Stories by Heather Cherone

Chicago police brass did not update Mayor Brandon Johnson and three City Council committee chairs about their progress in crafting the system until days after WTTW News reported they had failed to comply with city law.

“It turns out that the policy that they have in place is applicable to what we’re asking them to do,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said.

“This is a project that is going to create thousands of jobs and opportunities for the people across the city, but particularly for development on the West Side,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said. “This is a clear indication that the city of Chicago remains open for business, but we’re just not for sale.”

Officer Richard Rodriguez Jr., who was a member of the Near North (18th) Police District tactical team until he was stripped of his police powers last month, has been suspended for at least 68 days in connection with seven incidents of misconduct, records show.

Nearly 50 days after the executive order was signed those “policies and procedures are currently in draft status,” according to a Freedom of Information Act request filed by WTTW News seeking a copy of the policy required by the executive order.

The Civilian Office of Police Accountability determined that Officer Noah Ball’s decision to shoot the boy was unjustified, a conclusion endorsed by Chicago Police Supt. Larry Snelling, records show.

Destroying those videos will lead “to the permanent loss of evidence that may be essential for lawsuits and other challenges to police practices,” according to the city's Department of Law.

“I will not abandon phasing out the sub-minimum wage for tipped workers at a time when Trump’s wars and tariffs are making it increasingly difficult to live and raise a family throughout the city and country,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said in a statement.

The City Council voted unanimously to explicitly grant the the Civilian Office of Police Accountability, known as COPA, the authority to investigate whether Chicago Police Department officers helped federal agents carry out deportations.

With the backing of hotel owners and the Illinois Hotel & Lodging Association, the city’s tax on hotel rooms downtown, near McCormick Place, the Illinois Medical District and Hyde Park will rise from 17.5% to 19%, the highest in the nation.

In all, groups affiliated with AIPAC spent more than $20 million to influence the outcome of four contests in Illinois’ 2nd, 7th, 8th and 9th Congressional districts, according to federal campaign finance reports.

The intense race has drawn tens of millions of dollars spent by outside groups on television, mail and online advertisements, with most coming from pro-Israel, pro-artificial intelligence development, pro-cryptocurrency and pro-cloud data center interests.

Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi has conceded defeat to Pat Hynes, a one-time employee of the two-term incumbent’s office.

The board’s decision comes after Mayor Brandon Johnson pushed for nearly a year to name former Ald. Walter Burnett (27th Ward) to lead the CHA, only to run into a brick wall of opposition from board members and federal officials.

Officer Chavez Siler Sr. violated nine departmental rules on Nov. 16, 2021, when he grabbed and pushed a student who was then 17, during dismissal, according to records obtained by WTTW News through a Freedom of Information Act request.

NetChoice, a trade association representing the tech industry, filed suit in Cook County Circuit Court to block the Social Media Amusement Tax included in the city’s 2026 spending plan.

Lawyers for the Harrell family all but dared the Chicago City Council to reject their lawyers’ recommendation to pay $27 million to resolve the lawsuit blaming the Chicago Police Department for the death of Stacy Vaughn-Harrell during a police pursuit.

Anjanette Young has worked for more than six years to force CPD to change the way it uses search warrants after a botched raid of her apartment.

The ordinances rejected by the committee would have banned video slots and poker machines in the 26th Ward, the 27th Ward, the 28th Ward, the 33rd Ward, the 35th Ward and the 49th Ward.

“We respectfully urge you to cast aside any efforts to codify the invalidated levies struck down by the Supreme Court and instead enact meaningful statutory constraints on presidential tariff power that allow for appropriate congressional review,” the letter reads.

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 $7 million. A final vote of the City Council could come March 18.

Two officers suffered minor injuries and were taken to the hospital after the incident that began at 5:39 p.m. Monday, according to a Chicago Police Department statement.

With a little more than a week until the March 17 election, the debate hosted by WTTW News’ “Chicago Tonight” was the first after President Donald Trump launched the war against Iran that has already killed seven members of the U.S. military.

Officers made an average of 732 traffic stops every day for an entire year that were not documented as required by CPD policy and state law, according to data from the city’s Office of Emergency Management and Communications obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request.

It was “improper” for the department led by Corporation Counsel Mary Richardson-Lowry to refuse to provide those records to the Office of the Inspector General, Deborah Witzburg said in a statement.

Michael Williams, then 65, spent nearly a year in jail after being charged with murder, only to have the charges dismissed after prosecutors told a judge they did not have enough evidence to proceed to trial.