The bid to leverage the millions Chicago spends on data storage to spur storage center development is another step toward turning Chicago into the “Silicon Prairie,” Ald. Gilbert Villegas said. State incentives for data centers have already sparked $3 billion in economic development, he added. “How much of that has come to Chicago? I’ll tell you: less than 15 percent,” Villegas said. “We have to demonstrate that Chicago is open for business.”

Said Ald. David Moore, “I don’t want someone so left-wing that we can’t work together to move things forward for our community.”

“The south suburbs are the poster child for inequitable property taxation in Illinois, and now it’s worse than ever for homeowners,” Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas said.

“We are down more than 2,000 officers from where we were. We’re woefully short on ambulances in our city right now where the majority of the calls come from. And our medics are working too many hours. The overtime costs and the burn-out is becoming a real problem,” Ald. Matt O’Shea said.

The university included weight and height on its list of “protected characteristics” in its 2024 discrimination, harassment and sexual misconduct policy, placing the traits alongside attributes like race and gender.

Multiple Chicago Teachers Union-endorsed candidates began reporting payments from the CTU’s political action committees in August, amounting to about $80,000 to date. That help, along with hours spent door-knocking and phone-banking by CTU member volunteers, is giving contenders an important boost in a race in which few candidates have much name recognition.

A bullet coming through Thelma Gate’s apartment window is one of four incidents in the past month that have taken place here at TRC Senior Village in Bronzeville.

Frances Lee, an economics professor at Loyola University of Chicago, said economists have a saying when it comes to hiring. “We can achieve full employment if we hire half of the population to dig a hole and the other half to fill it. If we are eliminating these kinds of government jobs, then, yes, by all means do the hiring freeze,” Lee said, adding that essential services are a different story.

Ninth Ward Alderman Anthony Beale said the 15th Police District is Mayor Brandon Johnson’s home district, and it is also the worst in Chicago for gunshots. “Luckily, he’s in a bubble, because he’s got 116 people protecting him. You know what, we don’t have that luxury,” Beale said.

Rep. Jonathan Jackson, son of civil rights activist Jesse Jackson, got an earful at a recent town hall event as black residents of his district blasted him for his support of the tens of thousands of illegal migrants flooding into the Windy City.

“At Clemente Community Academy, about 46 percent of the teaching staff had more than 10 absences in 2023, according to CPS data. That means nearly half of Clemente teachers missed the equivalent of at least two weeks of school. … The result is dozens of students sitting in what one teacher described as ‘dead classrooms’ — unadorned spaces without permanent teachers where students receive little if any instruction and can essentially do whatever they want, according to interviews with teachers, support staff and students.”

“By subjecting the Police and Fire departments to the same belt-tightening rules applying to less critical departments, is the mayor attempting to send a message of rebuke to affluent Chicagoans and business interests for their opposition to his many proposals to raise taxes on them in various forms? That’s not a question we would have asked any of Chicago’s past mayors, from Richard J. Daley to Lori Lightfoot.”

Neighbors who opposed the expansion questioned why TIF funds are needed to fund neighborhood improvements, parks and schools when they are already paying high property taxes.

Gov. JB Pritzker suggested that the state could only do so much to help Chicago solve its financial issues. “The state of Illinois provides billions of dollars to the city of Chicago every single year and we’re going to continue to do that, but we can’t just snap our fingers. We don’t print money at the state level.”

Just over a mile away a week earlier, shattered glass was also seen at the Muslim Community Center off Elston and Montrose avenues. There was no video of that incident, but the Council on American Islamic Relations Chicago said it speaks to uptick of violence targeting Muslim businesses and the community.

Gov. JB Pritzker said he sympathized with Chicago’s budget situation. “It’s very, very difficult and challenging, but it’s something you can tough your way through. And then you’ve got to plan for years to come, how you’re going to manage balanced budget going forward without raising broadly taxes on the people of Illinois.”

“With Chicagoans facing inflation, high utility rates, and an already considerable array of municipal fees, fines and sales taxes, they don’t need the city grabbing at their pockets. This would be a good time for Johnson to do away with obvious money pits, such as his plan to toss in $1.5 billion in infrastructure improvements to help the Chicago Bears build a lakefront stadium.”