Stories by Heather Cherone

By filing the map crafted by the Chicago Latino Caucus with the city clerk’s office, the alderpeople ensured that the June 28 primary election ballot could ask voters to decide what the ward map should look like for the first time in 30 years.

The City Council met briefly Wednesday afternoon, allowing Rules Committee Chair Ald. Michelle Harris (8th Ward) an opportunity to unveil the map drawn behind closed doors and supported by the City Council’s Black Caucus.

Negotiations over a new ward map that will shape Chicago politics for the next decade remained deadlocked Tuesday, with no sign of a possible compromise less than a day before the deadline set by state law.

Chicago's updated travel advisory includes 38 states, announced Dr. Allison Arwady, the commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health.

Every year, the start of the snow route ban catches hundreds of drivers unaware, forcing them to travel to the city’s auto pound — and pay at least $235 — to retrieve their cars, officials said.

If 41 alderpeople do not agree on a map, the final decision could be made by voters for the first time in 30 years via a referendum.

The number of residential and commercial evictions in Chicago and Cook County were 32% lower in October 2021 than in October 2019, according to data provided by the office of Cook County Chief Judge Tim Evans. October was the first full month with no restrictions on enforcing eviction judgements in Illinois.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot rejected the probe of the botched police raid in February 2019 that left Anjanette Young handcuffed while naked and pleading for help conducted by former Chicago Inspector General Joseph Ferguson as incomplete and once again declined to commit to publicly release its findings.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot said getting a casino off the ground in Chicago will “usher in a new and exciting era for our city.” 

“I have profound regret and sadness that the work of our agency has in any way hurt the French family and those who mourn her and I will work steadfastly to ensure that a situation such as this never happens again,” Andrea Kersten said.

The leaders of the Chicago City Council’s Black and Latino caucuses sparred Thursday as a compromise over the boundaries of the ward map that will shape Chicago politics for the next decade remained elusive.

The full U.S. Senate is set to consider Rahm Emanuel’s nomination to serve as President Joe Biden’s ambassador — but if the former Chicago mayor is confirmed, it will happen without the support of at least two progressive Democratic senators.

The new effort will be “trauma-informed and services-oriented,” according to a statement from the mayor’s office. Organizations will be invited to submit proposals to run the effort early next year, officials said. 

The Chicago City Council voted 29-18 on Wednesday to grant the Chicago Police Board the power to overrule the Chicago Police Department and remove a Chicagoan from its gang database.

The leaders of the Chicago City Council’s Black and Latino caucuses said Tuesday that they could endorse a new Chicago ward map with 18 wards with a majority of Black voters and 15 wards with a majority of Latino voters.

One week after it was removed from the advisory, officials returned Arkansas to the list of states with high rates of transmission. The advisory includes 38 states as well as Guam, announced Dr. Allison Arwady, the commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health.

Chicago’s inspector general should conduct “a full factual investigation” of Ald. Jim Gardiner's conduct, the Chicago Board of Ethics determined.

The $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure plan signed into law Monday by President Joe Biden includes $1.7 billion that will help Chicago “kick-start” lagging efforts to replace lead service lines responsible for contaminating the tap water in homes across the city, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said. 

“It is not surprising to me that he did not want to face accountability for his own conduct,” Mayor Lori Lightfoot said.

More than 4,900 members of the Chicago Police Department are not fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or have refused to disclose their vaccination status to city officials, one month after the deadline set by Mayor Lori Lightfoot, according to data released Monday by city officials.

The announcement by the Cook County Department of Public Health comes after health officials in New York City, Colorado and California urged all adults to get a booster dose of the vaccine.

The Chicago Police Board on Monday will hold the first in a series of hearings that could lead to the termination of police officer and union head John Catanzara for defying the department’s brass and ignoring its rules.

Cinespace Studios, which helped spark a boom in movie and television production in Chicago, has been sold to a private equity firm that tapped a former Netflix executive to lead the operation on Chicago’s West Side.

The largest settlement — $2 million — would go to the family of Julia Lynn Callaway, who was killed in May 2018 when she was struck by a car being pursued by police. 

The sergeant who led the botched raid in February 2019 that left Anjanette Young handcuffed while naked and pleading for help should be fired, Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown told the Chicago Police Board.

Chicago Park District Board of Commissioners President Avis LaVelle said Wednesday she was not forced to resign by Mayor Lori Lightfoot for her handling of complaints that girls and young women were being abused while working at Chicago’s parks.