‘The need for unarmed security guards has increased each year,’ a university report justifying spending increases on campus police stated.

The plea against an indoor mandate is in response to an early September letter in which eight aldermen urged Dr. Allison Arwady to require that customers show proof of a jab for some indoor gathering spots. “The responsibility for vaccination rates is squarely on the alderman and the mayor and not on small businesses,” said Roger Romanelli, of the Chicago Restaurants Coalition.

“That failure is a symbol of how the Lightfoot administration also has to press for accountability. It must persuade Chicagoans that the federal money — and let’s not forget, that’s our money too — is being spent on programs that will be cost-effective and, above all, make this a safer and more prosperous city where individuals and organization clamor to live, visit and do business.”

When the city allowed legal sales of cannabis to begin Jan. 1, 2020, pot shops were prohibited from opening anywhere in the city’s central business district. The new rules narrow those restrictions to include a strip between Michigan Avenue and State Street from Division Street on the north to Van Buren Street on the south, as well as from Michigan Avenue between Ohio and Illinois streets east to Navy Pier.

“So how are we going to go forward after the federal relief money is a question that many people will look at the budget will have,” Laurence Msall, president of the Civic Federation, said. That will be the task of the city’s 50 aldermen – to comb through the 600-page budget proposal and figure out what makes fiscal sense and what does not, what they like and what they don’t, and if any of the new programs are sustainable once those federal dollars disappear.

Rabbi Meir Chai Benhiyoun has been overseeing the structure during this holiday on Daley Plaza every year for more than three decades. And he says this is the first time anyone has messed with it. “It’s a structure of peace, so this is really antithetical to its concept.”

“This cash benefit plan for our residents, if approved, will be the largest in the history of the United States,” Mayor Lightfoot said.

Mayor Lightfoot characterized the proposed $31.5 million cash assistance program as a way to help “hard-hit, low-income households in need of additional economic stability.” The payments would last a year.

“We applaud Mayor Lightfoot for allocating needed funding to address the ongoing violent crime crisis, but we need an immediate and urgent plan to fill vacancies with the Chicago Police Department to ensure residents and businesses feel safe.”

Just two weeks before the Chicago Bears publicly announced it was putting in a bid for Arlington, the team’s president accused the Chicago Park District of refusing “to engage in good faith discussions” about expanding sports betting opportunities at the stadium.

The city’s $12.8 billion 2021 spending plan authorized the city to hike property taxes automatically based on an increase in the cost of living. That will generate about $22.9 million in additional property tax revenues in 2022, officials said. In addition, the city will raise property taxes by $25.5 million to start paying off the $1.4 billion the City Council agreed to borrow as part of the 2021 spending plan to repair Chicago’s crumbling streets, sidewalks, bridges and shoreline.

State Reps. Delia Ramirez, Jan Schakowsky, Kelly Cassidy and Illinois State Representative Dagmara Avelarare and Illinois Democratic County Chairs Association President Kristina Zahorik, are among the 16 who have signed the letter. Said Nick Daggers, a founding partner for 1833 Group, “It’s more than a party, it’s a movement.”

Five men were killed over the span of about four hours early Saturday morning.

“Tuesday night’s attack again illustrates the long response times that have become typical of Chicago’s police department, which has moved over 1,000 cops out of patrol duties to work on specialized citywide units.”