Stories by Heather Cherone

A vote on the measure could come as soon as Jan. 31, triggering what is likely to be a fierce legal fight that will determine whether, and how, city officials can hold officers accountable for serious misconduct.

While similar measures are already in place in New York City, Los Angeles and dozens of smaller cities, it is unclear whether the push for Chicago to join those cities will succeed, even with the backing of Mayor Brandon Johnson.

The full Chicago City Council is set to vote Wednesday on the proposal crafted by Ald. Matt O’Shea (19th Ward), who has been fighting the proliferation of dollar stores for nearly a decade. 

Two Chicago Fire Department paramedics found the former Marine “face down on the floor” but failed to provide emergency medical care or take him to a nearby hospital, according to the lawsuit filed by his family.

Cases that involved at least one officer with repeated claims of misconduct accounted for 60% of the cost borne by taxpayers to resolve police misconduct cases between 2019 and 2022, according to the analysis by WTTW News.

Mayor Brandon Johnson will not evict migrants from city shelters until at least Feb. 1, suspending the 60-day limit he imposed for the second time in less than a week, a city spokesperson said.

The Chicago Board of Ethics ratified the inspector general’s findings on Nov. 13, and Chicago Treasurer Melissa Conyears-Ervin now has an opportunity to contest the results of the probe at a future meeting of the board. Each violation of the law could trigger a fine of $20,000.

The two employees, a manager and a supervisor, “incompetently performed the duties of their positions” on May 30, 2020, when they cited the leaders of the Chicago Freedom School, according to a report released Friday by the city’s watchdog.

“The next few days are a threat to the families and children you are sending here” because of the bitterly cold weather, Gov. J.B. Pritzker told Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.

Applications are now open to serve four-year terms on the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability, which is designed to give Chicagoans real control of the police department as part of an effort to build trust in officers and police brass and put an end to repeated allegations of misconduct. 

“I’d like to think it will serve as a deterrent,” Elmhurst University professor Constance Mixon said. “But none of the other 37 convictions served as a deterrent. It ought to make people think twice. But I don’t know. I’d like to be optimistic.”

The tally, which includes all invoices paid through Dec. 15, defies predictions released by city officials in mid-October that the cost of the migrant crisis to taxpayers would top $361 million by the end of 2023.

Mayor Brandon Johnson’s first budget, which took effect Monday, includes no new taxes, fees or service cuts. Johnson now must make good on his promise to use the city’s $16.7 billion spending plan as a down payment on investments in working-class Chicagoans.

Mayor Brandon Johnson praised former Water Commissioner Randy Conner as a “proven leader and someone who knows the ins and outs of infrastructure and water management,” in a statement.

Former Ald. Ed Burke (14th Ward) was convicted Thursday of 13 of 14 counts of racketeering, bribery and extortion, bringing his landmark corruption trial to an end with a verdict that delivered a searing indictment of Chicago’s political system, which Burke used to amass power for half a century.

Two people, identified as “handlers” in the police log, fled the private plane transporting migrants Tuesday evening and “jumped into an Uber” before they could be questioned by officers, according to police.

The jury asked two questions on Tuesday and none on Wednesday. In all, they have deliberated for approximately 18 hours across three days and are set to resume Thursday morning.

The first communication from the jury came approximately an hour into deliberations on Tuesday and focused on one of the charges facing one of Ed Burke’s codefendants, businessman Charles Cui.

The report from Lisle-based A3E Consulting recommends “additional investigation” of the 6.5 acres of land surrounding a vacant Jewel-Osco grocery store on the border between Morgan Park and West Roseland.

Deliberations began Monday afternoon after U.S. District Court Judge Virgina Kendall spent more than three hours reading more than 300 pages of jury instructions.

The final migrants to be moved into one of 27 city-run shelters was a group of approximately 100 people who had been living at the 12th District Police Station in Pilsen, city officials said.

By contrast, Burke’s attorney portrayed the former alderperson as a “good man” and a dedicated public servant who relished his ability to move the city’s bureaucracy and “thrived on connecting the right people.”

The special meeting of the Chicago City Council was a last-ditch effort to put the non-binding question to voters on the March 19 ballot. 

New rules requiring nonprofit organizations to register as lobbyists are set to take effect July 1 after a delay of nearly four years.

The settlement is the largest police misconduct settlement approved by the City Council in 2023.

The Chicago City Council voted 31-18 to resolve the lawsuit filed by the family of Darius Cole-Garrit, which claimed the officers who shot the 21-year-old threatened him hours before they nearly ran him over and then shot him in the back as he fled.