Aldermen urged city transportation officials on Friday to help them repave more Chicago streets, spotlighting a perennial gripe about potholes and rough rides during a budget season like no other.

The city is prepared to deploy garbage trucks, salt spreaders, snow plows and water trucks to protect the city’s commercial districts if the election triggers unrest and violence, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s $12.76 billion spending plan for 2021 fails to craft a “compassionate, bold” solution to the long-standing inequities that plague Chicago, according to the City Council’s Progressive Caucus.

Restrictions ordered by Gov. J.B. Pritzker to stop the spread of COVID-19 take effect at midnight Friday. Mayor Lightfoot altered her plan to align with the restrictions laid out by the Illinois Department of Public Health.

A pandemic rollback battle plays out between Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot as Election Day draws near. Our politics team takes on those stories and more in this week’s roundtable. 

A second Wall Street ratings agency sounded the alarm over Chicago’s budget on Wednesday as aldermen continued weighing Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s $12.76 billion spending plan for 2021.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot says she spoke with Gov. J.B. Pritzker for about an hour on Wednesday, a day after the serious split between the officials leading the effort to stem the pandemic spilled into public view.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot pushed back late Tuesday on Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s order to suspend indoor dining and drinking in Chicago, the latest sign of a serious split between the officials leading the effort to stem the pandemic.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s plan to close a projected $1.2 billion budget gap by hiking property taxes and laying off employees got a cool reception Monday from aldermen, who pleaded for other options amid a raging pandemic.

A year after the fanfare-filled launch, city officials said the program had begun to show results — with $70 million in public funds attracting $300 million in private investments.

As Chicago grapples with a second wave of the pandemic, a Wall Street ratings agency fired a shot across the bow as aldermen prepared to start a month of hearings on Mayor Lightfoot’s spending plan.

Mayor Paul Braun said he and the Flossmoor Village Board were “extremely disappointed” that Gyata Kimmons resigned his seat.

“There are points in time when scoop and toss is appropriate” and that is now the case since Chicago is facing a $1.2 billion budget gap, Chief Financial Officer Jennie Huang Bennett said.

“We are taking these measures to avoid potential catastrophic impacts later,” Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Thursday announcing new restrictions in the wake of an increase coronavirus cases.

As officials scramble to cope with a significant increase in the number of confirmed cases of the coronavirus, Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Mayor Lori Lightfoot are at odds over the role that bars and restaurants are playing in fueling the spread.

The mayor’s budget plan, the next coronavirus wave and the final presidential debate. Our politics team takes on those stories and more in this week’s roundtable.