of Police Lodge No. 7’s political action committee made an in-kind contribution of approximately $10,000 to the campaign of Julian “Jumpin’” Perez, who used those funds to pay for the flyers. 

Members of the City Council’s Public Safety Committee demanded that the leaders of the Chicago Police Department do more to weed out extremists from the department’s ranks.

The first installment of property owners’ 2022 tax bills will be due approximately a month later than usual because of delays last year, officials said.

In an appearance after casting her ballot, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said she believed the Feb. 28 mayoral contest had narrowed to a two-person race between her and former CPS CEO Paul Vallas.

The Get Stuff Done PAC has raised $1.74 million since early December, including $1 million from Michael Sacks, one of Chicago’s richest men and a frequent donor and adviser to former Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

The nine enforcement actions – an unprecedented number for the board to take at a single meeting – were approved at a special meeting of the Chicago Board of Ethics approximately two weeks after Chair William Conlon sent a warning to all candidates: Do not use images of uniformed Chicago police officers, firefighters or city personnel in campaign advertisements.

The attacks from Mayor Lori Lightfoot represent a shift in her campaign strategy during the past three weeks. In late January, Lightfoot was publicly dismissive of Johnson’s chances, telling a gathering in Wrigleyville that the Chicago Teachers Union’s pick would not be mayor of Chicago.

The Chicago Bears are on the verge of leaving its home of 51 years, despite efforts by Mayor Lori Lightfoot to keep the team in Chicago.

The 94-page report obtained by the city's former inspector general details lapses by the Chicago Department of Public Health and the Department of Buildings. Mayor Lori Lightfoot declined repeated calls to make it public. 

Chicago mayoral candidate Paul Vallas properly claimed a home in south suburban Palos Heights as his legal permanent residence, entitling him to tax breaks, according to the results of a brief probe by the Cook County Assessor’s Office.

Unlimited contributions to political action commitees exploit what campaign finance experts told WTTW News is a loophole in laws governing the role of money in Chicago’s elections.

Vallas, who has been registered to vote in Chicago at an apartment in Bridgeport for less than a year, declined to answer questions about his residency directly from WTTW News.

As the consent decree prepares to enter its fourth year, progress has been anything but rapid, with the city in full compliance with 3% of its requirements, according to data released by the Chicago Police Department. Meanwhile, the future of Chicago policing has taken center stage in the mayoral race. 

More than 233,000 Cook County residents applied to be part of the $42 million program, and 3,250 households won a lottery to participate in the two-year program.

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot defended her record on police reform at the WTTW News mayoral forum and accused her challengers of throwing “bombs from the cheap seats.”

It is nearly unprecedented for City Council committee chairs to urge the defeat of the mayor that hand-picked them for their high-profile positions, which comes with power at City Hall and an annual budget of nearly $200,000.

Sean Estelle told WTTW News they believed they were “politically targeted” because their remarks angered Mayor Lori Lightfoot. 

The former Wadsworth Elementary School had been set to open as a shelter in early January, but an uproar forced Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot to delay her plans for nearly a month as she and other city officials sought to address concerns from residents.

A years-long effort by the Norfolk Southern Railway to double the size of its storage yard in Englewood finally got signal clearance.

The unsigned advisory opinion, issued Monday by the Chicago Board of Ethics, was prompted by a spate of campaign ads showing uniformed Chicago police officers and several complaints, officials said.

In a joint statement with ComEd released hours before she officially presented the massive deal to the City Council, Lightfoot touted the agreement as “a big win for Chicago” that will “accelerate an equitable transition to clean, renewable energy.”

Paul Vallas is a Democrat, but acknowledged that the Democratic Party has moved away from him on some issues, including charter schools.