Cook County released survey findings based on responses from those who received cash payments between 2022 and 2025. The majority said the payments made them more financially secure, reduced their stress, and improved their mental health. The top reported uses for the payments were food, rent, utilities, and transportation.

Calumet City aldermen are raising concerns about Jones’ municipal credit card after receiving a statement that shows the mayor, who was reelected in April, spent more than $44,000 in one month. Jones is under federal investigation for tax issues involving his campaign funds, with the mayor and state representative paying tens of thousands of dollars in the first quarter of this year to a law firm that specializes in criminal defense.

“It is devastating that a career criminal with 72 prior arrests is now accused of attacking 26-year-old Bethany MaGee on Chicago’s L train and setting her on fire,” Duffy said on X. “Chicago’s carelessness is putting the American people at risk. No one should ever have to fear for their lives on the subway.”

As recently as this week, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson told a podcast that “attacks” on illegal immigrants and targets of the Trump administration have the same characteristics as the priorities of antebellum freedmen. Johnson said that President Trump is also politically targeting education, housing, transportation, jobs and health care, which he said were “literally the five demands of descendants of slaves.”

One ad, paid for by the Atlanta-based Black Voters Matter Fund (BVMF), caused a stir this week for what some saw as a characterization of Ald. Andre Vasquez as a puppet of President Donald Trump, Elon Musk and their rich pals. Vasquez leads the City Council’s Progressive Caucus.

President Trump took to his Truth Social platform Saturday afternoon to address the shootings, alleging that there was “Massive crime and rioting in the Chicago Loop area,” Friday night, and making the claim that “Multiple Police Officers” were “attacked and badly injured,” although police have not reported any injuries to officers.

“It is not the law-and-order city. Instead, the liberal politically correct Democrats who have followed the Daleys now refuse to punish repeat violent lawbreakers. The Democrats have become George Soros Social Justice Warriors and the newspapers reflect the progressive view.”

The reaction from retired Riverside Police Chief Tom Weitzel was scathing as he painted images of “escalating violence” and “complete lawlessness” in Chicago: “The mayor and his team are deflecting instead of protecting.”

“There are two incontrovertible truths. One is that homeowners in this city have a vested interest in commercial property downtown doing well, no matter how much our mayor demonizes business. The other is that for property taxes to go down, the entities that get the money will need to trim their sails.”