The rhetoric [Cristina Pacione-Zayas] employs mirrors that of the mayor himself …. “Our current systems and structures were designed to privilege particular populations and their proximity to whiteness,” she said in an interview with Crain’s, explaining how an “anti-racist framework” applies to politics…. Echoing the language that swept Johnson into office, Pacione-Zayas contends Chicagoans can’t reside in a scarcity mindset: There’s enough for everyone.

Officials with the U.S. Secret Service, Chicago Police Department and other agencies on Monday began the process of preparing businesses and residents around McCormick Place and the United Center for the impact of heightened security during this summer’s Democratic National Convention.

In Chicago, more than 38,500 migrants have arrived by chartered bus or plane since August 2022, according to city data. More than 9,600 remained in shelters, where stays are now subject to a 60-day limit, though — as in other cities using such limits — extensions are possible.

In the 11 months since Johnson took over at City Hall, data from the “New Arrivals Mission” website pegs such spending at nearly $300 million with more than 38,000 migrants having arrived in the city and around 9,700 still residing in city shelters

Mayor Brandon Johnson’s “Cut the Tape” report takes aim at bureaucracy that bogs down building in the city.

The Chicago Teachers Union put its lobbyist in the Chicago mayor’s office and is now negotiating its next contract with him. What taxpayers should know about CTU, how it’s impacted education, its leadership and its ambitions to be the political machine running the nation’s third-largest city.

The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, a significant Chicago Public Media financial backer, voiced its sadness over a round of deep job cuts at WBEZ and the Chicago Sun-Times, as the organization faced pushback on social media and from a Chicago alderman over the decision.

After the second-worst quarter of demand in at least 16 years, the downtown office vacancy rate increased to 25.1% at the end of March. It’s the first time the share of available office space downtown has topped 25%, marking a new record high for the seventh straight quarter and for the 12th time in the past 14 quarters. Comment: Note that this is rate is about space under lease, as opposed to actually day-to-day occupancy, which has been hovering around 55%.

Windy City progressives want to cancel the August Convention in their city.

The next big legislative fight in the City Council began in earnest today during an Environmental Committee hearing probing a proposed measure that would effectively ban natural gas in new buildings.

The number of employed has fallen by more than a million in the 10 areas where employment declines have been the most pronounced over the past four years. Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco and Chicago have seen the biggest decreases in the number of employed.

The documents, obtained through FOIA and reviewed by The Epoch Times, reveal that police were dispatched to the Inn of Chicago, a hotel now serving as a shelter for illegal immigrants, more than 250 times between January 2023 and February 2024.

“This involuntary layoff — coupled with positions that have not been filled in the last year — represents a significant reduction in WBEZ’s content unit. These losses are devastating to our listeners and members,” SAG-AFTRA, which represents WBEZ employees, said in an emailed statement.

An affiliate of Crescent Heights paid $79.75 million for the 19-story building at 850 N. Lake Shore Drive in a deal executed March 7, according to Cook County property records. That price is 43% less than the property’s previous sale.

The CTA still faces an uphill battle when it comes to retaining and bringing back riders in the wake of the pandemic. With federal COVID relief dollars expiring in 2026, the transit system is sitting at a major inflection point. Ridership has increased since 2020, albeit slowly, and even the sunniest predictions put 2024 ridership rates at about 66% of pre-pandemic levels.

n the 20th century, Chicago was an epicenter of the nation’s racist housing practices, a dark chapter with devastating modern-day ramifications, all of which a new documentary series lays out in painstaking detail.

By fighting to fend off claims like those from the Nepali government and the Grünberg family, the Art Institute’s leaders stand to lose more than a few disputed artworks. They risk tarnishing this treasured museum’s reputation as one of the foremost repositories of the world’s collective expression of beauty, truth and humanity.

The gap between O’Neill Burke and opponent Clayton Harris III has been essentially unchanged for the past 48 hours, but Harris narrowed the gap Thursday by 14 votes.

Retired Judge Eileen O’Neill Burke has added more than three dozen votes to her lead over former prosecutor Clayton Harris III in the Cook County State’s Attorney primary race, with more than 2,000 ballots added to the unofficial count Wednesday.

The report revealed that nearly 130,000 Chicago children were exposed to toxic lead through drinking water, constituting 70 percent of the city’s children under the age of six.

The union is negotiating $20/hour minimum starting pay, more monthly full-time positions, insurance for all, a transparent promotions process and pay increases.

Eileen O’Neill Burke’s lead over Clayton Harris slipped to 1,600 votes with the counting of additional ballots Tuesday. Suburban Cook County added 800 additional mail-in ballots Tuesday, while the city of Chicago added 300.

In the 200 pages of reporting returned from the FOIA request, there were many violent crimes including aggravated battery, assault, domestic battery, burglary, robbery, aggravated criminal sexual abuse, aggravated criminal sexual assault, child abuse, child abduction, endangering the life/health of a child, and multiple stabbings.

Project 8092 is entirely funded using federal recovery funds provided under the American Rescue Plan Act. The $900,000 allocation leaves the city around $670,000 in ARPA funding between the original funds and interest collected over the last several years.

Chicago voters will head to the polls on Nov. 5 to choose 10 of 21 members to serve on the Board of Education. The mayor appoints the rest.

Despite a period of dormancy in migrant arrivals, buses carrying migrants have gradually resumed coming to Chicago, prompting concerns about the city’s preparedness for potential influxes of migrants.

The City of Chicago announced Monday that everyone at the Pilsen migrant shelter should receive a second measles vaccine dose 28 days after the initial dose.

The recent lawsuit filed in Cook County Circuit Court accuses the union and leadership of allegedly conspiring to call an illegal strike. The union was protesting Chicago Public Schools. CTU claims CPS didn’t

Hidden from public view on the website created by Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration are details about how much companies make in profit, what the lease agreements look like for developers and building owners whose buildings have been converted into migrant shelters.

Jackson Potter, the CTU vice president: “We knew any effort to address big and systemic issues like racism and homelessness would require struggle. And now the real estate industry has picked a fight we intend to win, through our contract, through legislation, through street actions, coalition-building, and growing our movement.”

Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez (25th), Mayor Brandon Johnson’s handpicked Housing Committee chair, says he arrived at a Friday night rally outside City Hall after an American flag was burned to protest U.S. support for Israel. But some of his colleagues don’t buy it, and are talking about calling a special City Council meeting to censure him.

The National Shooting Sports Foundation is using the city of Chicago’s lawsuit against gunmaker Glock as ammunition in its challenge to Illinois’ firearm industry liability law.

Comment: At a cost of $205 million for 309 units, that’s $663,000 per unit. Good luck addressing affordable housing at that cost.

New tabulations from both Chicago and Cook County show Eileen O’Neil Burke still leads Clayton Harris III but, her lead but it has now further shrunk down to just 1,643 votes. We now have a little more clarity in the race between O’Neil Burke and Harris, but the outcome of this critical primary could take another week to sort out with next Tuesday being the final deadline for all votes to be counted.

A number of drivers said at a news conference in Park Ridge that they were owed thousands of dollars by the ride-share company because of bureaucratic delays.

“When voters send a message through their vote, we have a responsibility to listen, even if we disagree,” the Progressive Caucus said in a statement released Monday.

The image of 25th Ward Ald. Byron Sigcho Lopez was captured at a demonstration against the Democratic National Convention coming to Chicago over what he called its failures to address “the genocide in Gaza” and pursue immigration reform. Sigcho Lopez addressed the crowd while a burned American flag sat on the sidewalk feet away. A photo captured earlier at the demonstration showed an American flag engulfed in flames as people looked

Ultimately, Friday’s meeting indicated there may be broad support for the bond proposal in the City Council. Even skeptical or inquisitive council members started or ended their testimony with positive remarks, echoing the need for a plan as TIF districts expire.

“While the federal government has determined this project is of the highest priority, the taxpayers of Illinois and Michigan should not be the only states to carry the burden of the non-federal share of funding when the entire Great Lakes region will certainly experience the devastating impact of inaction,” Gov. J.B. Pritzker wrote to the Army.

“Our team reads hundreds of Chicago police reports every week. We can say with certainty that ShotSpotter alerts routinely result in the arrests of armed men—and they’re almost always men—after shots are fired in the city.”

The loss of City Hall veteran Richard Guidice is just the latest example of how the Johnson administration seems to be floundering.

More than 100 people gathered for the rally at Federal Plaza, advocating for work permits for all.

“How do you create a menu that offers choice and dignity and all the needed components in a way that would be received?” asked Amy Laboy, vice president of programs and community partnerships for the GCFD.

A funny thing happened once Chicago Sun-Times reporters began calling those businesses: They began paying up. One million dollars of the $1.3 million in unpaid traffic control bills got paid, City Hall records show.

Democratic Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson immediately blamed Trump supporters after his disastrous homeless referendum bombed with voters who enthusiastically gave it the thumbs down. Chicago is the city known for the notorious “This is MAGA Country” hate crime hoax perpetrated by black actor Jussie Smollett that targeted Trump supporters.

