The Chicago Board of Ethics voted unanimously to ask both the Chicago inspector general and the Chicago Public Schools inspector general to probe emails sent by Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s campaign to CPS teachers and City Colleges instructors.

Lori Lightfoot’s bid for reelection has been weighed down by a growing amount of evidence that she has governed at times more like an old-school machine politician than a reformer.

Early voting sites will open to all Chicago voters and voter registration services will be available.

Mayoral challenger U.S. Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García took direct aim at Mayor Lori Lightfoot Friday, blasting her for failing to prevent a tide of crime and violence in the city. 

The first email to City Colleges instructors urging them to ask their students to volunteer for the Lightfoot campaign was sent on Aug. 19, according to an email obtained by WTTW News. The second was sent Monday.

The email from the campaign “is inappropriately coercive and raises First Amendment concerns. The Supreme Court has made clear that government officials cannot use their office or power to coerce participation or to punish for lack of participation in political campaigns,” according to a statement from the ACLU of Illinois.

“We’re looking for enthusiastic, curious and hard-working young people eager to help Mayor Lightfoot win this spring,” according to an email obtained WTTW News that was sent to Chicago Public Schools teachers’ work email addresses.

The Chicago Board of Election Commissioners removed Frederick Collins from the Feb. 28 ballot on Friday, ruling that the Chicago police officer had not collected at least 12,500 valid signatures from registered Chicago voters to qualify for the contest. 

Twelve members of the Chicago City Council are not seeking re-election, which will mean nearly a quarter of the city will get new political leadership in 2023.

The mayor’s office told WTTW News that officials “have not determined a firm date on when this space will open for shelter” but remains “committed to carefully balancing the needs of both our residents and new arrivals.”

Mayor Lori Lightfoot defended her decision to transform a shuttered school in Woodlawn into a shelter for immigrants bused to Chicago as part of an “all hands on deck” response to what she called a crisis manufactured by the Republican governor of Texas during an interview on Tuesday with “Chicago Tonight.”

Former state Sen. Rickey Hendon, a consultant to candidate Willie Wilson, challenged the 6th Ward alderman’s petitions earlier this month. 

February’s municipal elections are not just about the race for mayor or Chicago City Council. There are also dozens of candidates running for brand new positions: police district councils.

Illinois lawmakers hold hearings on a possible assault weapons ban. Our politics team weighs in on that story and more.

The top spot on the Feb. 28 ballot for mayor officially belongs to Ja’Mal Green, after an aide to rival candidate Willie Wilson dropped his challenge of the activist’s nominating petitions Wednesday evening.

The surge of crime and violence that peaked during the COVID-19 pandemic but has yet to recede has imperiled Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s bid for a second term, even as the eight major candidates running to unseat her offer wildly different solutions to the seemingly intractable problem.