Stories by Heather Cherone

Mayor Lori Lightfoot signed into law a measure on Tuesday that will expand protections for undocumented immigrants that had been stalled by efforts by former President Donald Trump to increase deportations and punish Chicago for shielding them from immigration agents.

The Chicago City Council is poised to pay a Chicago family $175,000 after officers mistakenly raided their apartment in March 2017 while looking for their neighbor.

Aldermen narrowly agreed Monday to settle a lawsuit brought by the family of James Anderson, who was fatally shot by police officers in September 2015 while he suffered a mental health crisis.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot fired back Friday at critics who blasted her for using $281.5 million in COVID-19 federal relief funds to cover the cost of salaries and benefits for Chicago Police Department officers. “Criticism comes with the job of mayor but this one’s just dumb,” Lightfoot said.

Since the COVID-19 vaccination effort began on Dec. 15 in Chicago, 18% of Chicagoans who got at least the first shot are Latino, while 19% are Black, according to data released Friday by the Chicago Department of Public Health.

Twenty-two more cases of a COVID-19 variant first discovered in the United Kingdom that is believed to be more transmissible have been discovered in Illinois in the past seven days, according to data released Thursday by the Illinois Department of Public Health.

Progressive aldermen and community groups slammed Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Thursday for using $281.5 million in COVID-19 federal relief funds to cover the cost of salaries and benefits for Chicago Police Department officers.

Inspectors found 27 people in the Chinese restaurant on the day before Valentine’s Day not wearing masks or following social distancing rules, according to a statement from the city’s Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection.

The Chicago Police Department was “under-prepared and ill-equipped, and thus critically disserved both its own front-line members and members of the public,” according to the inspector general’s report, the first in-depth examination of the police department’s response to the unrest. 

Chicago officials announced Tuesday they will allow indoor dining and drinking at bars and restaurants to operate at 40% of their normal capacity, or no more than 50 people.

Last summer, three Christopher Columbus statues were removed after violent altercations between police and protesters. For months, the sites sat empty. But last fall, a display of Italian American pride banners appeared in place of the former statue in Chicago’s Little Italy neighborhood.

Since the city earmarked approximately $180 million in 2020 for overtime costs for all city departments, the final bill is more than double what the city budgeted, according to city data.

A variant of the coronavirus first discovered in South Africa and believed to be more transmissible is present in Illinois, state health officials announced Thursday.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle said if the city and county were to follow the plan laid out by the governor, it would add additional stress to a vaccination effort that has left many scrambling to find an available appointment.

Less than 9% of the trash produced every year by Chicago residents is kept out of landfills — a rate that has not budged for four years. 

Starting Thursday — the beginning of the Valentine’s Day weekend — bars and restaurants in Chicago and suburban Cook County can seat no more than 50 people or 25% of overall room capacity, up from a maximum of 25 diners or drinkers, officials said.

U.S. Sens. Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth intensified their push on Wednesday to convince President Joe Biden to keep John Lausch, Chicago’s top federal prosecutor, in office until a permanent replacement is confirmed.

The decision by the U.S. Department of Justice was swiftly condemned by Illinois’ two Democratic senators, both close allies of President Joe Biden.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker told lawmakers Tuesday that he will not propose hiking the state’s income tax on individuals to close the state’s projected $3 billion budget deficit in 2022.

The two states and the territory join Hawaii as the only areas with fewer than 15 new COVID-19 cases per day, per 100,000 population, officials said.

The Chicago Teachers Union’s governing body voted Monday night to ask its members to approve a deal that would allow in-person learning to resume at Chicago Public Schools for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic forced schools to close in March 2020 — and avert the second strike in 15 months.

The former chemistry teacher who went on to battle former Mayor Rahm Emanuel throughout her tenure as the head of the Chicago Teachers Union, and nearly ran for mayor herself, has died. She was 67 years old.

After six years at the helm of the city department responsible for caring for Chicago’s most vulnerable residents, Lisa Morrison Butler announced her resignation. In a letter to aldermen, she said her last day would be Feb. 26.

Illinois’ ban on most evictions will enter its 12th month as the second wave of the pandemic eases and the vaccination effort gains steam.

https://news.wttw.com/2021/02/08/ctu-delegates-ok-deal-allow-person-learning-resumeMembers of the Chicago Teachers Union are reviewing the framework of a deal that would allow in-person learning to resume at Chicago Public Schools for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic forced schools to close in March 2020 — and avert the second strike in 15 months.

The Obama Presidential Center can be built in Jackson Park after a federal review that lasted nearly four years concluded the $500 million project will have “no significant impact” on the federally protected park.