“If one is to believe news reports, [the deal] may have saddled Chicago with the most expensive street parking in the country … but that is not enough to state a claim for a violation of the antitrust laws,” the judges wrote.

Johnson “said he’s going to unite everybody, and I really hope he does,” said Ron Rymarczyk, 61, a retired IT professional,. “He made some comments in the past that were the reason I didn’t vote for him as far as defunding the police and taxing big business. I’m just afraid he’s going to milk everybody dry. That’s not what we need.”

A net 175,000 people left Cook County between 2020 and 2022. Brendan Johnson’s margin of victory was about 20,000 votes. How many of the city’s expats would have voted for moderate reformer Paul Vallas? Therein lies an enormous problem for Chicago and other big cities: Left-wing policies are driving away

Cook County’s courts are taking longer than ever to separate the guilty from the innocent — longer than courthouses in any city for which comparable data was available, including New York and Los Angeles. For those wrongfully accused, the process costs years with their families on the outside. Taxpayers are left to foot the bill for tens of millions a year in extra jail housing costs. Yet, from Chief Judge Timothy Evans on down, judges show little alarm and won’t discuss the issues in a system that, by design, limits transparency and accountability.

“I am under no illusions about how difficult it is to govern Chicago, or any large US city for that matter. But I also believe that America’s cities would be better off if their mayors were as skeptical of the public-sector unions that support them as they are of the ones that don’t.”

Sam Sanchez, of the Illinois Restaurant Association, discusses what Chicago’s recent mayoral election means for small businesses.

“Economic pressures have often been linked to crime. It should be no surprise to us that our most recent spikes occurred during a global pandemic that universally shook up our markets, our businesses and our personal finances. There’s also the ever-present specter of inequality. Racial disparities in incarceration in Illinois are even higher than they are in southern states known for their painful legacy of discrimination. Racial unemployment gaps are also wider in the Chicago area than they are in most large metropolitan areas across the country.”

The Obama Presidential Center is increasing rents and home values so much that longtime residents are being forced to move.

Chicago Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson has some very leftist ideas on how to deal with the city’s enormous crime problems. Indeed, appearing on CBS News this Thursday morning for an interview, he went through them one by one, and according to critics, the ideas were very underwhelming.

City Attorney Nicholas Cummings said he isn’t sure that the city would be able to afford the amount that would be due to each recipient. Committee member Robin Rue Cummings said that oversight for how the money is used by recipients won’t be possible with the amount of available city staff.

“As we’re getting with the new Council and the new mayor, we have to recognize that we were beneficiaries of American Rescue Plan funding,” Ald. Gilbert Villegas said. “So we have to take a look at the $1.9 billion that came to the city and what’s going to be that new revenue that we’re going to be trying to get.”