Stories by Heather Cherone

Under new rules announced Monday, members of the public will be allowed to sign up for a 15-minute slot to inspect the gift room once every three months. Afterward, items will be donated to local Chicago charities, according to the mayor’s office.

Ald Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35th Ward) is set to leave the City Council March 31 in order to lead the Chicago Park District, where he will oversee the city’s 600 parks and 6,000 employees.

“He didn’t deserve 16 shots,” said Charlotta Pritchett, Timothy Glaze’s partner of seven years. “I can’t find any justification in that.”

Budget Director Annette Guzman told WTTW News the dashboard was designed to answer questions she and her team fielded during the fraught negotiations over the city’s 2025 budget.

In all, Chicago taxpayers have spent $101.8 million since 2019 to resolve lawsuits brought by 26 people who were injured or on behalf of those killed during police pursuits, according to an analysis of city data by WTTW News.

A Chicago Police officer knocked Miracle Boyd's phone out of her hand, sending it into her face and knocking out one and a half teeth during a July 2020 protest of the Columbus statue in Grant Park.

“Any action that amplify fears of deportations makes Chicago more dangerous,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said.

The scale of the challenges that confronted Mayor Brandon Johnson during his first 20 months in office is likely to be eclipsed Wednesday, when he is scheduled to testify in front of the U.S. House Oversight Committee about the city’s self-proclaimed status as a sanctuary city.

Former Mayor Richard M. Daley traveled to the nation’s capital twice as mayor. His successors, Mayors Rahm Emanuel and Lori Lightfoot, never made the trip in their official roles.

Mayor Brandon Johnson acknowledged that the reform effort, which began in earnest when the consent decree took effect six years ago, remains a work in progress.

“I loved being the alderman of the 35th Ward,” Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa, 36, said. “But you can’t turn down a job like this when you love Chicago as much as I do.”

The measure passed by the narrowest possible margin with the support of the entire Progressive Caucus and all but four members of the Black Caucus.

The Chicago City Council is set to vote on the proposal Wednesday, after a week-long delay fueled by outrage whipped up on social media, the budding 2027 race for mayor and the lack of trust many alderpeople have in Mayor Brandon Johnson’s ability to steer the city through rough financial seas.

Chicago officials would have an additional $87 million to spend on a host of programs designed to repair the city’s tattered social safety net, but the Chicago City Council used those funds to balance the 2025 budget and avert a property tax hike.

Inspector General Deborah Witzburg urged Mayor Brandon Johnson in July to form a task force as part of an effort to “implement a comprehensive, whole-of-government approach to preventing, identifying and eliminating extremist and anti-government activities and associations within CPD.”

The measure failed after nearly all members of the City Council’s Black Caucus voted against it because of concerns that the change would mean more fees and fines levied against Black, Latino and low-income residents.

“Reliably providing safe drinking water is one of the most basic and important government functions,” Inspector General Deborah Witzburg said. “Providing clear and readily available information in which people have reason to be confident is another.”

The Chicago City Council unanimously agreed Wednesday to pay $27 million to the family of a Chicago woman killed by a driver being chased by Chicago police, the latest massive settlement prompted by a police pursuit that violated department policy and ended with a bystander’s death.

The Department of Law “selectively acts in opposition to the OIG’s investigative work when OIG’s work may result in embarrassment or political consequences for city leaders,” Inspector General Deborah Witzburg wrote.

Civilian Office of Police Accountability Chief Administrator Andrea Kersten much of the last 12 months at odds with the city’s top cop and the head of the city’s police oversight board.

The latest survey from the monitoring team charged with enforcing the consent decree found that Chicagoans’ confidence in CPD and the reform effort is exceedingly low, despite a reform push that began six years ago.

A 20-second video released Wednesday by Mayor Brandon Johnson’s office of a small City Hall room crammed with gifts his office accepted on behalf of the city is “not a substitute for public access to public property,” Inspector General Deborah Witzburg said.

No longer will gifts accepted by Chicago’s mayor on behalf of the city be covered by an “unwritten arrangement” dating back to the late 1980s during the administration of former Mayor Eugene Sawyer, Board President William Conlon said.

The proposed policy “impermissibly allows officers to use race, ethnicity, and other protected characteristics when making decisions on whether to stop, frisk or search people, in violation of federal and state law,” according to the coalition led by the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois.

Finance Committee Chair Ald. Pat Dowell (3rd Ward) failed to hold a vote on the agreement as scheduled Monday, an indication that the deal does not have enough support to advance to the full City Council.

During the past six years taxpayers have spent at least $472.4 million to resolve police misconduct lawsuits, setting a new record, according to a WTTW News analysis.