“It shouldn’t take a lawsuit to get access to that kind of information, but this administration is increasingly making it impossible for people to get information unless they go to court,” said attorney Matt Topic with Loevy & Loevy, who filed the lawsuit on behalf of NBC Chicago. “I think we’ve filed 10 different lawsuits for clients over records about the migrant crisis where the administration is refusing to respond to requests.”

As of Saturday evening at 5:21 p.m., O’Neill Burke was up 4,771 votes, with 50.47% – 255,010 votes – compared to Harris’ 49.5% – 250,239.

Councilman Patrick Kelly lauded the training as an investment “in our people.” Councilman Benny White said DEI is a sustainability issue. “If we as a community can’t acknowledge each other, have training (and) do things that allow us to grow as a community,” White said, “we’re not going to be able to sustain ourselves.”

Eilleen O’Neill Burke remains in the lead with 251,324 votes, or 51%. Harris has 244,538 votes, or 49%.

Johnson will soon announce the appointment of Sendy Soto to the position, according to sources familiar with the hire. Soto served as a managing deputy commissioner in the city’s Housing Department from 2020 to 2022.

The factory known for wafting mouth-watering chocolate aroma across downtown Chicago opened in 1939 and is Blommer’s original manufacturing plant.

Chicago, already reeling from population declines and the loss of key employers, is struggling to advance an $8.5 billion airport upgrade that’s key to bolstering its status as a crucial air hub.

“More Black people have left the Chicago region than any other U.S. metro except New York….What an effective strategy would look like is a subject for another day. The point is, we need to attract more young Black talent.”

“On Tuesday voters shocked everyone by soundly rejecting a ballot referendum to raise the city’s real-estate transfer tax, despite active support by Mayor Brandon Johnson and the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU). Or perhaps the defeat was because of their support.”

Of the 10 largest U.S. cities, Chicago has held onto its housing affordability best over the past 50-plus years, according to data from RealtyHop. After publishing a state-by state look at how affordability has changed since 1970, RealtyHop pulled city-by-city data exclusively for Crain’s.

The Student Power Forum and Parade to the Polls, hosted by Chicago Votes, La Casa Norte and the Chicago Teachers Union, took students of voting age at participating district high schools out of the classroom for the morning on a district-approved field trip to the CTU headquarters to make posters, learn about candidates and march to the polls together.

The non-partisan integrity of the event was under question by conservative groups, with the effort starting with a congressional candidate forum hosted earlier this week at the headquarters of the Chicago Teachers Union, a staunch advocate of Bring Chicago Home.

“Since 2000, Chicago has lost 231,000 people net despite the fact that the U.S. population has increased from 281.4 million to 341 million. With 60 million more people, Chicago lost nearly a quarter of a million souls. How is that even possible?”

The glorification of a man whom Hamas praised as “immortal” offers a glimpse at the simmering anti-Israel hatred and antisemitism that has taken root on campus in the wake of the October 7 massacre of Israelis, Jewish students tell National Review.

While no official investigation into the school has yet been launched, a spokesman for the committee told Crain’s it is “very concerned” about reports of antisemitic incidents on Northwestern’s campus and will continue to review possible next steps. “Institutions allowing or embracing hostility against Jewish students demands scrutiny,” the spokesman said in an email to Crain’s.

The union plans to organize high school students and march them to the polls in support of a tax increase.

The complaint is here.

A week after the committee’s letter to Mayor Brandon Johnson in late January, the migrants were quietly relocated after being camped out at O’Hare International Airport and Midway Airport for months. Johnson’s office, the airports nor the Federal Aviation Administration responded to repeated requests for comment about where the migrants were transferred.

First Assistant State’s Attorney Risa Renee Lanier, who infamously handled the Jussie Smollett confidential plea deal, failed to win the group’s seal of approval because some attorneys “expressed concerns over what they termed her honesty and candidness with the Court” and others thought Lanier “displayed poor decision-making skills.”

After New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, sent the National Guard and state police to do bag checks in the Big Apple’s subway, the head of Chicago’s bus driver union wants the same.

Advocates for immigration reform listened to President’s Biden’s speech with hope that he would offer some concrete steps that could address concerns about work permits for migrants. It didn’t happen. The President is also facing criticism for referring to an arrested immigrant using the term “illegal.”

The new Wind Creek Chicago Southland is opening just miles from a casino in Gary, Ind., and casino revenue is down in Illinois, making its debut by late summer, straddling East Hazel Crest and Homewood.

Lawyers who specializing in suing police, and defending accused criminals, make up the largest segment of donors to the campaign of Clayton Harris, III, who is vying for the Democratic nomination for states attorney in the March 19 primary.

Freedom of Information Act Lawyer: “In the last six months alone, we have filed nearly 60 FOIA lawsuits for our clients, mostly journalists and public-interest organizations, against the Johnson administration. In many of these cases, the administration has simply ignored FOIA requests past their deadlines.”

“Trust me, as a former public high school teacher, I know this is true from first-hand experience…. On a weekly basis, we would “shadow” CPS teachers while observing classroom procedures and teaching strategies. In short, I was absolutely shocked almost every time I performed one of these shadow days. Why? Because most, not all, of the classrooms I observed were so chaotic that barely any actual learning could take place. Among the things that most stood out: I witnessed a student throw their desk at a teacher, I saw multiple

Pastor Brooks also explains how politicians like Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson abandon his cause after they get their ‘poverty porn’ photo-ops and why ShotSpotter is a vital tool for understanding the gun violence plaguing his community. Plus, Carlin suggests that pastor host a counter convention on the South Side when the DNC invades the West Side.

One of the hottest series of disputes has been the tag-team rumble between federal, state, and local regulators, a scrap-metal processor, and several interested community groups over the relocation of a Chicago plant from the Lincoln Park neighborhood to a community in southeast Chicago. At least some parts of this dispute are closer to resolving.

Will Johnson, Chicago-based CEO of The Harris Poll: In the Republican caucus in Iowa and primary elections in New Hampshire, South Carolina and Michigan — states that allow some form of crossover or unaffiliated voting — exit polls show upward of half of Haley’s support came from a combination of Democrats and independents. And they’re being urged by political action committees to keep it up next week in the seven Super Tuesday states with open primary elections.

In the 2022 tax year, municipalities in the south suburbs only managed to collect 86.4 percent of billed taxes owed by residents, the Chicago Tribune reported. That pales in comparison to the countywide average of 96 percent, highlighting a significant revenue loss estimated at $185 million, which could be going to crucial services like public safety, education and infrastructure.

The Chicago Department of Aviation has come up with a plan to cut hundreds of millions in costs from the long-awaited terminal expansion and renovation at O’Hare, allowing it to stay within the original $6.1 billion budget for the project. Airlines, however, doubt the city’s numbers.

The Canadian developer modernizing the empty Loop office tower at 225 W. Randolph St. is closing in on three new leases totaling almost 140,000 square feet, deals that would mark big victories in its nearly $140 million overhaul of the property and provide a boost for the foot traffic-starved heart of downtown.

The changes also come as Chicago Public Media, which owns both WBEZ and the Chicago Sun-Times, is undergoing leadership changes. The company is currently searching for a new CEO after Matt Moog, the current CEO of Chicago Public Media, announced in December he’d be stepping down. Shortly after Moog’s announcement, two more executives departed from the organization.

The aldermanic grilling marked the first mandatory hearing for Carter after the council passed an ordinance last fall requiring CTA officials to testify each quarter on service levels, security and planning. Yet even as he fielded those complaints, Carter sketched an ambitious future for the CTA, one that he said he envisioned could one day rival the best transit systems in the world.

The Chicago Bears and Chicago White Sox are being urged to cobble together one financial request for their stadium proposals that state legislators can consider rather than dueling plans that could box each other out. Representatives for the teams are hearing the same message from state officials as they jockey for public subsidies to build new stadiums. State Senate President Don Harmon specifically has told both teams there is little appetite in the General Assembly to approve separate stadium legislation.

Reinsdorf consistently argued that his goal is not to make money but field a winning team — in Chicago. Along the way, he also shed light on the state of play with the Chicago Bears.

Chicago ranks No. 10 among cities with highest income inequality.

The current political and social environment is a “tinderbox,” according to one top Homeland Security administrator. While the specifics of the threats may not be known yet, the official shared an ominous warning, “We know it’s coming.”

At Feb. 23 Northwest Side business luncheon, Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias was critical of Mayor Brandon Johnson, while Alderman Samantha Nugent (39th) expressed concern that some local families would move to the suburbs if the Chicago Board of Education were to dismantle selective enrollment programs.

Johnson vowed to “explore every legal option available” to give the Chicago City Council the power to spike taxes on city homes and commercial buildings valued at more than $1 million.

Cook County Board Commissioner Tara Stamps works for the Chicago Teachers Union, which helped fuel CTU organizer Brandon Johnson’s meteoric rise to become Chicago mayor last year. Stamps and Johnson go way back to their days at Jenner Elementary, where Stamps was the mayor’s mentor during his early years as a teacher. Stamps also has the backing of County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, who doubles as head of the Cook County Democratic Party.

A Cook County judge Friday ruled that a referendum question funding homelessness prevention in Chicago via a real estate transfer tax increase on the March primary ballot is invalid, dealing a major political blow to the measure’s biggest proponent, Mayor Brandon Johnson.

