Stories by Heather Cherone

Two proposals to spend $9.1 million to repair the CTA’s Lake Street bridge and the Dearborn Street subway stalled Tuesday amid objections from aldermen about efforts to hire firms owned by female, Black and Latino Chicagoans.

Aldermen sided with the mayor on Tuesday in a dispute over a proposal to build a 48-unit affordable housing complex in Jefferson Park, turning back an effort by Ald. Nicholas Sposato (38th Ward) to block the development.

City officials are working to craft a plan to fill a projected $1.2 billion budget shortfall in the 2021 fiscal year — without the hope of more aid from the federal government.

The funds will allow “tens of thousands more patients served, better access to care for the underserved and integrated care for the whole person,” officials said.

The warning about the increase in confirmed cases of the coronavirus in Indiana is designed to give Chicagoans who routinely cross the border time to prepare for the state to join the other 22 states now on the quarantine order, officials said.

Matthew Beaudet would become the first Native American commissioner in the city’s history. “I’m humbled by it,” Beaudet told WTTW News before his confirmation hearing.

Efforts to transform a Northwest Side tax program created in the 1980s amid the racist panic that greeted the election of Chicago’s first Black mayor are stalled — nearly two years after new leadership promised a fresh start.

A plan to transform a long-vacant lot in Jefferson Park into an apartment complex that reignited the furious debate surrounding Chicago’s massive affordable housing shortfall faces a key vote Tuesday.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot said the plan she sends to the Chicago City Council will not count on the federal government sending additional relief funds to the city. 

Performing arts venues closed by the coronavirus pandemic can apply for $10,000 grants from the city starting Monday, city officials announced.

Electric cargo bicycles are set to start zipping around Chicago after aldermen advanced a measure on Thursday that would give the three-wheelers the green light.

Trick-or-treating is not banned in the city, but groups should be limited to no more than six people that stay on the move, according to the guidelines.

Two of Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s closest allies say they are frustrated and disappointed that she has apparently dropped her support for long-stalled efforts to put an elected board of Chicago residents in charge of the Chicago Police Department.

An increase in the number of vote-by-mail applications ahead of the November election goes beyond Chicago: 2 million Illinois residents have applied to vote by mail — nearly a quarter of all registered voters in the state, officials said.

City officials would have the authority to strip multimillion-dollar tax incentives from companies that violate the city’s rules under a measure aldermen advanced Tuesday.

In April, 17 organizations signed a pledge that Mayor Lori Lightfoot said would help the city protect its most vulnerable residents during the pandemic. But officials now say there is no data to measure the impact of that pledge.

Visitors from Wisconsin to Chicago will continue to be required to quarantine for two weeks in an effort to stop the spread of the coronavirus, as the northeast part of the state experiences a surge of cases and hospitalizations.

The staffer who was diagnosed with COVID-19 had close contact with Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Wednesday in Chicago, on Thursday in Marion and on Sunday in Marseilles, according to Pritzker's office.

Chicago bars will once again be able serve customers indoors starting Thursday, as Mayor Lori Lightfoot moved to lift restrictions after a drop in the number of confirmed cases of the coronavirus.

Several aldermen on Friday urged Chicago’s chief financial officer to dip into the city’s $900 million savings account to wipe out the massive budget shortfall caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Ald. George Cardenas (12th Ward) told WTTW News that Inspector General Joseph Ferguson determined he had accepted improper campaign contributions, and he planned to return the funds.

In the wake of the outcry prompted by a grand jury’s decision not to indict three police officers for their role in the death of Breonna Taylor, the City Council’s Progressive Caucus called for the “creation of complete civilian oversight of the police.”

Mayor Lori Lightfoot urged Chicagoans to observe a moment of silence at 7 p.m. Wednesday to honor Breonna Taylor, hours after a Kentucky grand jury declined to indict three police officers for their role in her death.

Commonwealth Edison announced Tuesday it will not shut off electricity in homes amid the coronavirus and recession — quickly meeting a key condition set by Mayor Lori Lightfoot if the utility giant is to extend its city contract.

The city’s top lawyer bluntly warned aldermen to be careful when demanding that firms do more to meet goals set by city officials designed to encourage them to work with firms owned by female, Black and Latino Chicagoans.

Wisconsin’s infection rate is now averaging 31 new COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents, per day, over seven days. A minimum of 15 cases per 100,000 residents triggers Chicago’s quarantine order.