The first-of-its-kind audit by Inspector General Deborah Witzburg of the city’s workers compensation system found “major improvement” in the system that paid $73.5 million to resolve approximately 3,700 claims in 2022.

The city’s 2026 budget set aside just $82.5 million for police misconduct settlements, and authorized officials to borrow an additional $283.3 million to cover the soaring cost of lawsuits alleging wrongdoing by police officers, records show.

Approximately 7,000 unpermitted sweepstakes machines operate in all kinds of businesses across the city — including in bars, restaurants, gas stations, laundromats and convenience stores — but are concentrated on the South and West sides.

It is not clear how — or why — Benchmark Analytics was selected by officials in the Johnson administration in the fall of 2024 to create the system required by the federal court order known as the consent decree.

If Mayor Brandon Johnson and his allies on the Chicago City Council have their way, those bars and restaurants will never get to plug in video poker and slot machines.

The ethics board in Chicago published a list of 71 employees and officeholders who missed the annual filing deadline. Ald. Stephanie Coleman has filed after the statutory deadline every year since 2021, records show.

“One proposal is not a silver bullet,” Ald. Matt Martin (47th Ward) said. “But we should do what we can, when we can.”

The ordinance's passage means that tipped workers in Chicago would not get another city-ordered wage boost as scheduled on July 1, 2026, or July 1, 2027.

Chicago City Council members unanimously approved an amendment to the city’s Native and Pollinator Garden Registry ordinance, which now allows plants up to 36 inches tall in the parkway.

The Chicago City Council on Wednesday is set to vote on a compromise measure to delay the phaseout of the city’s tipped minimum wage.

After winning the endorsement of the Ethics and Government Oversight Committee, a final vote on the Reverend Jesse L. Jackson Sr. Fair Access to Democracy Ordinance by the full City Council is scheduled for Wednesday.

David Glockner said he would focus his efforts on areas “that matter most for the effective, equitable and efficient delivery of city services” and use his office’s audit authority to probe the “most significant risks.”

The agreement also calls for the city to build or rehabilitate 2,000 new affordable units accessible to those with limited mobility as well as an additional 840 new affordable units accessible for Chicagoans with limited hearing and sight during the next 12 years, officials said.

“We have endured quite a bit,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said. “It has been a barrage of just crisis after crisis that I’ve had to manage, but again, you know, I’ve made it very clear that it’s a lot more effective and easier to lead when you are leading with your values and your convictions.”

Jose Almanza-Martinez, 67, died in the crash that ended the chase on Aug. 2, 2020, near 26th Street and Pulaski Road, records show.

Arnold Day was convicted and sentenced to 60 years in prison in 1992 based on confessions coerced by Chicago police detectives trained by Jon Burge, a disgraced Chicago police commander, according to court records.