Most of the proposed $16.6 billion 2026 budget is not controversial. The stalemate between Johnson and various factions of the City Council comes down to a few key issues, especially the proposed corporate head tax.

The case has ties to several others that rocked the suburbs in recent years, including a case against the late Cook County Commissioner Jeff Tobolski and Illinois Sen. Emil Jones III. Tobolski died last month while preparing to serve a four-year prison sentence. Jones’ trial in April ended with a hung jury. He’s due to face a jury again in January.

“Prevention, intervention, diversion and enforcement,” the head of the Federal Transit Authority, Marc Molinaro, said. “We want the city, we want the system and we want the state to take seriously this problem, develop an all of the above approach to drive down incidents of assault and provide for operator and rider safety. That’s what we’re seeking. We have every right to ask it.”

In the wake of a class-action lawsuit filed in October, U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman last month issued the temporary order requiring the federal government to provide immigration detainees enough food, water and bed space, among other remedies, finding that conditions at the ICE holding facility in Broadview do not “pass constitutional muster.”

“Judge Martin’s story does come to us from the one place Chicagoans understand: the Department of Special Places in Hell. Martin is the former judge convicted of swindling an elderly Tuskegee Airman, Mr. Wilkerson, of his life savings. He found out about it after Judge Martin—who had his power of attorney to look out for him and pay his nursing home bills—stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from him. She blew it on bitcoin.”

The cases all center on one common accusation: That Illinois and its county governments have all but illegally ignored a recent landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision and continued to seize homes over unpaid property taxes.

“I stood there on that campus thinking about the kids back on the South Side. Fatherless boys wandering the block, looking hard because nobody ever showed them how to be strong the right way. Girls raising babies while they’re still babies themselves because nobody taught them their worth. We keep throwing money at programs that treat symptoms and wonder why nothing changes.”

“Landlords hit with a hefty tax bill increase, soaring insurance premiums, and higher operating costs likely will be forced to boost spring rents to double-digit levels.”

Still to be decided is whether Cook County government is on the hook to pay thousands of plaintiffs for the equity they lost.

“Is there a role for CPD? Of course. Is there a role for security to help support our riders? Absolutely. Are there other ways that we can also address the challenges CTA has, particularly around homelessness and mental health? Absolutely. It requires all of it,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said.

“There is growing awareness, in (Chicago police Superintendent Larry) Snelling’s own words, that police ‘can’t do it alone.’ As another former police chief, Charlie Beck, said about CVI: ‘My job is the last homicide. Your job is stopping the next homicide.'”