“Lord knows we have our problems with Mayor Adams, but all New Yorkers can at least feel relieved they’re not suffering under Chicago’s Mayor Brandon Johnson.”

During a heated six-hour meeting over funding, Oak Park trustee Cory Wesley argued that supporting the influx of migrants was costing the village more than $300,000 a month, or $2,000 a month per person. Universal basic income programs typically pay $500 a month, or $1,000 at most, he pointed out. “I don’t see how it’s sustainable, and I definitely don’t see how it’s equitable,” he said.

“As a native son, it is hard to watch this wonderful city undermined by (Mayor Brandon) Johnson and radical allies in the city council. Some initiatives like reparations and state-funded grocery stores will cost money but will not impose nearly the costs of Johnson’s dismal record on crime and taxes. However, this week saw a particularly confusing moment when, after calling the anti-crime program ShotSpotter ‘racist,’ Johnson asked the company to extend its contract beyond the upcoming Democratic National Convention. So Johnson put an end to this supposedly racist program but only after the Democratic luminaries (and the most violent

Chicago’s car theft crisis appears to be on the decline, after reaching a two-decades high of 31,139 vehicles stolen or attempted stolen in 2023.

Using Shift Change, Chicago hospitality workers can file reports on current or past experiences of workplace abuse, including wage theft, sexual abuse and discrimination. Users of the platform can choose to remain anonymous or be connected with a lawyer, therapist or organizer to take the next steps toward addressing the abuse. The service is available in English and Spanish.

Chicago White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf is preparing to ask Gov. J.B. Pritzker and other state leaders for roughly $1 billion in public money to build his team a new home in the South Loop. While Pritzker has been dismissive of using tax dollars to subsidize a new stadium for a team worth billions even before the bonds that paid for the team’s current South Side home are paid off, he has yet to rule anything out until learning of the team’s detailed financial plan.

The announcement of Kim’s departure came days after it was reported the school would be forced to cut academic programs and lay off full-time faculty with tenured positions as its deficit grows to $38 million.

Foxx has not endorsed either candidate — retired Justice Eileen O’Neill Burke or Clayton Harris III— but Harris has been

In January, among major metropolitan areas, Chicago had the second largest number of completed foreclosures at 194, ranking behind Detroit’s 609. New York City, Philadelphia and San Francisco rounded out the top five.

Down from mid- and early-January peaks of nearly 15,000, the number of migrants in shelters fell below 13,000 for the first time since Nov. 28. The number in shelters has dropped by nearly 1,000 since the start of February.

A struggling downtown Chicago real estate market is making it difficult for officials to determine property values in the first such assessment since the end of the pandemic. The small number of deals and deep discounts are thwarting price discovery and spurring Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi to consider leaving out the most distressed office tower sales in his calculations.

“I’ve encountered great folks from many generations in this city; however, I find it is only those who haven’t ever (or in several decades) lived elsewhere who are the most sour on this city.”

The public rollout of the initiative, which will mark a major shift in how the city funds economic development projects, is still expected soon. A “scheduling issue” forced the postponement, a spokesperson for the Department of Planning & Development told Crain’s.

Chicago Public Schools is proposing that classes for the 2024-25 school year start one week later than usual in order to accommodate the late-August Democratic National Convention. If the plan is approved, CPS classes will begin Monday, Aug. 26. The DNC, which Chicago is hosting for the first time since President Bill Clinton’s re-election nomination in 1996, is scheduled for the week prior, running from Aug. 19 through Aug. 22.

The Chicago area is home to the largest Palestinian population in the United States. More than 18,000 Palestinians live in Cook County.

“Amid national notice of this mayhem last summer, Mr. Johnson said critics had to live in Chicago before they had the right to criticize. Israel might ask the same of Mr. Johnson.”

Businesses will reconsider locating in Chicago if courts ultimately find City Hall acted legally when it allegedly bowed to political pressure and changed the rules in the middle of the game to use “public health” concerns to justify denying a permit that would have allowed a new Southwest Side metal recycling center to open, warned a collection of Illinois business advocacy groups in a new court filing.

Comment: Chicago is not mentioned in this article, but the CTA is buying additional Proterra electric buses as it moves toward an all-electric fleet by 2040, as reported here. Proterra, which filed for bankruptcy, is discussed in this article.

As Evanston prepares to become the first city in Illinois to implement ranked-choice voting in its 2025 municipal elections, the city is also set to revisit a proposed ordinance that would allow documented residents without U.S. citizenship to vote in local elections. State Sen. Celina Villanueva introduced a bill in 2021 that would allow non-citizens to vote in school board elections, but the bill has not been passed.

Whether the new coalition loses its appeal or not, Andy Thayer said the group plans to march. He said he’s disappointed in the city’s “contempt for the First Amendment,” which he said is similar to conditions under previous mayors. “If they are worried about chaos, if they are worried about violence, then they will respect legitimate permit applications such as have been put in by this coalition,” Thayer said.

Chicago real estate firm R2 has purchased a Michigan Avenue office tower for about half the price it sold for just more than six years ago, the latest in a series of recent sales showing how badly remote work and higher interest rates have hurt downtown office property values.

A five-story office and retail property on downtown Chicago’s State Street sold for a nearly 60% discount, another distress signal from the once-storied shopping corridor.

Insights from Tio Hardiman, president of the not-for-profit organization Violence Interrupters.

City officials said Seventy-Seven Communities and 14 Parish were chosen because they proved able to deliver “high quality and culturally congruent” meals at a cost of $15-$17 per person per day, compared to the $21-$23 the city was previously paying per person per day.

Chicago has emerged as a national locus for the cease-fire movement since the violence began October 7 with what have been a seemingly countless number of persistent marches, nonviolent direct actions and other efforts to demand immediate peace and an end to the occupation and system of apartheid in Palestine.

‍‍This circumstance isn’t just a cooling off – it’s like it took a dip in Lake Michigan this January in the sub-zero temperatures. ‍A range of high-end single-family houses, condominiums, and coops in the Gold Coast, Streeterville, and Lincoln Park neighborhoods are declining in value by the month.

Two Chicago Public School students were killed in a shooting as they exited the Innovations High School building in the Loop on Friday.

Among the acts outlawed by the new rules, which also allow public transit agencies across the state to enact such regulations, are verbally or physically threatening or harming someone while aboard a train, pushing or waving a gun at someone, harassment and acts of public indecency.

A Chicago state representative has called on the state to refuse to host the Democratic National Convention until the city receives federal funding for migrant care. Mayor Brandon Johnson is not on board with that idea, however.

“Johnson joined other progressives around the country in calling for a ceasefire He said “the killings need to stop.” Funny, that’s what the residents of Chicago say.”

“Johnson is preparing to evict illegal immigrants from shelters on Feb. 1, saying, ‘The flow of migrants that are coming into the city of Chicago and the flow to exit has not kept up.’ In other words, Johnson wants Chicago to be getting rid of as many illegal immigrants as it is taking in, and he has punted the expansion of shelter construction to the state, wanting shelters to be built outside of Chicago.”

More than a year ago, voters in Wheeling Township approved a new property tax to fund mental health services. But due to a legal dispute with political overtones, advocates likely will have to go through another referendum and wait a couple more years before they could get funding. The controversy continues even while other suburban governments, from Schaumburg to Naperville townships and Will County, are implementing new voter-approved tax funding for mental health programs.

“I believe that six felony arrests in one day illustrates that migrant criminal activity is a real problem,” Oak Brook Chief of Police Brian Strockis said in a written statement on Wednesday.

Naperville is not moving forward with a plan to have residents house migrants in their homes. The city was considering putting together a list of residents willing to bring migrants into their homes. But city staff decided there are other state and federal agencies putting together lists of shelters to house migrants, so it’s not necessary for Naperville residents to pitch in.

The CTU’s Stacy Davis-Gates said, “Of course, when you have a Black man who is the mayor of this city advocating for the humanity of these Black children and for the equity of these Black children, of course they would put out an instrument that says something counter to that.”

The Chicago Board of Education voted Thursday to renew agreements with 12 charter networks, impacting 49 schools. The decision followed months of pleading from charter school leaders, educators, and students. The board extended contracts for all of the schools up for renewal. It renewed most of the contracts by either three or four years, starting this July. The maximum extension allowed under state law is 10 years.

Over a dozen alderpersons from around the city signed their appeal in a letter to Mayor Brandon Johnson. They’re also calling for better handling of the migrant influx.

Decrying an unfunded mandate and scant notice about how to implement the hastily passed ordinance, several suburban park and school district leaders urged the county to exempt them from the union-backed initiative. With enforcement efforts kicking in next week, the park and school district leaders mounted a letter-writing campaign in recent days and pleaded their case at the Cook County Board meeting on Thursday.

Saying the village of Dolton has been financially mismanaged into insolvency by scandal-plagued Mayor Tiffany Henyard, attorneys representing families of two men killed in a police chase car crash have asked a Cook County court to potentially order the suburban village to raise taxes on residents to fund a $33.5 million jury verdict the families had won.

“There are individuals who are part of this criminal group, but simply because they do not have a criminal record or anything that can distinguish that they are part of that group, they have also been released within the United States.”

