In the latest case to be settled, the Chicago City Council agreed Wednesday to pay $15.4 million to Robert Smith Jr., who spent 33 years in prison after being wrongfully convicted of the 1987 double murder of his wife’s mother and grandmother.

Over the objections of the mayor, the Chicago City Council agreed to meet Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Dec. 23 in an attempt to hammer out a deal over the $16.6 billion spending plan.

The measure is the third attempt by Ald. Brian Hopkins (2nd Ward) to expand the Chicago Police Department’s power in an attempt to deter teens from gathering in large numbers.

The current proposal would impose a $33 per employee tax on companies with 500 or more employees to generate $82 million to fund violence prevention and youth employment programs.

“We have to revisit our promotion policy,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said. “We don’t want these types of archaic approaches to set us back. So, it is something that we are looking into.”

Mayor Brandon Johnson said he was open to new ideas and continuing negotiations but said he would not allow the city’s budget to be balanced “on the backs of working people.”

Of 439 positions in the Chicago Police Department charged with implementing the consent decree, 179 positions were empty at the beginning of December, according to a Freedom of Information Act request filed by WTTW News.

The latest back-and-forth between the mayor’s office and Mayor Brandon Johnson’s critics leaves no clear path to a deal with just 26 days left before the deadline to avoid an unprecedented shutdown of city government.

Even as City Council members returned to City Hall on Tuesday after the Thanksgiving holiday, there is no clear path to a deal with just 28 days left before the deadline to avoid an unprecedented shutdown of city government.

Chicago Budget Director Annette Guzman joined “Chicago Tonight” to discuss the budget negotiations.

After strictly limiting visitors, city officials said they are working with the Christkindlmarket's organizers to allow more people to enjoy the experience, safely.

The consent decree is a binding court order granting a federal judge oversight of the police department. WTTW News Explains how that works in practice.

A fundraiser has been launched for a 14-year-old boy who was killed in a downtown shooting Friday night in the same area where seven other teens were wounded in a mass shooting.

Mayor Brandon Johnson’s proposal to impose $623 million in new taxes on the wealthiest Chicagoans and largest firms remains in purgatory, with no clear path to a deal with just 41 days left before the deadline to avoid a shutdown of city government.

“This withdrawal represents an unconditional surrender by the Trump administration,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said. “But more than that, it represents a massive waste of taxpayer dollars.”

The refusal of the City Council’s Finance Committee to advance Mayor Brandon Johnson’s proposed spending plan is another sign there is no clear consensus on the bulk of Johnson’s proposal to impose $623 million in new taxes on the wealthiest Chicagoans and largest firms.