Some of the city’s most vulnerable populations are still facing barriers of access when it comes to receiving equitable health care. The Black community faces notable obstacles when it comes to addressing mental illness.

CTU President Stacy Davis Gates spoke with WTTW News about the ongoing contract negotiations.

As the mayor ramps up work on his second budget proposal, a newly formed Chicago City Council subcommittee is set to meet at noon Wednesday to start examining the dozens of proposals to increase the amount of money officials have on hand to spend starting in 2025.

The revised policy represents a “substantial improvement” over the original policy, according to a coalition of police reform groups that challenged the policy in federal court.

A court order requiring the Chicago Police Department to change the way it trains, supervises and disciplines officers should not be expanded to include traffic stops, eight alderpeople told the federal judge overseeing the push to reform the department.

The renewed effort is finally getting off the ground more than six months after Johnson agreed to earmark $500,000 in the city’s 2024 budget for the task force, the first time city officials have promised to use taxpayer dollars to do more than just promise to talk about what Chicago owes its Black residents as a result of the legacy of slavery and segregation.

Ald. Matt Martin (47th Ward) said the plan, which is estimated to cost approximately $9.5 million per election, was designed to reduce the influence of “big special interest donors.”

“I am humbled and grateful to participate in further advancing Chicago as a role model in forming equitable cities,” Kupe said in a statement.

“We are still living up to our values,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said. “We are providing care in a way that nowhere else in the country you’re seeing.”

The CTU announced the sides have agreed to schedule an open contract bargaining session Friday from 5-7 p.m. at Marquette Elementary School, 6550 S. Richmond St., in the Chicago Lawn neighborhood.

The acknowledgement that approximately 500 people returned to city shelters after living there for at least two months raises new questions about plans by officials to start evicting families with school-age children from city shelters on Monday.

The Chicago City Council is poised to fill two long-vacant seats on the city's Board of Ethics after Mayor Brandon Johnson faced months of criticism from good-government advocates.

The proposal, based on a unanimous recommendation by the Chicago Board of Ethics, now heads to a final vote at the City Council meeting set for June 12.

Rosa Escareño, Chicago Park District general superintendent and CEO, announced an $8 million investment in broadband infrastructure that will provide free, public internet service at 60 of the city’s parks on the South and West sides.

The City Council’s Finance Committee is set to consider the proposed settlement, which calls for taxpayers to pay $21 million and the city’s insurance company to pay $29 million.

Illinois legislators passed 469 measures this year. The bulk of those items will likely become law, pending action from Gov. J.B. Pritzker. But in some cases, what lawmakers left on the table is equally significant as what passed.