After flicking away the Hamas atrocities, Johnson discussed the crucible of the Middle East in terms of Black “liberation.” If you parse those comments, you can see he wasn’t just speaking of a desire to protect civilians and promote peace, a reasonable position many of us share, but to frame the Israeli-Hamas conflict in stark terms of the oppressor and the oppressed.

Johnson admitted that he doesn’t know if his statement on a ceasefire will influence the U.S. stance but said his duty as mayor requires him to “recognize people’s humanity” and “understand the value of what liberation … means for people.”

“Put simply, it’s been the fairest recovery on record,” Yellen said.

Through these new vendors, the city of Chicago reported that the new direction in food servicing is proving to be cost efficient. The new price the city will pay for providing to the shelters is $15-17 per person. Prior to the new contract the price per person was $21-$23 with Greater Chicago Food Depository and Open Kitchens.

Dealmaking in the Chicago area didn’t take quite as much of a hit as the nation overall, where sales dropped by 51% to about $347 billion as mismatched pricing expectations between buyers and sellers slowed activity, especially in the office sector. Nationally, there was a 32% drop in office sales volume in the fourth quarter of 2023 from the same time frame the previous year.

From left-of-center think tanks such as the Brookings Institution, Urban Institute and Progressive Policy Institute, to right-of-center public policy groups such as the American Enterprise Institute and the Alliance for Opportunity, there exists remarkable consensus on how to empower individuals to rise out poverty and into prosperity. Substantial consensus exists around seven “macro”-solutions to poverty.

Sheila Jackson Lee, a congresswoman from Texas, visited Chicago to raise money for her failed effort to become Houston’s mayor. Her son Jason Lee is a top adviser to Mayor Brandon Johnson.

Horrified residents of a Chicago neighborhood called 911 as they watched migrants ‘breaking into’ an apartment building – only to be told they were allowed in.

“It has gotten so bad in the Windy City that officials have begun erecting black plastic sheets to hide the migrants from airport users and city residents, allowing travelers only a small aisle of space to walk the hallways from one gate to another.”

Protestors filled City Hall on Wednesday as the Chicago City Council debated and ultimately delayed a vote on a resolution calling for a cease-fire in the war in Gaza. There were other controversial measures on the agenda, but the resolution ate up most of the council’s time.

Ald. Silverstein was disappointed by what she called a lack of respect and decorum during discussion of her resolution. “I can tell you that the people that we had on the box today for Holocaust Memorial Day were quite shaken by what happened here,” Silverstein said.

Cook County President Preckwinkle: “Cook County is well known for its criminal justice reform efforts, but we recognize that true justice extends even further into accessible and affordable healthcare for all.”

On Wednesday, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson was asked about the White Sox stadium in a recent press conference. He mentioned conversations with White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf while broaching the subject of the Bears stadium desires, too.

A South Side Chicago activist, who launched a state representative bid in hopes of curbing the repercussions of the Windy City’s sanctuary status, said on Wednesday that city leaders need to understand “illegal” means “illegal.”

“He’s a coward,” Fraternal Order of Police President John Catanzara afterward. “You had your attorney tell the judge you’re calling the vote. Call the vote. But he didn’t do it.”

Chronic absenteeism rates are higher in Chicago than statewide, with 44% of low-income Chicago students missing at least 10% of their days in school.

As some electric vehicle owners were shocked by below-zero operation issues recently, Pace officials unveiled their first battery-powered bus. Let’s hope the transit agency isn’t jolted by performance problems. Outside of the Pace debut, it’s been a rough few weeks for what is supposed to be our automotive future. Electric vehicles are the cornerstone of the clean-energy policy of the administration of President Joe Biden in order to help reduce the nation’s carbon footprint.

Growing up, Chesa Boudin, the progressive former district attorney of San Francisco, stunk as a baseball player in the Hyde Park-Kenwood Little League. Now, at 43, he doesn’t have much to fondly remember by way of athletic accomplishments from those days. What he does recall, however, is one stiflingly humid summer day in the late 1980s over at the baseball diamond on 47th Street and Cornell Drive, when he took his eye off a pitch. Men were arguing on the nearby basketball court. Then, shots rang out. The coaches shouted. They yelled at the boys to drop to the ground

Despite the City Council delaying a vote on a supportive resolution, Johnson expressed that “the killing needs to stop.”

Ald. Raymond Lopez (15th) sponsored the resolution. “So as the individuals who make it to our shores, to our country, I think we should have a program that protects them and gives them peace while they are here. And it gives a pathway to many of the individuals who have been here,” Lopez said.

The crackdown is an effort to rein in harmful effects dollar stores have on food access in poor neighborhoods while pushing operators to better maintain the stores, according to sponsor Ald. Matt O’Shea, 19th.

For 30 years, Chicago’s mayors were betting a casino might be the answer to the city’s budget woes. But new numbers indicate that gamble may not be paying off as hoped.

Daniel Horton, head of the Climate Change Research Group at Northwestern University, saidHorton said he believes the government can play a role in addressing the inequities. He would like to see the government “incentivize private institutions or potentially have public institutions install chargers in locations that at the moment are not financially viable, but in the future might become more viable.”

A monthslong feud between a Woodlawn landlord and his tenants over allegations of unlivable conditions reached a boiling point last week, when a skeptical judge threatened to jail tenants he found to be lying.

“So, you can imagine our skepticism when Kiana DiStasi, Chief Marketing and Communications Officer of Chicago Loop Alliance, spoke glowingly about the downtown neighborhood’s crime statistics. The alliance, if you haven’t already guessed, promotes the Loop.”

A bizarre standoff has developed in the office created 10 years ago to provide the City Council with independent advice on financial issues and avoid a repeat of the parking meter fiasco. Budget Committee Chair Jason Ervin (28th) wants his colleagues to empower him to dump Kenneth Williams Sr. as the $123,000-a-year director of the Council’s Office of Financial Analysis after Williams refused to leave to make way for a director of Ervin’s choosing.

The City Council is being asked to revive an underground warehouse development on the Southeast Side that’s being pushed by the Ozinga family. After a city zoning official ruled last year that the project ran afoul of Chicago’s ban on mining operations, it appeared that the Ozingas — owners of the namesake concrete and materials business — had little choice but to give up

“What the CTU seeks is complete and unchallenged domination over education.”

The Department of Education Office for Civil Rights has opened an investigation into Northwestern University over its handling of anti-Semitic incidents, Campus Reform has learned.

Nearly 30,000 cars were taken from their owners in Chicago last year, yet police efforts to catch the bandits reached record lows, one nonprofit says.

The number of vehicle thefts reported last year is the highest in 23 years, according to the Illinois Policy Institute. Not only did the arrest rate for car theft fall to 2.6%, but data collected through the Chicago Data Portal showed that it was the lowest level since the city started tracking crime online in 2001.

For homebuyers, the tab will be a little more than $15 million. That’s according to Crain’s research into what the past year’s home sales would have generated if the new transfer tax, as revamped under Johnson in August, were in place. Many commercial properties sell for far larger amounts than homes, and Crain’s past estimates have pegged the commercial sector’s dollar volume at around nine times residential’s.

Under draft legislation sponsored by Ald. Bill Conway, 34th, the city would not be able to spend more than $1 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds without council approval. He plans to introduce the ordinance at the Jan. 24 City Council meeting.

From Oct. 23 to Jan. 17, a total of 47 migrants were arrested in Oak Brook, Illinois, mostly for alleged property crimes, according to Brian Strockis, the chief of police for the Oak Brook Police Department.

Chicago Public Schools is struggling to navigate a severe shortage of bus drivers.

The group made its way to I-55 southbound and Harlem, when the situation escalated. Authorities were called after receiving reports of pedestrians illegally walking onto the expressway. The protest was put on by the Chicago Coalition for Justice in Palestine and the US Palestinian Community Network. It is one of several in the Chicago area in recent weeks. The USPCN says they gathered to call for the end of U.S. and U.K. airstrikes against Yemen and to stop the Israeli genocide against the Palestinian people of Gaza.

Pace on Friday introduced its first electric bus, the transit agency’s initial step in its goal to convert its more than 700 buses to zero emissions by 2040.

Many of the 34,000-plus migrants who’ve arrived since August 2022 could qualify for work permits, but, with a long wait to get them, some cook, wash windows, sell candy for cash.

The Prudential name has been on the 41-story Loop building since it opened in 1955. The name has also been on the 64-story younger sibling, Prudential Plaza Two or Pru Two, since that building opened in 1990. The departure is momentous. Prudential stuck with its namesake skyscraper long after Sears, Wrigley, the Chicago Tribune, Montgomery Ward, Kemper and other big corporations left their buildings. Prudential is staying in town, however, and leasing space elsewhere.

One of Mayor Brandon Johnson’s signature priorities — a major tweak to the real estate transfer tax designed to boost funding for anti-homelessness initiatives — has been dealt a significant setback, failing to garner the coveted endorsement of the Chicago Federation of Labor. In a vote last week, a motion to endorse the referendum measure came up just decimal points shy of the two-thirds weighted vote necessary to receive the official backing of the federation, an umbrella organization that represents more than 300 unions in Chicago and Cook County.

