Members of the Chicago City Council have until Friday to respond to 10 questions posed by federal officials probing whether aldermanic prerogative has created a hyper-segregated city rife with racism and gentrification.

A furious round of lobbying is happening behind the scenes at City Hall over the proposal to allow the Bears, Cubs, White Sox, Blackhawks and Sky to operate sportsbook operations on their home turf.

Restaurants and cafes could continue to serve customers outdoors through 2022 under a proposal set to be considered at Wednesday's City Council meeting.

A 5% uptick in the Latino population, a whopping 30% increase in the Asian population, and a 10% decrease in the Black population have translated into factions fighting for wards mapped to maintain racial majorities and all but ensure proportionate racial representation.

Chicago alderpeople are at odds over redrawing the city’s ward map, a procedure that happens every 10 years to account for population changes. The biggest sticking point is the balance of power between Black and Latino Chicagoans.

By filing the map crafted by the Chicago Latino Caucus with the city clerk’s office, the alderpeople ensured that the June 28 primary election ballot could ask voters to decide what the ward map should look like for the first time in 30 years.

The City Council met briefly Wednesday afternoon, allowing Rules Committee Chair Ald. Michelle Harris (8th Ward) an opportunity to unveil the map drawn behind closed doors and supported by the City Council’s Black Caucus.

The deadline for a city ward map is Wednesday. CHANGE Illinois believes that map should be independently made by community members who reflect the city’s population and not by alderpeople. 

Negotiations over a new ward map that will shape Chicago politics for the next decade remained deadlocked Tuesday, with no sign of a possible compromise less than a day before the deadline set by state law.

If 41 alderpeople do not agree on a map, the final decision could be made by voters for the first time in 30 years via a referendum.

The leaders of the Chicago City Council’s Black and Latino caucuses sparred Thursday as a compromise over the boundaries of the ward map that will shape Chicago politics for the next decade remained elusive.

The Chicago City Council voted 29-18 on Wednesday to grant the Chicago Police Board the power to overrule the Chicago Police Department and remove a Chicagoan from its gang database.

The leaders of the Chicago City Council’s Black and Latino caucuses said Tuesday that they could endorse a new Chicago ward map with 18 wards with a majority of Black voters and 15 wards with a majority of Latino voters.

The largest settlement — $2 million — would go to the family of Julia Lynn Callaway, who was killed in May 2018 when she was struck by a car being pursued by police. 

Some community leaders want to see Chinatown and the surrounding area included in a single ward as part of the city council’s once-a-decade remap process. Advocates are also calling for Asian American communities in Albany Park, West Ridge, and Uptown to stay together in their respective wards to ensure their voices are heard. 

The online tool will allow Chicagoans to use map-drawing software similar to the kind that members of the Chicago City Council have been using since the end of July — but Chicagoans have less than three weeks to send in their proposal.