Stories by Heather Cherone

Chicago Police Department leaders offered no “legitimate rationale” for the racial disparity to the independent monitoring team charged with enforcing court-ordered reforms.

That expected surplus will more than offset a projected budget gap of $82.6 million during the 2024 fiscal year, more evidence that Cook County’s finances remain on “sturdy” financial footing in the wake of the acute phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, officials said.

Mayor Brandon Johnson’s mayoral campaign platform called for an end to the tipped minimum wage, noting that those who rely on tips to earn a living wage are more likely to be Black and Latina women.

In all, the payments approved Wednesday are equivalent to 11% of the city’s annual $82 million budget to cover the cost of police misconduct lawsuits.

Chicago officials will use a $6.8 million grant from the Mellon Foundation to build eight new public monuments, including a monument to the more than 100 Black men who were tortured by Chicago Police officers trained by Jon Burge, a disgraced Chicago police commander.

The working group formed by Mayor Brandon Johnson to tackle Chicago’s acutely underfunded pensions is set to meet for the first time this week to confront one of the major fiscal challenges facing Chicago’s new leader.

Chicago Police Sgt. Michael Vitellaro, who was stripped of his police powers after being charged, still faces discipline as a result of a probe of the incident by the Civilian Office of Police Accountability, which was completed in March.

Former Ald. Ed Burke will start receiving pension payments of $8,027 per month in August, and they will continue for the rest of his life, according to records obtained by WTTW News from the Municipal Employees’ Annuity and Benefit Fund of Chicago.

It is not clear exactly when Bally’s will be able to open a temporary casino in the century-old Shriner’s temple at 600 N. Wabash Ave., with its distinctive domed ceilings and stained-glass windows. A Chicago landmark since 2001, the temple was most recently home to a Bloomingdale’s furniture store.

City leaders and NASCAR officials said they were confident the race would avoid all of the possible potholes and showcase Chicago in all of its summertime glory for a national audience.

Arthur Brown spent 29 years in prison after being convicted of killing two people by setting fire to a South Side store in 1988. He was released in 2017 after a judge overturned his conviction, prompting Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx to drop the charges against him.

The failure likely sent hundreds of thousands of tons of concrete, wood, brick, metal and glass into landfills that could have been reused or recycled, according to the audit by the city’s watchdog.

The Chicago Board of Ethics determined all of the violations of the city’s Ethics Ordinance were minor in nature, which will mean the candidates will be admonished in condfidential letters from the board — but not fined.

Sharell Brown, 26, was shot and killed during a confrontation with police officers who stopped him in Lawndale. Brown was shot four times in the head and twice in his right arm, according to the investigation of the shooting by the Civilian Office of Police Accountability, known as COPA.

No rules require city officials to stream meetings online or allow members of the public to weigh in virtually, either by Zoom or by phone – putting at risk Chicagoans’ ability to keep tabs on their government with a simple click of a button.

Mayor Brandon Johnson and Chicago Bears President Kevin Warren met Wednesday, a clear sign that relations between the city and the Monsters of the Midway have thawed, which may set the stage for talks to keep the team in Chicago, if not at Soldier Field.

Leaders of Chicago's environmental justice movement are confident Mayor Brandon Johnson has their backs – and they won’t have to fight City Hall as well as the businesses that they blame causing high rates of cancer, heart disease, respiratory ailments and asthma by polluting the air they breathe.

“It’s so important that we actually get this information out, not just for me, but for any of these other cases that they are holding back, giving us all the details," Shapearl Wells said. “It is so crucial for the public to find out what’s actually happening in Chicago.”

Federal officials failed to conduct a required civil rights review to determine whether the deal would meet the Chicago Housing Authority’s obligations under the federal Fair Housing Act, according to the lawsuit.

Building a stadium on the former Arlington Heights racetrack “is no longer our singular focus,” said Scott Hagel, the Bears senior vice president of marketing and communications.

A judge’s ruling could force Chicago officials to issue the final permit sought by the parent company of General Iron to operate a metal shredding and recycling operation on Chicago’s Southeast Side.

In all, city officials expect to spend $112 million through the end of June from a combination of state, federal and local funds to feed and shelter the migrants. More than 4,000 recent arrivals from Texas are living in city shelters, leaving another 500 people to sleep on the floor of police stations across the city.

Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas called the legislation “the most significant property tax reform legislation the General Assembly has approved in decades.”

“This was one of the silver linings to come out of the pandemic,” Ald. Matt Martin (47th Ward) said.

Restaurants, bars and cafes would be allowed to serve customers outdoors permanently under a plan backed by Mayor Brandon Johnson. The plan would make the rules designed to help restaurants stay afloat amid the COVID-19 pandemic an enduring part of Chicago’s food scene.

The audit documented a lack of accountability that undermines efforts to rebuild trust in the Chicago Police Department, Inspector General Deborah Witzburg said.