Mayor Lori Lightfoot speaks during a news conference Tuesday. [Facebook livestream]

A plan to revitalize downtown’s LaSalle Street Corridor and add virtually nonexistent affordable housing to the city’s center took one step closer to reality Tuesday as city officials unveiled three proposals as finalists to add more than 1,000 mixed-income apartments to the downtown corridor. 

Ald. Sophia King (4), chair of the City Council Progressive Caucus who ran as a mayoral candidate in the Feb. 28 election, endorsed former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas in the mayoral runoff. But a group of nine aldermen who are members of the Progressive Caucus issued a statement saying King’s endorsement doesn’t speak for the caucus. 

CPD announced two new hiring programs on Friday.

The Chicago Police Department on Friday enacted two new hiring programs meant to appeal to officers who left the department in the past few years to come back and to bring sworn officers from other law enforcement agencies to Chicago on an expedited basis. 

Joe Dunne and Ald. Gilbert Villegas (36) are two aldermanic candidates using red boxes on their websites. [Courtesy photos]

Candidates in multiple aldermanic runoffs are using red boxes on their campaign websites often used to highlight approved ad messaging to independent political action committees, a strategy that — while not explicitly banned in Illinois — some election experts say essentially skirts legal prohibitions on coordination between campaigns and outside PACs.

Joe Dunne, an affordable housing developer competing in the 48th Ward, and Ald. Gilbert Villegas (36), who is defending his City Council seat in the April runoff, both have red boxes on their websites. The boxed text includes messaging about both the candidates and their opponents. 

Copies of two mailers opposing Angela Clay paid for by Get Stuff Done PAC, left, compared with the red box on Kim Walz's website, right.

With less than two weeks until the April 4 runoff election, a candidate running for alderman in the 46th Ward has accused her opponent of using a tactic to indirectly influence ads produced by independent political committees. 

The open race to replace retiring Ald. James Cappleman (46) also intensified last week as it became the first aldermanic contest to see contribution caps blown. The ward covers Uptown and parts of Lakeview.

Sen. Bernie Sanders will be in Chicago on Thursday to rally support for Cook County Comm. Brandon Johnson (D-1) ahead of the mayoral runoff. Additionally, Arne Duncan on Friday announced his support for former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas in the April 4 runoff.  

City Council members held a news conference last week. [Erin Hegarty/The Daily Line]

A group of aldermen is pushing to hold a special City Council meeting next week to vote on changes to the council’s Rules of Order that they say would help make the legislative body more independent. But even if aldermen approve the rule changes next week, the new City Council will still have to vote on its own set of rules after being sworn in on May 15. 

The city’s health department announced a partnership with the public libraries to offer mental health services to residents. Meanwhile, the Mayor’s Office announced applications are open for the city’s youth summer jobs program.