But borrowing shouldn’t happen in “isolation,” Sean Harden said. That could include more “efficiencies” in CPS’s budget, examining declining enrollment and underutilization of buildings, pushing the state for more revenue, providing additional tax levying authority for CPS, and looking at pension obligations.

Five of the seven facilities receiving funding are on the West Side, including Saint Leonard’s Ministries, which provides housing for formerly incarcerated people. “This is a testament to our deep commitment to providing dignified, trauma-informed and accessible environments for people experiencing homelessness,” Johnson said.

“We haven’t laid out our proposed budget for 2026, but we have a very significant budget deficit. The press has widely reported that,” Chicago CFO Jill Jaworski said. “Again, we haven’t rolled out the full package yet, but the package is going to include cuts, and it is going to include proposals for increasing our revenues.”

“Public sector unions filled the void left by the decline of patronage. By the early 1980s, Governor Jim Thompson codified this shift by signing the Illinois Public Labor Relations Act and the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Act, formally granting collective bargaining rights to public employees across the state. Now all of Chicago’s departments and the Chicago Teachers Union are calling the shots.”

Flash mob thefts once plagued Chicago’s Magnificent Mile, but after a lull in recent years, the brazen crime tactic returned Tuesday. Around 11:58 a.m., up to 12 masked males entered the luxury retailer at 919 North Michigan Avenue and quickly grabbed armfuls of high-end merchandise, mostly handbags and purses, according to a Chicago police report. The group fled the scene in at least three waiting vehicles.

The county spent $110 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds on similar programs during the COVID-19 pandemic, officials said. However, that Rescue Plan money is drying up, as local and state governments had until the end of 2024 to designate funding to specific programs through the act and have until the end of 2026 to spend all of it.

The new law has boosted RTA’s sales tax collections by $10 million per month, or $120 million for the year. The 30% state match of the increased sales tax collections is likely to add another $36 million of available funding, for a total of $156 million.

The leaders are concerned Burnett’s ties to unions and developers could mean fewer jobs for residents, and more public housing land could be sold or used for purposes other than housing. “We don’t need a CEO that’s willing to sell off CHA properties just for his own benefit,” said Catherine Serpa, who represents part of the agency’s scattered site program. “I just think that appointing somebody with this type of track record sends a dangerous message that our communities are for sale.”

Asked explicitly if Gov. JB Pritzker should veto the measure, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson reiterated his position. “I’m saying that without progressive revenue, there is not a pathway that allows us to maintain these obligations,” Johnson said.

Chicago Chief Financial Officer Jill Jaworski said the city will likely seek to raise property taxes to address next year’s budget deficit. “It is likely that that will be part of the package,” Jaworski said in an interview at Bloomberg’s New Voices event in Chicago. “We haven’t rolled out the full package yet, but the package is going to include cuts, and it is going to include proposals for increasing our revenues.”

Protesters want elected officials to use the Illinois Way Forward Act, which already forbids county and state facilities from housing ICE detainees, to shut down the Broadview facility, which, in their view, has become a de facto detention center. “They don’t have showers. They don’t have beds. They don’t have kitchen facilities. It’s not. It’s meant to be a processing center. That is really all it is. It’s not meant to hold people for longer than 12 hours,” immigration attorney Louise Carhart said.