Stories by Heather Cherone

Even after a four-hour hearing, several alderpeople said they were not prepared to vote on the proposal designed to leverage the city’s financial power to build what the city calls “green social housing,” permanently affordable, mixed-income and environmentally sustainable housing.

With the endorsement of the City Council’s Workforce Development Committee, the measure now heads to the full City Council for a final vote on April 16.

The City Council’s Finance Committee on Friday is set to consider the proposed settlement, which calls for taxpayers to pay $20 million and the city’s insurance company to pay $12 million. A final vote of the City Council could come April 16.

The settlement recommended by city attorneys failed to advance two months ago amid a firestorm of controversy.

A joint session of the Housing and Finance committees on Wednesday will consider the proposal to leverage the city’s financial power to build permanently affordable, mixed-income and environmentally sustainable housing.

Ald. Jeanette Taylor (20th Ward) said the program is “absolutely” racially motivated. “Unless you’re Stevie Wonder or Helen Keller, you can see it,” she said.

“We need to stand shoulder to shoulder in solidarity,” Quezada said, vowing to make the 35th Ward a better place to live for all its residents.

"History has shown that when oversight is diminished, the risk of injustice increases — especially for those in communities that have long experienced the burdens of aggressive policing," Cook County Public Defender Sharone Mitchell said.

Chicago police continued to target Black and Latino drivers with a massive campaign of traffic stops that failed to make the city safer in 2024, according to a new analysis from a coalition of groups.

Mayor Brandon Johnson called Cook County Commissioner Anthony Quezada, 29, a “progressive champion.”

“Working to relocate or displace the problem is not how we solve the problem,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said. “Of course, we’re going to continue to make sure that there are accountability mechanisms in place to keep people safe.”

“We need a different vibe in this country and this party, and I want to bring it,” Kat Abughazaleh said.

The cuts could force the elimination of more than 100 staff positions, Chicago officials said. 

LaKenya White, who served as a director of investigations for the Civilian Office of Police Accountability, will replace Andrea Kersten, who resigned as the chief administrator under fire a month ago.

Mayor Brandon Johnson — who campaigned on promises to transform CPS into a school district that offers a well-rounded education to every Chicago child and security to its employees — is caught in another bruising political battle that has, once again, frustrated his allies and emboldened his critics.

Eight ballot measures will likely be decided by voters who live in wealthy communities where the majority of residents are White and own a home, according to a new report from Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas.

A Chicago Police Department spokesperson blamed data collection errors and lax supervision for the unreported stops.

Since the beginning of the year, Chicago police officers have shot five people, killing three, records show. A spokesperson for Mayor Brandon Johnson acknowledged he has not named an interim replacement for Andrea Kersten, who resigned as the chief administrator of the Civilian Office of Police Accountability, known as COPA, on Feb. 13.

The decision to delay the vote is an acknowledgment that budget amendment does not have the support of at least 14 of the 21 CPS board members.

“None of these issues that they need to settle will be worth the consequence of six, seven days or how many ever days out of school,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said.

The new 21-member, partially elected CPS board is set to vote Thursday on whether to make that pension payment and figure out how to pay for new contracts with the unions representing teachers and principals.

Federal prosecutors want the judge to hold an evidentiary hearing before deciding whether ex-Ald. Carrie Austin, 75, is too ill to stand trial.

Supporters of the ban said it would strike a necessary blow against animal cruelty, while opponents said it would harm Chicago businesses.

The Chicago City Council voted 34-15 Wednesday to pay $280,000 to activist Miracle Boyd, who was struck by a Chicago police officer during a protest in Grant Park near the Christopher Columbus statue in July 2020.

“The commission believes that strengthening trust in COPA now requires new leadership,” Commission for Public Safety and Accountability President Anthony Driver, Jr. and Vice President Remel Terry wrote, saying they had identified “critical failures of leadership (that) seriously undermine the quality and integrity of COPA’s work.”

If the verdict is upheld, it would be equivalent to the amount the city sets aside for an entire year and a half to cover the cost of police misconduct lawsuits.