To protect the Columbus statue in Grant Park, the report suggests barriers to keep the public farther away. There’s even a proposal to educate the public — by installing plaques to tell the story of the Native American experience. “We really believe that one of the reasons this is all happening is because of misunderstandings and literal lies about the statues themselves,” president Ron Onesti said.

Asked about Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, who has said the police department should concentrate on arresting people for violent crimes instead of gun possession, Lightfoot said, “Anyone who says that we are wasting, CPD is wasting its time arresting people for mere gun possession, tell that to the victims that I talk to who are destroyed by gun violence.”

“You can’t rob Peter to pay for Paul. And that’s exactly what the policy within the department has been doing. Rather than beefing up the manpower, both at the district level and in the specialized units, we’re taking from one and putting into the other,” said Ald. Ray Lopez.

Emmerson Buie supervised some of the biggest political corruption investigations in recent memory – from the case against former Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan to the indictment of Chicago’s longest serving alderman Ed Burke. “The Chicago division has a history of doing very good public corruption work,” he said.

“The Soros prosecutor in Chicago and Cook County is Kim Foxx. There is no recall effort for her. She is protected by media here and by her powerful patroness, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle…Soros and his minions, in journalism and politics, want you to think that solutions are all so complicated. They’re not all that complicated. Not really.”

CPD reported finding weapons in only 388 traffic stops in 2021, according to data reported to the state as part of the Illinois Traffic Stop Study. But an analysis of gun arrests that year found that more than 2,300 people were arrested on gun charges and also cited for a minor traffic violation during the same encounter, indicating that the arrest likely started with a traffic stop.

Chicago will offer airport and casino site tours to highlight key economic initiatives while Chief Financial Officer Jennie Huang Bennett will seek to make the city’s case with the buy-side for its fiscal turnaround at an annual investors’ conference next week.

“You see supervisors within the state’s attorney’s office sending out desperate pleas for people to volunteer on days off or not take vacation because they’re understaffed and public safety is just frankly in jeopardy. Justice is in jeopardy,” former ASA Dan Kirk said. “Even justice for those who are accused of the crime — you need an adequately staffed state’s attorney’s office to do justice both for the accused, for the victims of crime and frankly in the interest of public safety for all of us that live here and want to live in a safe community.”

The CTA hopes to secure $2.16 billion from a federal grant program, but to qualify for the grant the CTA must find local matching funds for the other 40%. The CTA must come up with $1.44 billion, and plans to raise $950 million of that with a transit TIF similar to one created to fund a Red Line rehab on the North Side.

“So there’s vehicular hijacking, is a state law violation. Then there’s motor vehicle theft, that’s stealing the car. And then there’s criminal trespass to vehicle, that’s being in possession of a stolen car whether you’re a passenger or a driver and we catch you and we charge you with any of those three crimes,” CPD Supt. David Brown said. “We aggregate those crimes because we believe all of the crews associated with ought to be charged and held accountable.”

Americans for Prosperity is urging members of the Arlington Heights Village Board to adopt an “anti-corporate welfare” ordinance and reject proposals that would build a new Chicago Bears stadium with taxpayer money. “They absolutely can build this on their own without having the taxpayers finance parts of the stadium or the infrastructure around the stadium,” Americans for Prosperity Illinois State Director Brain Costin said.

HB110 – also known as the Safer Consumptions Services Act – failed to gain support in Springfield, as it proposed to create overdose prevention sites statewide, so now State Rep. La Shawn K. Ford is aiming for sites only in Chicago.

In a statement Tuesday night, Kim Foxx’s office said, “We recognize the rigors of this difficult work and the toll that it bears, yet over 11-hundred employees show up every day to work on the front lines and behind the scenes in a testament of the resiliency and spirit of this office.”