Gov. JB Pritzker has thrown his support behind a bill that would effectively ban most sales of the weedlike substances that have soared in popularity among high school students. But the governor’s office acknowledged Monday that Mayor Brandon Johnson is working against that bill, fearing it would deny the cash-strapped city sorely needed revenue.

Davis Gates stressed that the pension payment and potential loan were not her responsibility. “This is not the fifth floor of Chicago City Hall. It’s not,” Davis Gates said.

The $20 million Illinois Grocery Initiative, which Gov. JB Pritzker signed into law in 2023, was created to help open or fund grocery stores in “food deserts” statewide. Chicago leaders throughout multiple mayoral administrations have struggled to address grocery store closings, in some cases doling out public funds to bring in private grocers that later close stores in the city’s underserved neighborhoods.

Four years after launching a push for more diversity in its ranks, McDonald’s is ending some of its diversity practices, citing a U.S. Supreme Court decision that outlawed affirmative action in college admissions. Walmart, John Deere, Harley-Davidson and others rolled back their DEI initiatives last year.

A new report from the mobility analytics firm Inrix shows Chicago drivers lost 102 hours to congestion last year. That ties New York City and is up from 96 hours in 2023, which is still above the national average of 43 hours. Trips into downtown Chicago jumped 13 percent, with more people back in the office and visiting the city.

The district and union both said they have reached tentative agreements to expand the number of Sustainable Community Schools to 70 over the next four years, hire more English learner teachers and other staff, and jointly look for ways to offer housing help to homeless students.

“Our business and our assets are planned to be primarily located in Chicago, Illinois, a city which has recently experienced very high levels of criminality and civil unrest,” Bally’s said on page 54 of its filing. The company stated that “heightened criminality or the perception of danger among our customers” could impact the Chicago property’s bottom line.

For decades, Chicago immigrants have turned to informal gigs, often solicited on street corners or in Home Depot parking lots, in hopes of earning money to survive. But unlike publicly funded hiring halls in California and Texas, where day laborers can safely connect with contractors and negotiate pay rates, Chicago’s day labor industry is rife with wage theft, unsafe working conditions, physical violence and exploitation.

Ald. Leni Manaa-Hoppenworth said she’s advocating for increased police foot patrols after 19 shootings last year in the Far North Side neighborhood, up from 5 in 2023. “That’s something that people want to see more of — not just a cop sitting in a car with the lights on, but real relationships,” Manaa-Hoppenworth said.

It’s the latest chapter in Chicago’s long history with TIFs, which supporters have praised for spurring growth in struggling neighborhoods and critics have hammered as little more than opaque slush funds for aldermanic and mayoral pet projects. Council members quietly got the ball rolling weeks ago during the chaos of passing this year’s city budget. They let 13 TIF districts expire and extended eight others for another 12 years.

Bally’s pitch to investors in its Chicago casino also comes with an unusual warning: “Our business and our assets are planned to be primarily located in Chicago, Illinois, a city which has recently experienced very high levels of criminality and civil unrest. Heightened criminality or the perception of danger among our customers, and events of civil unrest, at or in the vicinity of any of the facilities that we operate and intend to operate, including our temporary casino and our permanent resort and casino, could result in a decline in customer traffic and spending patterns, which would result in

Los Angeles-based Brog Properties late last month paid about $18.5 million for the mostly empty 16-story office building at 550 W. Washington Blvd.  The sale price of about $50 per square foot was 83% less than $111 million that the seller paid for the building just west of the Ogilvie Transportation Center when it was almost fully leased in 2013.

The ages of the victims range from 20 to 41.