“I’m not going to cut, and take away, layoff, fire, privatize so that other people can benefit, and the people of Chicago can lose,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said. “Not under my watch.”

“This is still very much a frustration I have,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said. “I’ve been in conversations with the superintendent, with our budget director to come up with better systems.”

The city is on pace to spend at least $258 million on police overtime by the end of the year, even as officials imposed limits on overtime for all city departments, except for police and the Chicago Fire Department, amid a massive budget crunch.

Chicago taxpayers have paid $74.4 million since 2019 to resolve lawsuits involving police pursuits, with the city’s insurance coverage paying an additional $25 million, according to a WTTW News analysis.

Those in favor of the expansion believe the TIF district could help fix economic and developmental challenges, while those opposed think it may further gentrify the community and push long-standing residents out of the beloved enclave.

During the past week, CPS CEO Pedro Martinez has written three times to parents, staff and students, and in each letter, he has promised that he will not close any schools while at the helm of CPS, even as he acknowledged compiling a list of schools that could be closed as part of an effort to compile a five-year strategic plan.

Mayor Brandon Johnson burned a significant amount of political capital to convince the Chicago City Council in April to appropriate an additional $70 million, which the city did not need after a feared surge of migrants failed to materialize.

A spokesperson for Mayor Brandon Johnson declined to comment on whether he had asked CPS CEO Pedro Martinez to resign, citing the mayor’s policy of not commenting on personnel matters. A spokesperson for Martinez declined to comment.

If the verdict is upheld, it would be equivalent to more than 60% of Chicago’s annual $82 million budget to cover the cost of police misconduct lawsuits.

The move was announced Monday by Annette Guzman, the city’s budget director, and comes as city leaders stare down a $222.9 million deficit this year and a projected $982 million shortfall in the 2025 fiscal year.

“There are sacrifices that will be made,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said.

The permanent casino will be four times as big as the temporary casino now open at the Medinah Temple at Ohio Street and Wabash Avenue.

Cases that involved at least one officer with repeated claims of misconduct accounted for nearly 43% of the $384.2 million paid by taxpayers to resolve police misconduct cases between 2019 and 2023, according to the analysis.

Chicago taxpayers have paid nearly $71.9 million since 2019 to resolve lawsuits involving police pursuits, with the city’s insurance coverage paying an additional $25 million, according to a WTTW News analysis.

In all, Chicago owes $37.2 billion to its four employee pension funds representing police officers, firefighters, municipal employees and laborers, according to the 2023 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report.

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.