A few weeks after one distressed office building near Willis Tower was sold at a severe discount, another one is heading to the auction block and is likely to trade for a fraction of its pre-pandemic value. Bidding will begin on Feb. 20 to buy the vintage 10-story office building at 216 W. Jackson Blvd. One stark example of the lost value just one block from 216 W. Jackson came late last month, when a local investor paid just $4 million for the leasehold interest in a 20-story building at 300 W. Adams St. — 89% less than it was

Nobody knows better than a locasl when these shows go astray, from incongruous exterior shots and botched accents to characters and story lines that are implausible in their settings. These false notes happen in comedies and dramas set all over the country, especially Chicago.

“From November 2022 to November 2023, employment here grew a meager 0.8%, compared to the national rate of 1.8% during the same period. It certainly didn’t help that ongoing net outmigration continues to have a detrimental impact on population growth in the Chicago area.While the U.S. unemployment rate remained fairly constant at 3.7% in the second half of 2023, Chicago-area unemployment rose to 4.7% in November from 3.9% in June. Perhaps an even more alarming concern is the state of average hourly earnings.”

“Costs are driven by the byzantine rules of the federal tax credit system that require builders to assemble a “capital stack” of funders, each with sets of fees and requirements. On top of that comes ever more rigorous government standards for accessibility, sustainability and design. Developers and their architects win points from public agencies awarding the projects by striving for net zero carbon emissions by using materials such as solar panels, triple-pane windows and upgraded insulation.”If a Martian dropped down from the sky and looked at

Mayor Johnson and his supporters believe revenue from the transfer tax hike will help fund affordable housing and anti-homelessness measures in Chicago. Conversely, the real estate community fears that the policy would burden a commercial real estate industry that’s already grappling with various challenges, such as high interest rates, record-high office vacancies and subdued sales.

Brandon Johnson has refused to state whether he’ll raise his city’s taxes to pay for the migrant crisis – despite being asked three times in a new interview.

The Chicago Board of Education on Wednesday saw its issuer rating and debt ratings from Moody’s Investors Service (MCO) upgraded a notch, to Ba1 from Ba2 which is still speculative grade, but one level below investment-grade status.

A spokesperson for Chicago’s Office of Emergency Management reported an additional 4,468 migrants in its total census count of migrants Thursday morning. The total number of asylum-seekers who have come to Chicago since August 2022 was reported as just over 30,000 the day before.

As supporters of the campaign to raise the one-time tax on property sales over $1 million are pounding pavement and knocking on doors, opponents of the measure are finding their footing and raising money.

“In this court’s 17 years on the bench and 32 years working in the criminal justice system, it has never seen such manipulative efforts used before a judge in open court to such a degree,” McHale continued. He barred Mbekeani from ever representing the state in his courtroom again.

Chicagoans have been expected to vote for the first time this fall to elect members of the Chicago Board of Education. But the transition from a mayoral-appointed school board to a fully elected one has been complicated and may be at least partially stalled by political maneuvering in Springfield and by a high-stakes Democratic primary fight for control of a Northwest Side Illinois Senate seat.

By actuary Mary Pat Campbell.

The university ended fiscal 2023 in June, reporting operating expenses of $3.14 billion and a deficit of $239 million, resulting in a hiring freeze and other budget cuts. At the same time, it has been dealing with debt and rising interest payments.

“The people on the street help us more than the city. They give us clothes, jackets,” one migrant said. He said didn’t expect to spend his first week in Chicago digging through the trash to find breakfast.

The share of available office space in the central business district at the end of the year inched up to an all-time high of 23.8%, from 23.7% at the end of the third quarter, according to data from real estate services firm CBRE. This occupancy rate measures how much space is under lease, not actual usage from day-to-day.

Mayor Brandon Johnson’s 2024 budget plan anticipates $35 million in local tax revenue from Bally’s temporary casino in the former Medinah Temple, which would mean nearly $3 million per month. The casino has averaged $776,582 in local tax revenue the past four months, on pace to generate only $9.3 million for the city by the end of 2024.

Mary Williams Walsh, managing editor of News Items and former NYT reporter: In eight months, Chicago will host the 2024 Democratic National Convention. To borrow a phrase from the 1968 Democratic National Convention (in Chicago), “the whole world will be watching”. This is what Chicago looks like now.

Chicago still worst among the largest cities.

Interview with Jaime di Paulo, president and CEO of the Illinois Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

A protest in honor of Palestinians who have died in Gaza shut down traffic in both directions on Lake Shore Drive in Chicago on Saturday. Protesters from two organizations, the U.S. Palestinian Community Network and the Coalition for Justice in Palestine, lined up on the road to block traffic for hours. The groups were protesting the Biden administration for bypassing congressional approval twice to use its emergency powers to sell ammunition to Israel.

The arbitrator at the center of the dispute between the city of Chicago and its largest police union doubled down on a ruling allowing for closed-door arbitration panels to decide the fate of officers facing severe discipline in a scathing ruling issued Thursday.

A local investor last week bought a distressed office building across the street from Willis Tower for 89% less than it was worth just more than a decade ago, another data point showing the extreme loss of value of downtown office buildings in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Across Lake County and the region, government bodies late last year announced property tax extension increases will be coming fast and furious in the new year. From Tony Kenilworth on Cook County’s North Shore, to west suburban Aurora, to Round Lake Unit School District 116, taxing bodies are seeking more funding.

WTTW’s community advisory board used its most recent annual report to express concerns over changes with “Chicago Tonight” as well as communication issues with management. In the report, which was released on Dec. 19, the 26-member board stated concerns after “observing over the past year the work of the News Department, in general, and the presentation of ‘Chicago Tonight,’ in particular.”

The mayors of New York, Chicago and Denver said a nonending flow of migrants arriving from the southern border has pushed their cities to the breaking pointheading into the New Year, as border crossings swell and Texas Gov. Greg Abbottkeeps finding new ways to torment his Democratic rivals.

Ride-share drivers are being robbed at gunpoint while picking up or dropping off passengers on the West Side, Chicago police say in a new community alert.

“Beyond policy victories, we have created a seismic shift in the rooms where Chicago education policy is shaped.”

“I think the predominate issue is that whether it be, in your case, probably unintentional, is they now have a support network within Chicago, support network meaning others that have preceded them at that point.” That means family and friends who have already arrived in Chicago.

The Village Board enacted regulations for buses carrying migrants into town.

While owners say they are committed to their bricks-and-mortar stores, the lack of arrests and the relentless burglaries have them wondering how they can keep their businesses afloat.

Lakeshore Recycling Systems, or LRS, would run this second operation. The company already has a recycling facility in West Chicago. The facility’s final approval is pending a decision from the Illinois Pollution Control Board.

“Some readers may be imagining the intrigue as ambivalent delegates wonder if they really have to nominate Joe Biden for president again. Others may puzzle over Democrats’ decision to gather in Chicago, a violent and expensive monument to the failures of progressive governance. But the choice of venue is even worse than many realize and seems bound to inspire a rush of regret. A series of events will serve to highlight not just Democratic dysfunction but corruption as well.”

This past was updated on December 21, 2023 in light of December 2023 amendments to the ordinance from the Chicago City Council.

Gov. Abbott’s press secretary Andrew Mahaleris, told The Center Square. “Mayor Johnson is flat out lying. If he truly cared about these migrants, he would stop spreading falsehoods and complaining about a few thousand migrants being bused into his sanctuary city. Instead, Mayor Johnson should call on President Biden to take immediate action to secure the border—something the President continues failing to do.”

As new mayors prepare to take the reins in city halls across the country, Mayor Brandon Johnson was among the 29 newly-elected U.S. mayors selected to participate in the Bloomberg Center for Cities at Harvard University’s Program for New Mayors.

The board endorsed a resolution last week to shift focus and resources away from the city’s selective enrollment schools to neighborhood schools. Selective enrollment schools, or high schools that admit students based on middle school grades and standardized exams, have faced intense scrutiny by the notoriously left-wing Chicago Teachers Union over their supposed lack of economic and racial “equity.”

A nearly 100-car caravan led by the group “US Palestinian Community Network“ confronted state lawmakers and temporarily shut down both sides of I-190 Saturday afternoon in support of Palestine.

Officials in Peotone, Kankakee and Lockport responded to groups of migrants looking for shelter.

As Illinois begins transitioning people in its two health programs for immigrants to Medicaid managed care plans, Cook County Health plans to enroll nearly all the 45,000-some participants into CountyCare, beginning Jan. 1. The Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services is moving all participants in the state-funded programs, Health Benefits for Immigrant Adults and Health Benefits for Immigrant Seniors, or HBIA and HBIS, from fee-for-service to managed care in 2024.

Ken Griffin is no stranger to giving out big gifts in the big cities where he lives and does business. In Chicago, the financial magnate donated $125 million in 2019 to help modernize the Museum of Science and Industry. Now the billionaire founder of the Citadel financial empire is using his fortune to make a mark in Florida, where he moved from Chicago in 2022. His

In a confidential memorandum delivered to Johnson’s top aides July 18 by the former commissioner of the Department of Housing, Marisa Novara, and the former commissioner of the Department of Planning & Development, Maurice Cox, Johnson was urged to borrow $1.25 billion in anticipation of those TIF districts going offline. The move would be a remarkable shift in how the city pays for and subsidizes development projects. The bond issuance would begin the process of Chicago weaning itself off the special tax districts created in the last three decades to incentivize development.

