Stories by Heather Cherone

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.

Representatives of the city’s Department of Transportation and the Budget Office declined to provide WTTW News with a full breakdown of spending during 2021 and 2022 under the banner of Chicago Works.

The 16-page report was the first action of the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability after it finally launched at the end of August, more than eight months behind schedule. A final vote by the Chicago City Council on Lightfoot’s $16.4 billion plan is scheduled for Monday.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s plan to close a projected $170.6 million budget gap in 2023 relies on booming tax revenues that she said proves Chicago’s budget has fully recovered from the economic catastrophe caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Brandon Johnson vowed to address the structural inequity that pervades Chicago and fuels violent crime, calling high-performing schools, affordable housing and health care all violence prevention measures.

Although George Cardenas will not take his seat on the Board of Review until January, he said his resignation will take effect Nov. 30, giving the mayor a chance to conduct a “thorough search for his replacement.”

The Senate candidates faced off in the WTTW studio and wrangled over gun control, abortion and inflation.

Chicago Police Supt. David Brown said he had “zero tolerance” for police officers who are members of hate groups or associate with members of hate groups.

Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson, 46, launched his campaign in Cabrini Green’s Seward Park, near Jenner Academy Elementary School where he began his teaching career.

The last time the salary paid to Chicago’s mayor changed was in 2006, under former Mayor Richard M. Daley. Former Mayor Rahm Emanuel was paid $216,210 in each of the eight years he served as mayor, and Lightfoot will be paid the same through her first term in office.

Ald. Sophia King serves as the Education Committee’s vice chair, and was set to become chair under the City Council’s rules before Mayor Lori Lightfoot attempted to replace her with an ally.

Both Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Chicago Police Supt. David Brown have defended the decision to not to terminate the officer. The officer was “thoroughly investigated” and “given a lengthy period of suspension,” Lightfoot said.

Joel Brodsky represented Drew Peterson, a former Bolingbrook police sergeant, when he was convicted in 2012 of killing his third wife, Kathleen Savio, in 2004. Peterson also was a suspect in the 2007 disappearance of his fourth wife, Stacy Peterson, who has never been found.

The upgrade is likely to boost efforts by Mayor Lori Lightfoot to convince Chicago City Council members to support her budget, which she hopes to pass on Nov. 7.

More than 3,600 immigrants, most of them from Venezuela, have arrived in Chicago since Aug. 31, when Texas Gov. Greg Abbott sent the first bus of 75 people to Chicago.