It’s unclear just how serious the mayor was being when he spoke at the event about the future of transportation. But even if Emanuel had his tongue in his cheek, taxi drivers and medallion owners may not see the funny side.

Chicago Public Schools officials have issued a call for new charter schools amid a $215 million budget hole and a cap on new charter expansion.

A bill to help salvage two city worker pension funds now heads to the governor, who has vowed not to sign it without pension reform. It provides for taxpayers and government employees putting more money into retirement systems that cover laborers and municipal workers. The Illinois House passed the bill in December. But Gov. Bruce Rauner won’t support the bill without pension reform. Comment: Good for Rauner, but the scary part here is that Sen. Radogno is apparently negotiating on behalf of GOP against Dem Cullerton. Radogno has never understood pensions. Cullerton does, and he’s a union tool. He will

A Wicker Park elementary parent called out the Chicago Teachers Union over the weekend on a national stage, claiming the union stopped parents who volunteered to staff their children’s school library after its librarian was laid off.

The $20 million was set aside to inoculate the mayor and aldermen from at least some of the blame for a record $588 million property tax increase for police and fire pensions and school construction. Comment: The rebate was fake policy — it was designed to fail and a political stunt.

Downtown office landlords continued to distance themselves from the depths of the recession at the end of 2016, with the vacancy rate dropping to its lowest level in nearly 16 years. Now those building owners will find out if the rally has legs in 2017, as they brace for the impact of several new towers under construction or recently completed.

“Chicago’s position at the bottom of the ranking is no surprise to anyone who follows municipal finance. The Windy City has become a poster child for financial mismanagement, having suffered a series of ratings downgrades in recent years. Aside from having thin reserves and large volumes of outstanding debt, Chicago is notorious for its underfunded pension plans.”

The conference took place in the shadow of the 1,400-foot Trump International Hotel and Tower, with its giant embossed letters glistening above the Chicago River: TRUMP. Chicago’s single-digit temperatures meant anxious discussions took place among economists quite literally shivering in black or gray overcoats.

“We have an opportunity for you to win some money—$500 to be exact. If you are able to come up with a creative way to approach this negative perception, be it a video series, blog post, photo, or something else (and better) entirely… Keep in mind that the audience is a high school student and his/her family.”

Rahm Emanuel is pitching Wall Street investors on the latest city borrowing plan, a $1.2 billion package that, like previous versions, pushes hundreds of millions of dollars of debt into the future at higher costs to taxpayers.