With the backing of hotel owners and the Illinois Hotel & Lodging Association, the city’s tax on hotel rooms downtown, near McCormick Place, the Illinois Medical District and Hyde Park will rise from 17.5% to 19%, the highest in the nation.

Lawyers for the Harrell family all but dared the Chicago City Council to reject their lawyers’ recommendation to pay $27 million to resolve the lawsuit blaming the Chicago Police Department for the death of Stacy Vaughn-Harrell during a police pursuit.

The ordinances rejected by the committee would have banned video slots and poker machines in the 26th Ward, the 27th Ward, the 28th Ward, the 33rd Ward, the 35th Ward and the 49th Ward.

The City Council’s Finance Committee on Friday is set to consider the proposed settlement, which calls for taxpayers to pay $20 million and the city’s insurance company to pay $7 million. A final vote of the City Council could come March 18.

Mayor Brandon Johnson’s pick to lead Chicago Animal Care and Control highlighted the work of the city shelter during a committee hearing Tuesday, as some animal advocates demand a nationwide search.

The proposal called for parents to face jail time if their children “violate curfew, engage in drag racing, flipping of cars, intoxication or use of paintball guns.”

City law requires the Chicago Police Department to provide updates abouts its progress in crafting a system designed to alert officials about which officers have been the subject of repeated police misconduct allegations.

CPD is required to implement the system under the terms of the consent decree, the federal court order designed to compel the department to change the way it trains, supervises and disciplines officers.

Mayor Brandon Johnson said the ban was too broad and punished “many of our small businesses who have been following the law and deserve to have a seat at the table,” including those owned by Black and Latino Chicagoans.

Some Chicagoans who had their cars towed by the city could get $1,250, if their vehicle was scrapped, or a refund of what they paid to get their car out of the impound lot.

Taxpayers paid an additional $5.2 million to private attorneys to defend former Chicago Police Detective Reynaldo Guevara and the other officers named in the four lawsuits.

Dominga Flores Gomez, 55, died in the crash that ended the chase launched by two Chicago Police Department vehicles just before 9 p.m. Sept. 28, 2022, in McKinley Park, records show.

Since January 2025, Chicago taxpayers spent at least $103.1 million to resolve 14 lawsuits brought by people who were injured or on behalf of those killed during police pursuits, according to an analysis of city data by WTTW News.

A key City Council panel will consider resolving four lawsuits naming former Chicago police Detective Reynaldo Guevara on Wednesday at a cost of $29.2 million.

The Chicago City Council will vote Feb. 18 on a proposal that would allow the Civilian Office of Police Accountability to investigate whether CPD officers have violated city law by helping federal immigration agents.

A joint City Council committee voted 19-3 to explicitly give the Civilian Office of Police Accountability authority to investigate whether CPD officers have improperly helped federal agents enforce immigration law.