Mayor Lightfoot said she would never do anything that would meaningfully compromise casino revenue, which is dedicated to shore up police and fire pension funds now dangerously close to insolvency — and there is no evidence that casino revenue losses to sports betting would be severe. Never mind the sky-is-falling scenario portrayed recently by casino magnate Neil Bluhm.

Under these arrangements, an energy buyer like Cook County signs a deal with a developer, agreeing to buy electricity at a specified price for a pre-determined time period. This agreement allows the developer to obtain the financing needed to build and operate a renewable energy plant, such as a wind or solar farm. Once the plant is up and running, the developer/energy generator delivers electricity into the grid, where the buyer claims it.

The heavily politicized process spilled into public view during a Monday hearing, as alderpeople accused each other of racism, sexism and lack of transparency over the historically behind-the-scenes mapping process.

Chicago police have made 1,292 carjacking-related arrests, including one that is particularly shocking. “A notable arrest recently, the Vehicular Hijacking Task Force arrested an 11-year-old on Nov. 26 for felony aggravated vehicular hijacking,” Supt. David Brown said. “Let me say that again, because that shocks the conscience. Our task force arrested an 11-year-old for carjacking.”

U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois John Lausch’s office released the update with information on several dozen felony convictions and indictments, including racketeering, murder and carjacking.

“We’re creating new luxury housing and getting rid of affordable two-flats on the South Side,” said Daniel Cooper, director of research for the Metropolitan Planning Council. “Those people aren’t moving to the Loop. The least-educated residents, people with blue-collar jobs, are going to other states. The city will become wealthier and whiter; we will continue to lose Black population. We’re losing Latinos to the Cook suburbs.”

“The core flaw with Plaintiffs’ claim that refusing vaccination is a fundamental right, then, is not that there is no privacy interest implicated when someone is required or coerced to take a vaccine that they do not want. There certainly is. Rather, the problem is that, when a person’s decision to refuse a vaccine creates negative consequences (even life-threatening at times) for other people, that interest is not absolute,” Judge John Z. Lee concluded in his opinion.

“At the core of each indictment, though, is a common theme: That much of today’s violence is being driven not by sophisticated drug trafficking enterprises but by gang factions trying to boost their group’s reputation on the street or on social media, creating a seemingly endless cycle of shootings and retaliation.”

The federal infrastructure legislation sets aside $89 billion in federal transit formula funding; Illinois’ cut of that money is $4 billion. The city’s chances to pursue its most ambitious projects will hinge on the ability of Lightfoot’s administration — with an assist from the state’s congressional delegation — to land additional competitive grants administered by federal agencies in Washington.

While Lightfoot has promised to improve air quality in Chicago, her economic development and planning officials have touted logistics as a key part of the city’s economic future. Plans for a pair of Southwest Side sites are not getting a rigorous environmental review despite a new law, critics charge.