Chief Financial Officer Jennie Huang Bennett said that growth was “fully anticipated” because the city is now required to contribute to its pension funds based on actuarial estimates. That requirement, which took full effect in 2020, has helped balloon the city’s structural deficit.

Professor Paul Cassell argues that even if Cook County’s contention that the crime rate remained flat was true, it would still mean more crime, because the same crime rate would be applied to a bigger number of offenders. “More people out means more people committing crimes,” he said.

“The charges speak to the immense power that aldermen enjoy in their wards…through what is known as aldermanic privilege. It’s an entrenched tradition in Chicago governance that isn’t cast in stone through city ordinance, but rather exists as an unwritten code of political behavior. It has endured for decades, and is jealously guarded by many aldermen who want to preserve control over their fiefdoms.”

Jahmal Cole, the founder of “My Block, My Hood, My City” called for federal intervention as well. “Gun violence is the leading cause of death among children and teenagers in the state of Illinois. That shouldn’t be the case. To increase public safety, we need jobs with thriving wages, affordable housing and public mental health services.”

Police Supt. David Brown said, “These are people charged with murder where the state’s attorney accepted the charges … And the courts, the courts released them back into the community, creating an unsafe environment for all of us in the crowd when retaliation occurs, when street justice occurs.”

The officers, two ATF Chicago agents and one Chicago Police Department officer, were driving in the Morgan Park neighborhood just before 6 a.m. when they were fired upon by another vehicle, Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown said. The officers were undercover and in an unmarked car.

The White House said Chicago was identified as one of five major cities where the Department of Justice will set up a gun trafficking task force.

The district’s announcement comes as the Chicago Teachers Union calls for 80% of age-eligible students to be vaccinated by October as schools prepare to fully reopen in the fall.

The first major piece of legislation signed into law by Lightfoot — passed 50-0 by the City Council — expanded the authority of the inspector general to audit City Council committees, threatening the financial perks long enjoyed by the most powerful members of the Chicago City Council. But Lightfoot and Ferguson quickly found themselves at odds over several issues, most focusing on the city’s lagging efforts to overhaul the police department.

“Since the launch of the Chicago Monuments Project last fall, the project has engaged thousands of individuals through the website and over 40 virtual programs that were hosted by committee members, national experts, and local community organizations,” according to the events department. “The project will extend its community engagement this summer with a series of in-person neighborhood programs.”

The juvenile judges interviewed said because carjacking is considered a violent crime, they are often precluded from assigning the arrestees to programs designed more to divert nonviolent offenders. That leaves few options for the minors brought into court on carjacking charges, they said.

“Having lost her conscience on the road to the mayor’s office, she decided deflecting and blaming is the smart thing to do when your citizens are massacred every weekend. Leaning on the oldest and most predictable tropes in the Democratic arsenal—she charged criticism aimed at her is “99 percent” due to her being a Black woman.”