Theo Anderson, researcher and writer specializing in business case studies and Josh Salzmann, professor of U.S. history at Northeastern Illinois: Over the coming decades, the number of Americans fleeing climate-change driven droughts, fires, floods, hurricanes and water shortages will likely exceed that of the Great Migration by a wide margin. 13 million Americans will be displaced by sea-level rise alone. While many counties across the Sun Belt could lose more than a third of their GDP from the effects of climate change, the Great Lakes region will see migration of people

Since the venue opened Sept. 9, the temporary casino has brought in between $694,913 and $778,964 per month in local tax revenue, according to Illinois Gaming Board data, about a quarter of what it needs to generate to keep up with budget projections, and a fifth of Bally’s more ambitious target.

Chicago is literally telling families of highly competitive students to leave public education or reduce their expectations. For those who can afford it, they must now look to private or religious schools…. As a proud Chicago native, it is hard to watch what is happening in the city under Johnson and this city council.”

Denisha Allen, founder of Black Minds Matter and senior fellow at the American Federation for Children: Every lawmaker in Chicago should be on notice. Faith in public schools and the Chicago Teachers Union is waning, while the need for education freedom increases. Chicago public schools are at a critical juncture, confronting hard truths about the Chicago Teachers’ Union and its role pushing policies that harm education, particularly that of Black students.

“These schools have enhanced the quality of life in Chicago for countless students and families and have become a hub of community in neighborhoods across the city. They have also helped make Chicago Public Schools an attractive option for parents who might otherwise seek greener pastures beyond the city limits. The Board of Education should think carefully before dismantling these prime civic assets.”

Voters in Evanston will see a new type of ballot in the city’s next local election that will allow them to rank candidates from highest to lowest preference. The method, called ranked choice voting, is designed to ensure that a candidate wins with a majority of voters. It also attempts to solve the conflict posed by third-party spoiler candidates.

Johnson said during his campaign that “a Johnson administration would not end selective enrollment at CPS schools.” Now, his board of education is pushing forward a plan to end selective enrollment and force students to attend their neighborhood schools.

Kwame Opam now deputy managing editor for news at the Sun-Times and and previously the strategy and operations deputy for the breaking news teams at The New York Times: “I’ve been inculcated in the profession’s articles of faith. believe in comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable, telling truth to power, and finding beauty and relief in a good yarn…. I’m lucky. Seriously, I can’t tell you how lucky I am. I’m up to my ears in good writing about Chicago and surrounded by journalists committed to telling its story every day.

Under a new law in 2024, nearly all workers in the state of Illinois will officially be guaranteed at least one week of paid leave, but things are different for those who live in Chicago and Cook County.

“The Chicago Department of Public Health has a team dedicated to detecting and responding to reportable communicable diseases in shelters and other congregate settings. Cases of varicella have been reported in new arrivals, and in response the team has consulted with shelter managers and other facilities to provide infection control guidance,” the statement said.

In the past decade, the private Illinois school has created nearly 400 new administrative and support staff positions while also adopting a policy to hire more “diverse” staff. Meanwhile, its student enrollment numbers remained relatively stagnant.

“Nothing illustrates the perversity of the ‘equity’ agenda and its hostility toward the exceptional and exemplary quite like progressive officials’ efforts to cut overachievers down to size for the imagined benefit of everyone else. Chicago’s chief social engineer, Mayor Brandon Johnson, is only the latest to join that crusade.”

A city ordinance that passed on Wednesday allows for Johnson to impound and tow buses that don’t deliver asylum seekers to designated “landing zones.” Johnson said the ordinance is in response to actions at the U.S. southern border.

A LaSalle Street office landlord seeking taxpayer help converting part of its building into apartments has taken a step toward doing it without city subsidies or affordable units, a sign of impatience with the city’s LaSalle Street Reimagined initiative while Mayor Brandon Johnson waffles over his support for the program. A joint venture of Corebridge Financial and Chicago developer Golub is seeking permission to convert part of the office building at 30 N. LaSalle St. into 349 apartments, according to a zoning application introduced

The Chicago Association of Realtors reported that 5,352 city homes were listed for sale as of Dec. 2. That’s down nearly 25% from the same time a year ago and the lowest figure in the association’s records, which go back to January 2007.

As university presidents across the country face criticism over comments and responses following the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks in Israel, University of Chicago President Paul Alivisatos has largely stayed out of the public fray. Alivisatos did not issue a school statement or offer public comment following the attacks — a standstill tactic that has landed other leaders in hot water — but instead leaned on the school’s practice of institutional neutrality, often referred to as the “Chicago Principles.”

The turnover at the top of World Business Chicago highlights the growing chasm between the mayor and business leaders who are growing increasingly concerned that the city isn’t on the right track when it comes to economic development — an activity that should be Job No. 1 for any mayor, even this one.

The head of communications and the chief audience officer at Chicago Public Media announced today they are stepping down. The announcement of Berger and LeCompte’s departure comes a week after Chicago Public Media CEO Matt Moog announced he would be stepping down to “return to his roots as a tech entrepreneur.” After Moog announced he would leave after CPM finds a new CEO, it was revealed that union leadership at both the Chicago Sun-Times and WBEZ, which are owned by Chicago Public Media, sought an investigation into allegations of a “hostile

The Chicago Teachers Union made another move to silence its critics after the House of Delegates voted in favor of the “Resolution to

“Teachers,” he says, “make your classroom LGTBQ+ inclusive from the very first day. This is tip No. 8.”

The delegates voted overwhelmingly in support of a letter demanding a Ceasefire in Israel’s assault on Gaza.

President Barack Obama granted executive clemency to more than 1,900 federal prisoners, a record. Jesse Webster made the most of his freedom. Three others are back in jail.

Burke: “Well, maybe if they don’t have any access to the property because the driveway isn’t legal, they might get the message.”

The city of Chicago is adding impoundment to its list of penalties on buses carrying migrants into the city that don’t obey set rules on where and when to drop them off.

It’s rare that the City Council would make changes to an ordinance so soon after it was approved, but the amendments reflect the concerns expressed by moderate members of the Council and the Black Caucus’ efforts to not severely impact small businesses in their wards.

Liberal lawmakers in Chicago are furious with how Democratic Mayor Brandon Johnson has responded to tens of thousands of immigrants who have descended on the city after illegally crossing the border and are calling for the resignations of more than half a dozen city officials.

John Busch, Chicago-based tech entrepreneur and former fellow at World Business Chicago: First, we must realize as a business and civic community that we are involved in competition. The biggest winners of this trend are not stakeholder groups in Chicago, but the other cities vying for our momentum in Indianapolis, Columbus, Nashville, Austin and Miami. Second, all the city’s stakeholder groups exist within the same ecosystem.

The fund and its trustees decided to invest in private credit following results of a study spurred by changing expectations for returns from higher interest rates and inflation, Fernando Vinzons, chief investment officer for the Chicago Teachers’ Pension Fund, said in an emailed statement Monday. The future allocation, with no exact deadline, of $300 million to $350 million will represent about 3% of the fund’s assets.

213 W. Institute Place, a vintage seven-story loft office building in River North just sold for 61% less than was paid for the building in 2017. It’s another data point illustrating the decimated value of office buildings as companies shedding office space have driven up vacancy and as higher borrowing costs have whittled the pool of prospective buyers. Many office properties in the heart of the city are now worth less than the mortgages tied to them, fueling a historic wave of distress.

Mark Tebbe, who has led WBC’s efforts to attract and retain startup and technology companies since 2014, plans to step down as chair of its innovation and technology council by mid-May. “I don’t see the focus on the business community that I have seen with other mayors,” said Tebbe, who has worked for three Chicago mayors during his tenure at World Business Chicago in an unpaid role. “The behind-the-scenes work to make (economic development) happen just hasn’t been demonstrated.”

Ald. Jeanette Taylor, 20th, responded “absolutely not” on Monday when asked if she regrets any of the her comments last week. Then, she said, “I felt like we’re not ready and it’s showing out in the wash…. We’re pretending like now we got the power, let us show you how it’s supposed to be done, and we look real stupid right now…. We were not ready because we haven’t been in government long enough to know how the government really runs. . . .You still have daddy Daley’s people still in these committees, still in these departments, so we’ve got

“American Airlines and United Airlines want Chicago O’Hare’s expansion that they signed off on in 2018 slowed down – or stopped – as the project runs $1.5 billion over budget. Somehow the carriers are surprised that a massive public infrastructure project, in Chicago no less, is spending far more than originally projected? And in fact it’s only just the ‘next phase’ where a 24% projected cost overrun totals $1.5 billion more than expected. That’s before construction on the new terminal even starts! The project’s total cost has grown from $8.7 billion to a projected $12.1 billion. So

Hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters marched through the streets of downtown Chicago on Saturday afternoon. The demonstration was organized by the U.S. Palestinian Community Network and the Chicago Coalition for Justice in Palestine.

