Attorney Tom DeVore filed the motion on behalf of at least six educators employed by CPS. The motion challenges CPS’ mandate, requiring staff to either receive a COVID-19 vaccination or agree to submit to regular COVID testing, or face losing their jobs after March 11. According to the motion, two of the plaintiffs have already been threatened with suspension by CPS.

Prosecutors said the indicted politicians pressured the developer now confirmed to be 601W Companies to hire their law firms, It redeveloped what’s now called the Old Post Office.

“The energy, the air feels better – just to see and hear the hustle and bustle again,” said bar owner Amy Lawless.

“You know what we’re going through in this city right now. This is gonna be, probably, the bloodiest of all summers because we’re in lawless land right now. We just can’t afford to lose anybody right now at all,” said Ald. Anthony Napolitano, who has served the city as both a police officer and a firefighter.

FOP President John Catanzara has the support of 12 Chicago aldermen who sent Lightfoot a letter Friday, saying, “We demand the city to issue in writing that no city employee will be disciplined or terminated.” The aldermen also asked for “an open and fair exemption process.”

“Smollett and Foxx aren’t victims of ‘mob justice.’ They’re clumsy players who were exposed. But only one has been punished appropriately.”

Rep. Tim Butler says the actions of current State’s Attorney Kim Foxx have shaken public confidence in the Cook County justice system.

Foxx wrote that the Smollett case was taken over by a mob that was “relentless, organized and effective” – with Dan Webb having an open budget to investigate a “nonviolent Hollywood actor.” She called the prosecution “a complete disregard for the discretion that prosecutors must have to be effective and independent…Just because we do not like the outcome should not mean we bully prosecutors and circumvent the judicial process to get it changed.”

“What is most frustrating is that my cooperation in a process I knew was illegitimate sets a precedent that can be weaponized against progressive prosecutors determined to break the cycle of inevitable outcomes. Further, I worry it will serve as a deterrent to the next generation of prosecutors eager to fight for critical reforms. Anyone interested in an equitable system of justice should be worried too.”

“You cannot read that indictment, and not have pause about the way in which Danny Solis ran the zoning committee for his own profit and the profit of others in a way that wasn’t just unethical, it was illegal,” Mayor Lori Lightfoot said.