Among the other takeaways from the briefing: the city’s dispute with Chicago Public Schools over a $175 million Municipal Employees’ Annuity and Benefit Fund payment remains unresolved. Some City Council members are questioning the amount of tax increment financing surplus that goes to CPS in light of CPS’ refusal to shoulder the MEABF payment.

Commissioner Lissette Castañeda said of the Green Social Housing initiative: “This is an innovative but proven model. It is true that Chicago is the biggest city to take this on, but at the end of the day, other cities have taken this on, and we’re just doing it at a larger scale. We fully believe that there is a desire out there for low-cost capital that can really create not just the affordable units, but the market units that the city also needs.”

The 10-7 vote by the Public Safety Committee came only after backers of the ordinance removed a provision that essentially would have given the mayor’s office veto power over any potential decisions by Chicago Police Supt. Larry Snelling to impose so-called “snap curfews.”

The 15 homes located in New Trier Township within Cook County were tax-assessed at between $16 million and $35 million. The last time homes were assessed—in 2022—only two homes fell in the same assessment range.

Cook County Republican Party Chairman Aaron Del Mar said the mayor should be concentrating on making Chicago safer, encouraging tourism and making it a place where people want to bring their families instead of moving out of the city. “Chicago has been a hub for so much mismanagement, waste, fraud and cronyism for decades, and that hasn’t changed under Brandon Johnson’s administration,” Del Mar said.

Spurning its namesake city would both bruise Chicago’s ego and be a political hit for Johnson, but the Bears’ latest saber rattling does provide a potential opening for state lawmakers who represent the city to play hardball, given that the road to passing an Arlington Heights-focused package in Springfield will also be challenging.

“(Davis Gates) secured sanctuary protections for immigrant families and supported students and families experiencing homelessness, putting Chicago’s children at the center of everything she does,” said Ramirez.

Jeffrey Dvorkin, a Senior Fellow at Massey College and the former director of the Journalism program at the University of Toronto, said that when erroneous AI-generated articles are published, it “undermines the credibility of media organizations, making readers even more skeptical and suspicious of the media, which it can ill afford. …This is just another nail in our reputation as providers of reliable information.”

“In the early, uncertain days of COVID-19, when people were told to stay home to save lives, (then-Mayor Lori) Lightfoot chose compassion over citations. She told Chicagoans that tickets would be issued only for safety reasons. At a March 18, 2020, news conference, Lightfoot made it clear: parking at an expired meter wasn’t a public safety threat. Still, she said, drivers were expected to keep paying the meters. Chicago Parking Meters LLC, the private entity that’s already made billions off its deal with the city, sued her for the loss in income.”

A prominent developer’s attempt to win committee approval for a $1.1 billion project that’s been stalled for nearly a year was again thwarted because it hasn’t reached a labor peace agreement with an influential union.

“It’s obvious that those who attack Black excellence do so because they pale in comparison. Jim Crow and the Klan ended our country’s first reconstruction. Reagan and the backlash reacted to the second. Our generation is being tasked with leading the third reconstruction and Donald Trump and his cronies will not be the ones to turn us back now.”

The city had initially filed the case in Cook County court in February 2024. In that lawsuit, the city, joined by a collection of prominent trial lawyers, seeks to make Chevron, BP and other petroleum producers and distributors pay for allegedly misleading consumers and the public for decades about the alleged climate altering affects of using oil and gas products in transportation and many other economic sectors.

“I’m very proud of the fact that we have one of the most, if not the most diverse administration in the history of Chicago,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said. “What’s clear is is that not only does the Trump administration not respect the rule of law or what’s sensible about our society, you would be hard-pressed to find qualified officials who are in his administration. My administration reflects the country, reflects the city. His administration reflects the country club.”

The U.S. Department of Justice Monday announced an investigation into whether Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration made hiring decisions based on race.

Since 2017, at least seven teachers or administrators from Little Village Lawndale High School have resigned or were fired from the district amid allegations of serious misconduct, district records show. An investigation into this matter being handled by Chicago Public Schools’ Office of Inspector General and its Sexual Allegations Unit has dragged on more than three years – while some of the teachers have taken new jobs in suburban schools.

The state opened the 900-bed shelter on busy Cicero Avenue just weeks before the Democratic National Convention last summer. The temporary state-run shelter was to close June 1, 2025. The alderman and state representative for the area are upset now to learn that the state is transferring the shelter to the city without any notification. “The mayor needs to answer to these folks,” state Rep. Angelica Guerrero-Cuellar said. “If you already agreed, that means you must know the answer. You’re just not sharing them.”

Jack Lavin, of the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, and Will Johnson, of The Harris Poll: “The issues of revenue and reform are never easy, but the public’s opposition to new taxes for a vital service with wide support should not be surprising. Residents and businesses across Chicago already face a high tax and fee burden and worry about shouldering more costs amid widespread economic uncertainty due to rising tariffs, persistent inflation, state and local budget deficits and unprecedented threats to critical federal funding.”