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“I, at least, believe that there’s agreement that city council is not going to propose fake revenue sources. Because we know how irresponsible and reckless that is. And so I think it’s incumbent upon all of us to make sure that whatever proposals that we’re putting forward, that it’s not harming working people,” Johnson said.
Union County State’s Attorney Tyler Tripp cut a deal with a worker caught on tape beating a resident who had developmental disabilities, allowing the worker to walk free — seven weeks before he filed a federal lawsuit to stop the removal of people with developmental disabilities from a state-operated facility. No one reported the assault for days — evidence of a continued code of silence at Choate.
The $66.2 million in subsidies, a mix of money from the city’s Housing and Economic Development Bond and low-income tax credits from the city’s Department of Housing, close a yearslong effort to secure public funding for the project’s below-market housing apartments. Each of the 103 units is set to cost $922,000 to build.
The coalition of alderpeople established three lines it says must guide the budget negotiations: no property tax increase, no corporate “head tax” or other tax on job growth, and no reliance on revenue from Springfield that has not yet been approved. “If the budget claims an efficiency, Council and the public should be able to name the position, contract or program that was actually cut,” they wrote.
“Expanding eligibility means little when administrative red tape stands in the way. Because the freeze does not auto-renew, processing delays routinely force seniors to pay inflated tax bills out of pocket and wait months—or years—for a refund through a Certificate of Error.”
Five state senators, 15 state representatives and 18 Chicago City Council members signed the letter. “Spend smarter,” state Sen. Graciela Guzmán told Peoples Gas. “Prioritize the pipes that actually pose the greatest risk. Consider less-expensive alternatives where they can do the job safely. And stop asking working families to finance decades of unnecessary fossil fuel infrastructure.”
The S&P Cotality Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price NSA Index rose 1.9% year over year in July, up from a 1.6% gain in June. Month over month, the index rose 0.12%.
A Chicago Public Schools teacher was stabbed repeatedly in an apparently random attack while riding a CTA bus home from work earlier this month, an incident police never disclosed publicly and that the public is only learning about now because a woman who saw the crime scene posted about it on social media.
The Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office said the Victim and Witness Relocation program is funded in part by a nearly $250,000 state grant. The program covers eligible victims and witnesses in violent felony and misdemeanor cases. That includes cases involving domestic violence, human trafficking, sexual assault and sexual abuse.
Wirepoints founder Mark Glennon said tax increases under Gov. JB Pritzker drove a 68 percent increase in tax collections since 2020. “So we’ve spent many tens of billions of dollars to get these upgrades that’ll save us only millions,” Glennon said.
Under Brandon Johnson’s stewardship, last year the city borrowed $449.3 million to bankroll large settlements and retroactive pay raises for Chicago firefighters that City Council members had been assured would be covered by money already set aside in the city budget. And just last month, Johnson refinanced up to $525 million in city debt to erase an $85.1 million mid-year shortfall without employee layoffs and vowed to use what’s left of federal pandemic relief funds to help close the gap, if needed.
It is legal in Illinois to simultaneously earn a salary from a government agency and collect a taxpayer-funded pension. Rhee is not the first public official to take on a new taxpayer-paid job after retiring from another government position. When Jamie Rhee retired in April 2025 after nearly seven years as the commissioner of the Department of Aviation, she was the city of Chicago’s highest paid employee.
From a place of former economic dominance, Illinois now ranks 45th in gross state product (GSP) growth over the past decade and 49th in interstate migration, losing some 943,000 people and nearly $90 billion in adjusted gross income to net outmigration over the past decade. Taxes are not the only reason for Illinois’ challenges, but they are an important contributor.
The charges coming from three Jewish faculty members include intensifying antisemitic discrimination following the Hamas attacks on Israel October 7, 2023, students chanting “blood and martyrdom” at an on campus event, and the university’s alleged refusal to address the discrimination.
More than 40 percent of the Illinois residents losing Medicaid after this month live in Cook County, and many of them speak Ukrainian, according to Cook County Health.
To top it off, Stratton is funded mostly by Gov. JB Pritzker, who has long purported to be a rock solid supporter of Israel’s right to exist. El-Sayed is anything but.
Chicago also is owed an additional $2.5 billion in unpaid water and ambulance bills. That’s the highest total in the last five years. “When your viewers see this, they’re going to be like, ‘What’s going on at city hall?’” Ald. Gilbert Villegas said.
Chicago is rapidly running into a situation where the market won’t let it do that anymore at rates that are anywhere near other muni market rates. So are other governments. Their choice will be to raise many fees and tax citizens at higher rates.
“If Chicago wants lower rents, the city should start with the costs it controls. That means slowing the growth of property taxes and the spending that drives them, and expanding the Cook County Assessor’s Affordable Housing Special Assessment Program to small buildings. It means making zoning and permitting faster and more predictable so new housing gets built. And it means dropping rules, fees and fines that raise costs without improving housing quality or tenant safety.”
Applications were submitted by a diverse range of potential candidates, including several current and former CPD members and others “who have held high-ranking law