Hours after the U.S. House of Representatives approved a package that will send $1.8 billion to Chicago, Lightfoot warned Chicago aldermen to keep their wish lists in their back pockets, because the money will have strings attached. “My expectation is that the money is gonna come … through specific grants that have specific requirements on how the money can be spent.”

The city set up a coronavirus hotline last year to answer people’s questions, provide resources for things like testing and quarantining, and now set up vaccination appointments at the United Center. But several people calling the number Wednesday morning were instead forwarded to Owen Worley, an East Garfield Park resident with no ties to the hotline. When he called the hotline to report the issue, he was forwarded to another everyday resident who had no idea why the hotline had sent Worley to him.

Chicago Police Supt. David Brown said between schools being out and courts being closed such that trials and convictions are not taking place, carjackers are operating without any consequences. “The cops are not the judge, juror, or jailer” and can only make initial arrests, Brown said. “For those that do offend, we need real consequences.”

“Why can’t incumbents just run? Run on their records? Face voters? Prove up? Instead, they bully….The examples here, as we said, don’t amount to national headlines on voter suppression, vote fraud or ballot manipulations. But it’s clear the actions of insiders often violate the spirit of free and fair elections.”

CPS leaders admitted the district is still “in the early stages” of planning. But they said their twice weekly meetings with CTU have been “very productive” and said parents’ questions would be used to inform those discussions — a welcome change for many who criticized the district for not taking parent input in the K-8 reopening.

The Chicago Automobile Trade Association is meeting with representatives from the state on Thursday about bringing back the Auto Show. Once they get the green light, they still need the approval from the City of Chicago.

Tens of thousands of appointments are open, but they are not available to be booked. Instead, they are being held for five specific Chicago zip codes to ensure that the doses are distributed to equitably to the city’s most vulnerable populations.

“This initiative that’s coming out of Evanston will set the precedent that America can, if it has the will, engage in justice for long overdue crimes committed against people in this country,” Kamm Howard, national male co-chair of the National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations said.

Hotel revenues that support the events are down, but a mayoral aide hopes the city’s $1.8 billion in new federal relief-funds can help pay for large summer events, including Taste of Chicago and the Air and Water Show.

Nearly all of the funds for schools have to be distributed through the Title I formula, which means local school districts that serve lots of students from low-income families will get the biggest share. Chicago Public Schools, the state’s largest school district, could receive up to $1.76 billion in the package, amounting to about $5,100 additional per student, according to preliminary estimates.

“I love Target, but it is not a magnificent store,” Maria Pappas said.

Chicago is required to redraw its legislative districts every 10 years to account for population changes following the U.S. Census. The city must be separated into 50 contiguous wards, each with roughly the same number of residents.

“Wide variations in policies and rates among the many thousands of U.S. jurisdictions that levy property taxes make it difficult to quantify the aggregate size of the imbalances. But (researcher and professor Christopher) Berry found in 2018 that in Chicago alone, unfair assessments shifted $2.2 billion in property tax payments from those who owned the highest-valued homes to those who owned the lowest-valued homes—over only five years.”

“While leftist teachers feel comfortable openly stating their support for racist policies on social media, teachers who believe in equal treatment of all regardless of skin color are relegated to reaching out in private for fear of retribution.”

In three cases, the defendants tried to cast a ballot for someone other than themselves, according to a statement from the state’s attorney’s office. In two others, the defendants claimed they lived in DuPage County for 30 days prior to the election when in fact they lived elsewhere, prosecutors said.

“Perhaps the world’s preeminent annual gathering of local government experts and officials — wrapped up Wednesday online, with one of the most consistent topics of discussion being the importance of equitable recovery from the pandemic.” [Emphasis added.]

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, speaking on a panel entitled How Cities Can Build More Inclusive Economies, talked about the importance of lessons learned during the crisis.

“One of the big headlines coming out of the pandemic is that the things that we thought were impossible before are actually possible,” Lightfoot said. “Really, [they’re] absolutely necessary … one thing that the

“On the other hand, why would scores of Americans like my neighbor give their money to Black Lives Matter and not to folks like Pastor Corey Brooks or to the grassroots leaders in Ferguson, or even to similar people in their own neighborhoods? Perhaps the answer lies in the fact that Black Lives Matter functions primarily as an ideological movement untethered to the realities on the ground.”