Little Free Library duo in Lincoln Square — one for adults and one for kids. (Patty Wetli / WTTW News)

An ordinance amendment would require library hosts to obtain a permit before setting up a “public bookcase” in the public way, and would limit permit holders to institutions.

Mayor Brandon Johnson calls for President Joe Biden to allow migrants sent to Chicago from Texas to work, alongside Gov. J.B. Pritzker and U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin on Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2023. (Heather Cherone/WTTW News)

With approximately 7,400 people taking up every available spot in 20 city shelters, more than 2,100 men, women and children are being forced to sleep on the floors of police stations across the city and at Chicago O’Hare International Airport, according to city data.

Migrants outside a Chicago police station. (WTTW News)

This week marks one year since the first bus of asylum seekers was sent to Chicago from the southern border. More than 13,500 migrants have arrived in the city to date.

The Diplomat Motel, 5230 N. Lincoln Ave., after its facade was repainted by artist Sick Fischer. (Credit: 40th Ward Office)

“This can set a model for the rest of the city,” Ald. Andre Vasquez (40th Ward) said, envisioning a similar shelter in each of Chicago’s 50 wards.

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The City Council’s Transportation Committee advanced the measure six months after 3-year-old Lily Shambrook died while riding in a carrier on her mother’s bicycle.

This file photo shows a southbound CTA Red Line train in Chicago. (WTTW News)

“It is not a good look for him to have the oxygen and audacity not to show up,” Ald. Jeanette Taylor (20th Ward) said.

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Authored by Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd Ward) and Ald. Andre Vasquez (40th Ward), the measure would give employees of the Department of Finance — not just members of the Chicago Police Department — the authority to order the vehicle blocking the bicycle lane to be ticketed and towed.

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The Chicago City Council voted 29-18 on Wednesday to grant the Chicago Police Board the power to overrule the Chicago Police Department and remove a Chicagoan from its gang database.

Several communities have raised funds to treat their neighborhood ash trees. (Patty Wetli / WTTW News)
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During Thursday’s City Council meeting, alderpeople introduced a resolution calling for the Department of Streets and Sanitation to reinstate treatment of the city’s remaining parkway ash trees — numbering close to 50,000 — and also develop a systematic program for removing and replacing infested trees.

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A measure that grants the Chicago Police Board the power to overrule the Chicago Police Department and remove a Chicagoan from an under-development gang database advanced Wednesday — even though it is not clear when that system will be up and running.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot presents her budget proposal for 2022 to the Chicago City Council on Monday, Sept. 20, 2021. (WTTW News)

Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s plan to close a projected $733 million budget gap in 2022 relies on $385 million in federal relief funds and nearly $299 million in savings and efficiencies, but the plan contains “no new tax or significant fee increases” for Chicago residents, she said.

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A proposal to create an elected board of Chicagoans to oversee the Chicago Police Department is likely to pass easily, now that it has the backing of a coalition of community groups and Mayor Lori Lightfoot, several aldermen told “Chicago Tonight” on Monday.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot addresses weekend violence in Chicago at an unrelated news conference Monday, June 28, 2021. (WTTW News)
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Hours after Mayor Lori Lightfoot blamed the shutdown of the Cook County court system by the COVID-19 pandemic for escalating violence across Chicago’s South and West sides, several aldermen told “Chicago Tonight” that rising inequality and distrust of the police is to blame. 

Members of the Chicago City Council meet on Wednesday, May 26, 2021. (WTTW News)

For 184 years, members of the Chicago City Council have been known as aldermen — even though its first female members were elected a half-century ago. That is set to change.

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Opponents of a plan to rename 17 miles of Lake Shore Drive for Jean Baptiste Point DuSable, Chicago’s first permanent non-Indigenous settler, blocked a vote on the measure Wednesday, enraging supporters of the plan, who called the move racist. 

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Residents of Chicago have been experiencing mail delays for months. Some of those delays are simply irritating, but others can be far more consequential. What’s going on at the U.S. Postal Service?