The budget takes effect Jan. 1, 2023, approximately two months before Mayor Lori Lightfoot is set to ask voters for a second term as Chicago mayor, does not include a property tax hike to keep up with the soaring rate of inflation, or any other tax or fee hikes.

Representatives of the city’s Department of Transportation and the Budget Office declined to provide WTTW News with a full breakdown of spending during 2021 and 2022 under the banner of Chicago Works.

The 16-page report was the first action of the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability after it finally launched at the end of August, more than eight months behind schedule. A final vote by the Chicago City Council on Lightfoot’s $16.4 billion plan is scheduled for Monday.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s plan to close a projected $170.6 million budget gap in 2023 relies on booming tax revenues that she said proves Chicago’s budget has fully recovered from the economic catastrophe caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Brandon Johnson vowed to address the structural inequity that pervades Chicago and fuels violent crime, calling high-performing schools, affordable housing and health care all violence prevention measures.

Although George Cardenas will not take his seat on the Board of Review until January, he said his resignation will take effect Nov. 30, giving the mayor a chance to conduct a “thorough search for his replacement.”

The Chicago Police Department said it does't appear anyone was struck by gunfire during the shooting, which occurred Tuesday morning in the Logan Square neighborhood.

Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson, 46, launched his campaign in Cabrini Green’s Seward Park, near Jenner Academy Elementary School where he began his teaching career.

In a rare move, City Council members rejected the mayor's attempt to name an ally as a committee chair. Our politics team weighs in on that story and more.

The last time the salary paid to Chicago’s mayor changed was in 2006, under former Mayor Richard M. Daley. Former Mayor Rahm Emanuel was paid $216,210 in each of the eight years he served as mayor, and Lightfoot will be paid the same through her first term in office.

Ald. Sophia King serves as the Education Committee’s vice chair, and was set to become chair under the City Council’s rules before Mayor Lori Lightfoot attempted to replace her with an ally.

The upgrade is likely to boost efforts by Mayor Lori Lightfoot to convince Chicago City Council members to support her budget, which she hopes to pass on Nov. 7.

More than 3,600 immigrants, most of them from Venezuela, have arrived in Chicago since Aug. 31, when Texas Gov. Greg Abbott sent the first bus of 75 people to Chicago. 

The final debate in the race for governor turns out to be short on substance but high on name-calling. Our politics team weighs in on that story and more.

One year after the Chicago City Council approved what Lightfoot calls the Chicago Recovery Plan, city officials have spent just $130.5 million of the $1.227 billion earmarked for a host of programs including affordable housing, mental health, violence prevention, youth job programs and help for unhoused Chicagoans, according to data released as part of the mayor’s 2023 budget proposal.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot uses her 2023 budget to show off progressive policies, despite being at odds with Chicago’s progressive political community. Our politics team weighs in on that story and more.