Stories by Heather Cherone

The interim Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability will hold a virtual meeting at 6:30 p.m. Monday to discuss a draft of the policy that would govern the new gang database, dubbed the Criminal Enterprise Information System.

A survey designed to determine what residents of the Southwest Side’s 12th Ward think should be the highest priority for their new alderperson received just 25 responses, according to results posted on the city’s data portal on Monday.

Willie Wilson, Ja’Mal Green, state Rep. Kam Buckner, Paul Vallas, Brandon Johnson and Ald. Sophia King (4th Ward) all filed to run for mayor of Chicago.

A wide-ranging and still-growing field of challengers are seeking to deny incumbent Mayor Lori Lightfoot a second term in February 2023. 

The last time Chicago voters passed a binding referendum that applied to the entire city was 1885, according to city records. As supporters’ paths to the ballot have been nearly closed off, they have begun shifting the fight to the 2023 campaign for mayor and City Council.

Austin, 73, pleaded not guilty to charges that she accepted bribes from a developer and lied to FBI agents. Indicted in July 2021, Austin has never appeared in person before Judge John Kness because of her ill health and restrictions put in place to stop the spread of COVID-19. 

Property taxes can be a doozy. Or rather, how they are calculated can be. WTTW News Explains walks you through the ins and outs of the process. 

The move is likely to reduce fears, at least temporarily, of an imminent surge of COVID-19 once colder weather settled over Chicago for the duration, forcing people indoors.

The former governor said he will instead focus on reform efforts designed to expand the initiative effort. Instead, Quinn said he would focus on efforts to beef up the ability of voters to reform Illinois government through the initiative and referendum process.

The applicants include Anabel Abarca, Ald. George Cardenas’ former chief of staff and a candidate in the Feb. 28 election.

Lightfoot formally introduced a proposal on Wednesday to the Chicago City Council to create a new tax-increment financing district along the southern branch of the CTA Red Line to fund the extension of the train line first envisioned by former Mayor Richard J. Daley in the 1950s. 

Mayor Lori Lightfoot initially opposed efforts by members of the City Council to require the heads of the city’s sister agencies to answer questions from the City Council but dropped her objections Wednesday. 

The second-installment of property owners’ 2021 tax bills will be more than 150 days late amid months of bureaucratic wrangling and finger pointing among Cook County officials.

The Chicago City Council is set to pay $5.8 million to resolve three lawsuits alledging misconduct by Chicago Police officers.

Dozens of Chicagoans who waited hours to get their turn to address the Chicago City Council were prevented from speaking because a majority of the Chicago City Council attended Monday's special meeting.

The 90,000-member union that represents hospital, nursing home, home care and child care workers throughout the Midwest backed Brandon Johnson, a Cook County commissioner, four days after U.S. Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García entered the race for mayor, scrambling the contest.

Supporters of the proposal say the change will help the nearly 66,000 Chicagoans who are unhoused by generating approximately $160 million annually.

Ten major candidates have already launched campaigns to deny Mayor Lori Lightfoot a second term. 

Chicago and Cook County last faced a medium risk of COVID-19 in mid-September.

The Chicago City Council’s Public Safety Committee voted 4-10 to reject the proposal introduced by Alds. Maria Hadden (49th Ward) and Pat Dowell (3rd Ward) eight months ago.

In a video posted early Thursday morning, García said he was running for mayor because “Chicagoans are calling out for help” after suffering though a pandemic and experiencing a “racial reckoning that underscored our painful history of inequity.”

Drawn by Democrats in the General Assembly and signed into law by Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker, the map was designed to help the party keep control of the U.S. House by sending 14 Democrats and three Republicans to Congress from Illinois. That would represent a gain of one Democratic seat — and a loss of two GOP seats.

Pedro Martinez, appointed by Mayor Lori Lightfoot in September 2021 to lead the Chicago Public Schools, has never answered questions during a City Council meeting.

Dian Palmer, the president of SEIU Local 73, said Johnson was the “progressive candidate who will unite a multiracial, working-class coalition to unify Chicago into a city that works for all people.”

Duckworth, 54, was elected to the Senate in 2016 after serving two terms in the U.S House. Salvi, 63, is a Mundelein lawyer who has never before held elected office.

The budget takes effect Jan. 1, 2023, approximately two months before Mayor Lori Lightfoot is set to ask voters for a second term as Chicago mayor, does not include a property tax hike to keep up with the soaring rate of inflation, or any other tax or fee hikes.