“No one disputes that wrongful convictions or unjustified police force should be addressed. Nevertheless, when payouts exceed all economic logic — when the going rate for a year of wrongful imprisonment approaches the annual salary of a Fortune 500 CEO — then we’ve moved beyond restitution into redistribution. There is a cost to making public service so legally perilous that no sane person would take the job. We’re already seeing it.”

After 30 years in the Council, Burnett, who turns 62 next month, said he has maxed out on his city pension and plans to resign his 27th Ward seat — whether or not he gets the CHA job. He hopes that will pave the way for the mayor to appoint his 29-year-old son to fill his seat, continuing a time-honored tradition of Chicago politicians taking care of their kids.

The $15,000 tamper-proof drop box features a surveillance camera to record who drops off ballots, an electronic screen to confirm successful deposits and a scanner to record the outside envelopes of the ballots. A 2025-26 Election and Voter Registration grant from the Illinois State Board of Elections is helping the clerk cover the cost of the machine.

Advocates who successfully convinced the federal government that Chicago allows City Council members to illegally block affordable housing say they have given up seeking help from President Donald Trump’s administration. Instead, 10 housing groups say they will try to negotiate an agreement with City Hall directly in hopes of bringing more affordable units to majority-white neighborhoods, including several on the Far North Side.

“The decline of violence is a result of the full force of government, working with all entities of government, at every single level of government, and making critical investments, particularly communities that have been starved in decades,” he said. The mayor said he is worried how those communities will be impacted by President Trump’s big policy bill. Johnson said his budget team plans to do a complete analysis to figure out the exact impact.

“They’ve taken sports away. They’ve taken all of the extracurricular activities that our children have had, they’ve taken them away. They keep telling us, we don’t have money,” Country Club Hills resident Sequoia Williams said. But reports show roughly $244,700 in charges to hotels, ranging from the Hilton in New Orleans to The Bellagio in Las Vegas. Food-related expenses added up to nearly $128,000, with countless payments to Door Dash and Uber Eats, as well as high-end steakhouses in Washington, D.C., and Napa, California.

“Additionally, Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen Burke has reversed many of predecessor Kim Foxx’s policies. In sharp contrast to Foxx, Burke has both applied the law as written and consistently filed appropriate charges against criminal defendants. Under Burke, detentions for serious crimes have risen, and the county jail population has returned to pre-COVID levels. The jail has seen a significant increase in violent criminals, gun offenders and domestic violence offenders being held.”

Demand for downtown office space resumed its post-pandemic plunge in recent months after signs of stability to start the year, leaving landlords wondering still when their streak of futility will end.

Gabriel Edison Romero, 29, fled Chicago and was arrested in February in South Carolina for stealing ammunition magazines. He was recently extradited to Chicago and is facing two counts of first-degree murder, one count of attempted first-degree murder, three counts of aggravated armed kidnapping, and three counts of aggravated unlawful restraint. The U.S. Marshals Service arrested 31-year-old Ricardo Gonzalez Leon on March 21 in Cobb County, Georgia, and he was extradited to Chicago to face related charges. The agency identified him as a high-ranking member of the Venezuelan street gang Tren de Aragua.

When asked what student-related areas the next CEO should prioritize, the top answer, chosen by 32 percent of respondents, was high-quality instruction. Next was preparing students for careers. After that, 22 percent of respondents said they wanted to see an improvement in academic outcomes for kids, support of students from “diverse backgrounds,” and addressing inequities in learning opportunities.

“This administration wants to take on more and more debt and strap future generations of Chicagoans with the bill,” said Ald. Marty Quinn. “This is the time for the City Council to take more power. Be more co-equal. Force the mayor to interact with the entire City Council. It’s an opportunity to take a big step for independence. That’s my motivation. The end result will be the mayor will have to work with the City Council more than he does now.”

Burke used his political clout to pressure real estate developers into hiring his private property tax law firm, prosecutors argued. A jury agreed, and Burke was sentenced to two years in prison. He began serving his prison sentence in September 2024. Burke also must pay a $2 million fine, and pay $65,000 in restitution to the owners of a Burger King restaurant he was convicted of extorting.

“I don’t think he really listened to our concerns,” community leader Deborah Gershbein said of Johnson. “He doesn’t understand, he needs to come and be in the midst of one of these ‘teen takeovers,’ and then maybe he’ll understand how dangerous it is for everyone.”