“All the aldermen should be publicly calling out what happened. Ignore what the mayor says because he is clearly in [Chicago Teachers Union’s] pocket and will say whatever they want him to say,” said John Catanzara, president of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 7.

Determining the fate of hefty parcels that once delivered millions of dollars in tax revenue is a challenge confronting a number of suburbs, including Deerfield, Glenview, Lincolnshire, Riverwoods, Schaumburg, Morton Grove, Naperville, and Oak Brook. And there are several large cash-starved office complexes in Lisle and Rosemont whose fates are up in the air. Such towns are dealing with the reality that the decades-old suburban office bonanza is over.

“Your allowing people who are not familiar with our city or our laws to become law enforcement officers just doesn’t make sense,” Ald. Jeanette Taylor said. “I think once they go through the immigration process and they become citizens, then yes.” Reminded that federal law prohibits non-citizens from carrying guns, Taylor said she doesn’t understand why the bill was passed in the first place, chalking it up to politics.

As of the start of July, concrete work for the museum building’s elevator and stairwell reached the 3rd floor, where the eventual Oval Office replica will be. Floor slabs for other buildings that will make up the campus were mostly in place last month. The city fully closed Cornell Drive along the eastern side earlier this summer to be permanently converted into green space, the latest in a series of roadway changes and transportation improvement

“We’ve seen too much of it. We’ve had friends who have been accosted,” said Eric Puetz, owner of Smart Bike Parts. “Jump out of the car, boom, ‘Give me your wallet, give me your phone.’ Crazy, man.”

“People are still very concerned and very fearful. And unfortunately, a lot of the gains that we had made are starting to disappear over the course of time. I think fundamentally, we still have to focus on a couple of things. You’ve got to deal with the immediate problem of, in my view, still too many violent, dangerous habitual offenders walking the street,” the former mayor said when asked about Mayor Brandon Johnson’s initiatives to open more mental health facilities and work programs

“Big cities — think New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago — will ultimately be okay, since a lot of what made them attractive in the first place is still there and impossible to find elsewhere. But that doesn’t mean they will — or can — stay the same.”

Chicago Rents offers incentives to property owners such as timely payments on behalf of the resident and referral bonuses if they rent affordable apartments to low-income residents. The initiative works with three housing programs, funded from the city, state and national government.

Count Chicago among the big metro areas that won’t be hit by the critical shortage of housing forming in some parts of the country. The reason isn’t a happy one: We’re losing population, which lightens demand for homes.

Property taxes in Chicago rose 6.6% this year, with a twist no one would have expected just a year ago: Homeowners, not landlords, picked up a bigger share of the tab.

While Chicago has the second-highest commercial property taxes among large American cities, commercial property owners in the suburbs have seen their taxes rise more than double.

Grants have been distributed to 76 people classified as “ancestors” – those who lived in Evanston as adults between 1919 and 1969 – and 22 recipients chose to receive the $25,000 grants as a cash benefit. Assistant to the City Manager Tasheik Kerr said 17 recipients chose a home improvement benefit, and 13 opted to use the money for mortgage assistance. The other recipients split their funds among these options.

In the month of July, Chicago received a daily influx of migrants via buses from Texas, amounting to approximately 12,000 migrants since the first arrival. New York City has received more than 57,000 migrants and was recently granted $104 million in federal aid to assist with their care. “When I hear from folks in the country say it’s hard, our shelters are overwhelmed, yeah, come live a day in the life of Yuma, Somerton, or San Luis,” said Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema.

The truth is the tax as currently drafted would hit a lot of people who are far from fat cats, particularly in the residential market. The Bring Chicago Home idea has, not surprisingly, drawn vociferous pushback from commercial real estate owners in particular, who point out — correctly — that this kind of a tax, levied now, would deal a body blow to a downtown office and retail market that’s never fully recovered from the effects of COVID and the work-from-home ethos it

O’Hare International Airport was the fourth-busiest airport in North America in 2022, as it struggled to regain its pre-pandemic flying level. Last year was the second straight year that O’Hare’s total passenger count trailed not only Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, but also Dallas-Fort Worth and Denver, according to Airports Council International.

The Chicago Office of Budget & Management denied a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for spending records. The city also ignored requests from the Illinois Attorney General’s Office. Ald. Jeanette Taylor said she also has yet to receive any requested financial records. “Heads need to roll,” she said. “Y’all know some of that is some shady dealings. That’s what that is. Somebody’s lying. There are, they’re just hiding them.”