In its most recent appeal, Protect Our Parks said the ongoing Jackson Park project is putting the city’s parkland in “grave danger” by endangering mature trees, disrupting annual bird migratory flights and closing four main South Side thoroughfares. The appeal further argues the foundation’s takeover of 19 acres of parkland “was in violation of the public trust doctrine” and that the 99-year agreement in which the city and the Chicago Park District

The county has allotted $12 million in COVID-19 recovery funds from the federal American Rescue Plan Act to fund the program. Neighborhoods on the South and West Sides of Chicago have seen the highest amount of medical debt erased so far, according to officials.

The city becomes the fifth to make contact with the Bears, either through a call, meeting, or letter about being a possible home for a new stadium. This comes after the Bears said in June that Arlington Park, which they purchased in February, is no longer a “singular focus” for a new stadium.

The Chicago Police Department is seeking a budget increase from the nearly $2 billion allotted for 2024, citing challenges with combating carjacking and the city’s migrant crisis, with Supt. Larry Snelling appearing before a City Council committee on Tuesday.

Protesters said they’ve tried to be at the site around the clock since construction started last week. They said they feel blindsided by the plan, and are worried for their own safety.

For many of the more than 19,000 migrants who arrived in Chicago after crossing the southern border, getting a city ID, known as a CityKey, is the first step toward putting down roots in Chicago. More than 1,000 people – mostly migrants – lined up hours before the city clerk’s event Oct. 12, overwhelming the 15-person staff, City Clerk Anna Valencia said.

Chicago earned an upgrade from Fitch Ratings Thursday thanks to the city’s improving economy and declining long-term debt burden.

But when Snelling begins his first departmental budget defense in the Budget Committee on Tuesday, members of the City Council will not know the exact dollar amount needed to cover CPD personnel in 2024. That’s because Johnson’s tentative deal with the city’s largest police union includes pay increases in 2024 beyond what Johnson’s $16.6 billion budget proposal accounts for.

The group of 43 Evanston restaurant owners seeks to eliminate an automatic annual increase in the minimum wage tied to the consumer price index. The measure would give employees of Evanston businesses with more than 50 employees the highest minimum wage in the region — $16.25 — starting next July.

“Here’s what Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s proposed budget is: a one-year patchwork relying on former Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s surpluses, tax increment financing excesses and dwindling COVID funds to keep it ‘balanced.’ Here’s what it isn’t: It’s not an investment in a safer, stronger and better Chicago. It doesn’t rescue the city’s plummeting finances, make neighborhoods safer or invest in long-neglected communities.”

“While we recognize police officers’ right to arbitration, it is crucial that disciplinary cases be handled in a manner that allows for public transparency and true accountability,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said. “Since this is a matter that will require City Council action, I am asking the body to reject this measure when it comes up in the coming weeks.”

At the same time, the county is considering where to spend some of the more than $10.5 million it’s already received in a historic multi-state legal settlement with pharmaceutical manufacturers and distributors over their role in the opioid crisis. Over the next 18 years, Chicago is expected to get $78 million from Illinois’ $760 million share of the opioid settlement.

“To be clear, we don’t have evidence of fraud and there may well be an explanation for these billings we don’t yet know. But we’d still like to invite Favorite Healthcare Staffing to come in and discuss with us the how and why of such a high percentage of their workers logging those kinds of highly unusual hours, which require all kinds of overtime, a portion of which presumably accrues to Favorite Healthcare Staffing, assuming they follow standard agency practice. We’d also like to know how shelter workers doing epic shifts of 12 hours a day, 7 days a week,

The Windy City continues to buckle under the weight of new arrivals, testing the empathy of residents and leaders alike. “This is really a federal responsibility,” says Chicago’s deputy mayor of migrant rights. “It isn’t fair to put it on cities.”

The overall police budget actually increases from $1.9 to $1.99 billion. The budget is aspirational.To fulfill the new budgeted positions, the department would have to hire about 1,700 officers and staff by next year.

Chicago and Minneapolis each had an 82% drop in arrests over the past 10 years; Philadelphia had a 73% drop; Houston had a 67% decline; Seattle saw a 37% decline; and Detroit had a 33% drop.

The site actually “may serve at least 2,000 family members with children,” according to a planning document accompanying the mayor’s statement. “The City intends to stand up a base camp if the infrastructure can support it based on the results of the environmental assessments currently underway.”