The terms of two members of the board expired last month, including Vice Chair Ryan Cortazar, who has led the board since former Chair William Conlon stepped down in July 2025, and Board Member Sarah Jin.

“We cannot continue to govern by searching for loose change in the couch, or every time that there’s a budget challenge, we revert back to proclivities that have caused tremendous harm to working people in this city,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said.

Hundreds of thousands of Chicago Public Schools students returned to their classrooms across the city Monday on the first day of school for the 2026-27 academic year as local officials continue pushing for more state funding to help prevent staffing layoffs.

Chicago DSA declined to endorse Ald. Daniel La Spata (1st Ward) because he would not tell the group he considers himself an anti-Zionist and Ald. Jeanette Taylor (20th Ward) because she supported reversing a 2023 City Council vote to phase out the tipped minimum wage and voted against spending on the migrant crisis.

“Chicagoans have been absolutely clear: They do not want data centers expanding across our city without strong protection for their communities, their utility bills, their air, water and their quality of life,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said.

Officials with Bally’s Corp. have been warning the Chicago City Council for months that its move to green-light video gaming would kneecap the city’s permanent casino, scheduled to open in River West early next year.

The upgraded station is part of a broader CTA initiative to make all rail stations fully accessible by 2038. Upgrades to the Austin Green Line station include a new elevator and escalator, reconstructed stairs, a new ramp, an extended platform and a monitor that displays real-time elevator status information.

In an interview with WTTW News, Mayor Brandon Johnson laid out the qualities he’s looking for in Chicago’s next top cop and stressed that there’s no need to delay that selection process until after the upcoming mayoral election in February.

Mayor Brandon Johnson expressed confidence that he’ll be able to present a balanced budget in October after his Budget Director Annette Guzman abruptly resigned this week.

Giannoulias, 50, who is running for a second term as secretary of state in November, will simultaneously enter the contest to be Chicago’s 58th mayor.

The Chicago Board of Education on Thursday passed an approximately $10 billion budget after hours of contentious debate, a lengthy recess, sharp questions over revenue assumptions and a last-minute amendment.

Gun policy group the Brady Campaign has urged elected officials to use their procurement power to force gun companies to change how they do business, since cities and states spend millions of dollars to equip police officers.

While Mayor Brandon Johnson has yet to announce if he’s running for a second term, he still has the backing of one of his most prominent supporters.

“For Black Chicago in particular, it kind of felt a way that government was able to turn on resources in a moment’s notice that our communities have been starved for decades,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said. “And I tried desperately to live in my values, even though it cost me politically. It did. It did cost me.”

Fred Waller is expected to serve as CPD’s interim superintendent through the end of the year, as the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability searches for a permanent leader.

The question — posed by Mayor Brandon Johnson — will fill the final spot on the November ballot, ending a proxy fight between the mayor and his increasingly emboldened opponents on the Chicago City Council, even though the results will only carry symbolic weight.