Special prosecutors Maria McCarthy and Fabio Valenti recently stood before Will County Judge Donald Carlson arguing that their client, former Chicago Police Detective Kriston Kato, was the victim of a renegade, utterly illegal institution created by one of the most corrupt state legislatures in the country. The attorneys argued in a motion that a state agency created in 2009, the Illinois Torture Inquiry and Relief Commission (TIRC), was an unconstitutional infringement on the judiciary, an argument that, if embraced by the courts, could have far reaching impact on Illinois.

“Laws need to be enforced at the border,” Jackson said, and “more resources” are required for cities like Chicago. Meanwhile, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson had a novel approach to accepting responsibility for the crisis. He didn’t. Instead, he blamed “right-wing extremists” who want to “bring slavery back” and “refuse to accept the outcome of the Civil War.”

A federal law enforcement agency and Chicago’s inspector general are looking into the process by which Bally’s won the Chicago casino license, according to people familiar with the matter. Sources, including one who has been interviewed in the matter, say a second, parallel inquiry is being conducted by Chicago Inspector General Deborah Witzburg.

Dozens of south suburban residents are furious and say they may lose their homes. “I’m leaving, I’m gone and going to Indiana,” said Louise Markasovic, whose assessment went up 41 percent.

Johnson: “Everyone knows that the right-wing extremism in this country has targetted Democratically-ran cities and quite frankly, they’ve been very intentional about going after Democratically-ran cities that are led by people of color…. They’re still mad that a black man is free in this country. This is nothing new.”

Margarito Flores developed a U.S. delivery platform for drugs. Now he advises police officers on dismantling gangs that operate like criminal versions of Amazon.

‘What we’ve seen is a very raggedy form of right-wing extremism,’ the woke Mayor said. ‘Everyone knows that the right-wing extremism in this country has targeted democratically run cities and quite frankly and they have been quite intentional about going after democratically ran cities that are led by people of color.’

While the city has made some important progress on the expenditure side, the new mayor’s first budget didn’t make similar strides on the revenue side, according to Fitch Ratings, which upgraded Chicago’s general obligation debt to BBB-plus from BBB in October. For example, the budget didn’t include raising the property tax levy to account for inflation, which had been included under the previous administration. Fitch’s upgrade, which didn’t hinge on passage of the budget, cited “a decline in the city’s long-term liability burden stemming from steady growth in the economic resource base and improved debt management practices,” including making advance

Nearly 200 Black and Latino students at Evanston Township High School signed up this year for math classes and a writing seminar intended for students of the same race, taught by a teacher of color. These optional so-called affinity classes are designed to address the achievement gap by making students feel more comfortable in class, district leaders have said, particularly in Advanced Placement courses that historically have enrolled few Black and Latino students.

Escalating tensions over the war between Israel and Hamas are disrupting the city and dividing Democrats as they prepare to show unity in nominating the president to a second term next summer. Illinois’ congressional delegation is divided, too. All but two members <a class=" js-tealium-tracking " href="https://clerk.house.gov/Votes/2023528" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-tracking="mpos=&mid=&lindex=&lcol=" aria-label="supported a resolution on Israel’s right to defend

“If we have interest earned to help balance the budget, I don’t know why we’re not doing that,” Lenert said. The budget already planned for the use of about $10 million of savings before deciding to forego the tax hike. Both decisions go against the advice of Kane County CFO Kathy Hopkinson and a policy the board adopted earlier in the year to either cut spending or find new revenue sources to balance the budget.

According to the Illinois Report Card, Dyett, Goode, Curie and Prosser have chronic absentee rates of 70%, 49%, 69% and 64%, respectively. Even prestigious schools like Northside College Prep and Payton College Prep have unacceptable chronic absenteeism of 25%.

A venture led by Antheus Capital, a major South Side multifamily owner, earlier this month paid $59 million for Aspire Residences, a 24-story, 275-unit high-rise at 2111 S. Wabash Ave. that opened in 2020, according to Cook County property records. Draper & Kramer took out a $69 million construction loan to build the apartment complex, Crain’s reported in 2019.

“The owner of the building at 111 W. Jackson Blvd. defaulted on its $105 million mortgage tied to the property by failing to make loan payments since May…. It’s another addition to the long list of downtown office buildings poised to be seized by lenders as weak demand for offices and a surge in borrowing costs have pummeled property values.”

Glencoe property taxpayers will see a 5.7% rate hike. Over in Wilmette, the property tax levy is set to go up 2.94%. According to New Trier High School Associate Superintendent Christopher Johnson said existing property taxpayers would face a 5% increase. He said he has not calculated the impact for individual property owners but added the high school represents approximately a quarter of the overall property tax bill throughout New Trier Township.

So it was somewhat reassuring to see Gov. J.B. Pritzker step in with promises of significant aid to prop up Mayor Brandon Johnson’s haphazard handling of this human tide.

“They try to convince us you can turn life insurance into an investment instead of just insurance, but in the end, you get both subpar insurance and subpar investments.” The premiums are expensive, and the cost of whole life insurance tends to be much higher than term life insurance .So why would the CTU send out an email that would only benefit 1 percent of its members? Contributions to CTU’s PAC, apparently.

Many of the desks at Chicago Academy High School sat empty during the last period of classes Thursday, as about 250 students — half of the student body — walked out to demand a cease-fire in solidarity with the children of Gaza. Palestinian American pupils organized the Chicago Public Schools-sanctioned walkout, leading chants as students marched around the predominantly Latinx school in Dunning on the Northwest Side before returning for the last 30 minutes of classes.

Samir Mayekar, managing director of the Polsky Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship at the University of Chicago: “We are living in an era of transformative public investment in research and industrial policy that can further position Chicago as our country’s hub for scientific breakthroughs. So let’s keep going — together.”

A pro-Palestinian protest at Democratic Party headquarters in Washington, D.C., that turned violent is sending a jolt through political circles in Chicago, which plans to host the party’s presidential nominating convention this summer.

The Tax Foundation, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit policy group, released its annual State Business Tax Climate Index report last month. Rather than focusing strictly on how much states levy, the report aims to evaluate how well tax systems are year, Illinois received its lowest index score in the last 10 years. It dropped to No. 37 in the national rankings

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson only has a 28% approval rating, according to an Illinois Policy Institute poll of 800 registered Chicago voters conducted by Echelon Insights.

A vertical shopping mall in the center of Chicago’s Loop business district is for sale, a move that puts a high-profile retail property on the market during a slowdown in sales throughout the country.

Midwestern Jews and allies traveled to Chicago from Iowa, Missouri, Minnesota, Michigan, Indiana, Wisconsin and Illinois for the demonstration, organizers said.

A victory for Chicago workers could spell trouble for Chicago employers. Many of them say this new ordinance will kill their small business.

“The 121 restaurateurs who signed this op-ed have invested in the city of Chicago, financially and emotionally, over many years. We ask for a government that manages with a scalpel instead of a sledgehammer. We ask for nuanced and balanced decision-making. We ask for a proposal that allows operators a chance to cure any honest mistakes without the threat of a lawsuit. We ask for more time and for a true economic study with the new PTO ordinance. We ask for a thoughtful pause from

if all goes right, it could become a new hub of Lake Michigan shoreline living, with expensive rentals for either short-term use or long-time living, a restaurant scene and a train ride to Chicago that makes driving over the Skyway and through Gary a thing of the past. If all goes as planned, “Michigan City is going to be so cool,” says Joe Farina, a restaurateur who has venues in the South Loop and Oak Park and last year opened Cafe Farina on Franklin Street in Michigan City.

Operators say that, eventually, they will raise menu prices to find the additional funds needed to pay staffers more. Restaurant owners are not liking the arithmetic, as they try to retain employees and keep rising menu prices — which rarely come back down — from scaring off customers.

Comment: CORE is the ruling faction of the Chicago Teachers Union and advocates for use of pension funds for social purposes.

Chicago Teachers Union President Stacy Davis Gates owns a property in Indiana and receives a property tax deduction reserved for owners who actually occupy their homes, according to public records obtained by the Illinois Policy Institute. Davis Gates would pay four times more in Indiana property taxes if she didn’t take the homestead deduction.

The delegates voted overwhelmingly in support of a letter demanding a Ceasefire in Israel’s assault on Gaza. VP Jackson Potter said in his report that Illinois is on the verge to be the first state in the nation to beat back vouchers. The Invest in Kids Illinois voucher scheme is set to sunset at the end of the year and Potter believes they have the votes to make sure it disappears.

Members of the City Council’s Black Caucus on Saturday called for Mayor Brandon Johnson’s floor leader to resign his post after allegedly trying to physically restrain an alderperson from entering the City Hall chamber during a chaotic Council meeting last week.

Alderman Raymond Lopez called the opposition to the vote “despicable,” while Alderman Carlos Ramirez-Rosa said Chicago’s sanctuary status had nothing to do with illegal immigrants flocking to the city, which is a dubious claim, to say the least. Ramirez-Rosa said the council members who wanted a citywide referendum wanted “chaos” and “demagoguery” and “that’s what we got.”

Thousands from all over the country are heading to Washington, D.C., for what is expected to be the largest demonstration since the start of the Israel-Hamas War – including dozens who boarded buses Friday night in Chicago.

“Just amazing,” said Strautmanis, a former Obama White House aide who hadn’t seen the view before. He said his mission is for the center to fit the Obamas’ brand. “The Obamas are special,” he said. “They’re important. They’re iconic. But at the end of the day, they’re two people who decided that they want to participate in creating civic change, and anybody can do that.”

The meeting will be remembered as one of the City Council’s most chaotic since the infamous Council Wars of the 1980s. It doubled as a message that a growing number of City Council members are frustrated over the city’s handling of providing shelter for the 20,000 asylum seekers who’ve arrived in Chicago since last August. Lopez described the meeting as a “shitshow.”

While the body count was still being tallied, BLM groups in Los Angeles, Chicago and Washington issued statements supporting Hamas’s tactics. BLM Chicago tweeted an image of a Hamas paraglider with a Palestinian flag attached to his parachute and the caption “I stand with Palestine.” What’s shocking isn’t the rhetoric of BLM leaders in the aftermath of Oct. 7 but that so many people who ought

As Chicago’s downtown business district struggles under a post-pandemic malaise, President Joe Biden announced a slate of federal resources this week for developers and cities to speed up commercial-to-residential conversions. The White House initiative will open up funding from the Department of Transportation to finance residential development near public transit and facilitate transit agencies’ ability to transfer their properties to local governments or developers of affordable housing, according to a release.

For the fourth month in a row, home prices grew faster in Chicago than in any other major U.S. city, according to a national index of August home prices. In August, home prices in the Chicago area were up 5% from the same time a year earlier. While it’s more evidence of the Chicago housing market’s resilience during the recent nationwide slowdown under the weight of rising interest rates, there’s also data in the report that shows Chicago-area home values lag well behind most big cities in

Related Midwest plans to break ground by the end of the year on the first of two residential skyscrapers on the Chicago Spire site, a long-awaited step forward for a project that stands to dramatically change the city’s lakefront skyline. The developer disclosed plans to begin work in 45 days on a 72-story apartment tower at 400 N. Lake Shore Drive.

Thousands of demonstrators came together in Chicago’s Loop Saturday for a rally in support of Palestine. Many could be heard shouting “free free Palestine” as they called for a ceasefire in the war with Israel.

The building is zoned for a neighborhood commercial district, which does not allow for the operation of a temporary or transitional shelter without special use approval, according to zoning law. The city has not issued any such permit through the Zoning Board of Appeals, according to the lawsuit. Because the Johnson administration has not gone through the standard city review process, which includes holding a community meeting and an option to testify in front of a city board, the city has “deprived” neighbors of their legal rights to give input on the shelter, according

Over the past month, a series of NBC 5 Investigates reports exposed how the Kansas-based company has been paid more than $56 million within the past year and has routinely billed the city at 84 hours a week – including overtime – for most of its employees who worked at migrant shelters spread across Chicago.

Chicago institutions are borrowing more than $1 billion this week, helped by Wall Street’s improved outlook on the city and a bright spot in a bleak year for the municipal bond market.

Among other interesting facts, Chicago police are making just 30% of the number of vehicle stops than before, and vehicle stops were the primary way guns were confiscated.

Chicago earned an upgrade from Fitch Ratings Thursday thanks to the city’s improving economy and declining long-term debt burden.

But when Snelling begins his first departmental budget defense in the Budget Committee on Tuesday, members of the City Council will not know the exact dollar amount needed to cover CPD personnel in 2024. That’s because Johnson’s tentative deal with the city’s largest police union includes pay increases in 2024 beyond what Johnson’s $16.6 billion budget proposal accounts for.

The Windy City continues to buckle under the weight of new arrivals, testing the empathy of residents and leaders alike. “This is really a federal responsibility,” says Chicago’s deputy mayor of migrant rights. “It isn’t fair to put it on cities.”

The overall police budget actually increases from $1.9 to $1.99 billion. The budget is aspirational.To fulfill the new budgeted positions, the department would have to hire about 1,700 officers and staff by next year.

As Chicago studies whether to become the first big city to open a municipally-owned grocery store, it will be looking to places like this city of 1,000 people for tips on how to do it. At the moment, things aren’t going especially well.

If passed, Bring Chicago Home would increase the tax rate buyers pay on property sales over $1 million, with the additional funds dedicated to providing permanent affordable housing and wraparound services for unhoused Chicagoans.

“Our chapters believe that bird conservation should center birds and collaboration rather than celebrate a historical figure that is aligned with systemic racism,” said Judy Pollock, president of the Chicago organization. “We are happy to be part of a new group of chapters using this name.”

Evanston landlords launched a broad attack Tuesday night on proposed landlord tenant ordinance revisions they say would make it nearly impossible to evict disruptive tenants. The new rules would sharply restrict the right of landlords to not renew a lease at the end of its one-year term.

Federal assistance to Cook County residents affected by the June 29 – July 2 severe storms and flooding has topped $304 million. This amount includes FEMA grants of more than $235 million in Individual and Households grants for rental assistance, repair and replacement funding, and other needs grants that help replace personal property and provide storage and childcare payments. Comment: So much for that $4 billion deep tunnel system that was supposed to end routine flooding in Cook County.

Dr. Mika Tosca, a climate scientist and associate professor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC), issued an apology on her Instagram Wednesday for her incendiary post amid the Israel-Hamas war. “Israelis are pigs. Savages,” Tosca wrote earlier. “Very bad people. Irredeemable excrement.”

In July, Ald. Mike Rodriguez, 22nd, introduced an ordinance that would mandate employers in the city provide their full-time employees with 15 days off without differentiating between sick days and vacation time. The ordinance also allowed unlimited days to be carried over each year and did not require workers to provide documentation for medical issues to be excused from work.

“A recent Crain’s editorial, ‘A pass-the-popcorn moment for Chicagoans’ (Oct. 2), presents a misguided narrative on my concerns about the film ‘Dumb Money’ and the future of Chicago. Let’s start with the film. My team identified some glaring factual inaccuracies in a trailer promoting ‘Dumb Money’ and raised those with the studio. As I told CNBC a few weeks ago, I haven’t seen the film, but I look forward to watching it. I hope the studio produced a great movie and that it offers important lessons for

The Chicago-area housing market was the most affordable among the 10 largest metropolitan areas. That meant relatively stronger housing demand and the third-highest annual increase in home values.

Mr. Johnson has been eager to turn Chicago into a vanguard of the progressive left. Is apologizing for murdering children supposed to be part of this new political morality?

While moving retail out of more than half the 818,000-square-foot retail portion of Water Tower Place would be a tectonic shift at Chicago’s original high-rise mall, which opened in 1975, it’s certainly not a surprise. In the past three and half years, COVID shutdowns and organized retail theft by smash-and-grab teams have battered North Michigan Avenue and other shopping districts.

Thousands of people took to the streets Saturday afternoon at a rally in downtown Chicago to show support for the Palestinian people amid a growing humanitarian crisis spurred by war between Israel and Hamas. The demonstration stretched for blocks as it made its way down Michigan Avenue,

There is a humanitarian crisis developing in Chicago. As temperatures drop into the 40s, thousands of migrants have been unable to find room indoors to sleep and are forced to camp outside — sometimes with no tents and no blankets. Chicago’s Mayor Brandon Johnson had been promising “winterized” tents to shelter the thousands of migrants who are sleeping in police stations and makeshift shelters around the city. So far, nothing. And time is running out.

Wind and rain have descended on Chicago at the same time as unprecedented numbers of migrants from the southern border. But now there is less space than ever and city officials have no concrete plan moving forward on the prospect of winterized base camps, raising alarm from experts about a looming humanitarian disaster.

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson is counting on tourists and residents spending more to have fun, take ride shares and stay in hotels to help plug a half-billion-dollar deficit in next year’s budget.

“We are well aware that $150 million will not cover the expenses for the entire year … We’re going to ask the state of Illinois to step up in the same way that New York state has and help reimburse about half of the costs the city incurs, as well as operate its own shelters,” Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35^th) told the Chicago Sun-Times.

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson presented his first budget to other city leaders on Oct. 11. While he kept his promise not to raise property taxes, there are other fiscal challenges that will hit taxpayers hard in the future and need to be addressed now.

Their efforts left only one biological female on the podium for the Single Speed race — Allison Zmuda.

Supporters of the Palestinians were at City Hall protesting against the measure, calling it “Anti-Palestinian.” They had planned to “flood city hall” with hopes of blocking the show of support to Israel.

Johnson’s plan to close a $538 million budget deficit relies heavily on an increase of $187 million more in revenue projections over what the city projected when it put out its budget forecast just a month ago.

Menu prices will increase, service charges will become more common, service itself could deteriorate and some of the city’s most vulnerable restaurants could move or even close.

The village board voted 4-3 in August 2021 the remove the previous patch over its “thin blue line” imagery. During several board meetings and hours of public comment, along with protests and counter-protests outside village hall, critics of the patch said the imagery had been co-opted by extremist groups and its use was intimidating to people of color.