The Chicago Treasurer and Department of Finance aren’t fully taking advantage of city rules meant to crack down on inequitable lending, Chicago Inspector General Joseph Ferguson found in a report. [Heather Cherone/The Daily Line]

City finance officials don’t take banks’ lending patterns into account when investigating whether they’re worthy of holding the city’s assets, ignoring one of the city’s only tools to fight endemic racism in the banking industry, a city watchdog found in a report published Tuesday.

A pilot program underway this week will send mental health professionals to accompany police on answering some 911 calls. [Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago]

Chicago health officials are set to roll out more details Wednesday on their long-awaited “co-responder” pilot program, which on Monday began dispatching mental health professionals to answer some 911 calls.

Chicago Budget Director Susie Park briefed aldermen on the city’s 2021 year-end balance sheet on Monday.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s top financial officials stood firm on Monday amid prodding from aldermen over their plan to use hundreds of millions in federal rescue dollars to unwind a risky pandemic-era financial maneuver instead of plowing it all into social and economic programs.

Chicago Budget Director Susie Park speaking during a budget engagement forum on Aug. 12

The City Council’s 2022 budget season is set to kick into a new gear on Monday, when city finance officials brief aldermen on this year’s balance sheet and kick off a discussion on how to fund the Chicago Police Department during the next year.

Workers prepare to install a water main in West Englewood. [Jamie Nesbitt Golden/Block Club Chicago]

Chicago would codify a ban on residential water shutoffs, expand its affordable water bill payment program and head off any future privatization of its water system under a proposal set for preliminary consideration by a City Council committee on Friday.

A rendering of Glenstar’s proposal to build a 297-unit apartment complex near the Cumberland CTA Blue Line station [Department of Planning and Development]

A long-brewing plan to build nearly 300 new apartments near the Cumblerland CTA Blue Line station is set to face a key vote on Thursday, setting up a test of whether city planning officials, developers, interest groups and affordable housing organizers can overcome the opposition of the neighborhood’s alderman.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced a vaccine mandate for city workers, but some of the city's largest labor unions are resisting. And the city's mental health emergency response system is set to launch Monday.

Ald. David Moore (17) (left) and attorney Colette Holt. As vice chair of the Committee on Contracting Oversight and Equity, Moore became acting chair upon Ald. Carrie Austin’s (34) resignation from the role.

Ald. David Moore (17) presided on Tuesday over an informational meeting of the City Council Committee on Contracting Oversight and Equity, saying he was leading in his capacity as committee vice chair because chair Ald. Carrie Austin (34) was “not available at this time” to lead the discussion of the city’s construction contracting rules.

But by the end of the meeting, Moore was promoted to the committee’s acting chair.

City officials may not directly raise money to pay off legal fees or else risk crossing the city’s ethics ordinance, a city board ruled Tuesday. [Stock]

City officials and employees are not allowed to directly raise money to pay off legal expenses unless the help is coming from “relatives or personal friends,” a city board ruled in an advisory opinion issued Tuesday.

Ald. Carrie Austin (34) in 2019. Austin is set to preside over a meeting of the City Council Committee on Contracting Oversight and Equity for the first time since she was indicted last month. [Heather Cherone/The Daily Line]

Aldermen are set on Monday to consider a proposal that would expand the city’s roster of registered minority-owned and women-owned construction businesses, allowing a wider range of firms to benefit from an evolving set of rules designed to prevent white-owned builders from dominating contracts with the city.

An Aug. 4 draft map of new Cook County commissioner districts (left) and the county’s “map room” [Alex Nitkin/The Daily Line]

The scramble to redraw Cook County’s 17 commissioner districts pushed closer to completion on Friday, as commissioners digested new block-level U.S. Census data that will help reshape their constituencies for the next decade. But the numbers added a fresh dose of uncertainty to the future of the county’s political landscape, especially in the county’s south suburbs, north shore suburbs and on Chicago’s Near Northwest Side.

Cook County Health CEO Israel Rocha speaking at a vaccination event in March

The sprawling Cook County Health system will grow its budget by more than $500 million next year in anticipation of expanding safety net insurance coverage and a hiring spree for nurses and mental health staff under a budget plan being rolled out by county leaders this month.

Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi speaking during a property tax forum in Pilsen on Monday [Maurico Peña/Block Club Chicago]

Local leaders and community groups in Pilsen are rushing to help landlords dispute a fresh round of property valuations they fear could set off a wave of tax hikes and displacement as a crucial deadline nears.

Businesses across the county have faced far sharper property tax hikes than homeowners have in recent years, according to a new report. [Cook County Treasurer]

Businesses and apartment buildings grew their share of Cook County’s property tax burden this year, especially in the parts of the county where property owners can least afford tax hikes, according to a report published by county Treasurer Maria Pappas on Tuesday.

Amanda Pyron [left], executive director of the Network Advocating Against Domestic Violence, and Stephanie Love-Patterson, executive director of Connections for Abused Women and their Children, speaking during a July 29 Cook County Board of Commissioners meeting

Leaders of Cook County’s multibillion-dollar court system are scrambling to expand access to domestic violence courtrooms amid mounting pressure from commissioners and complaints by advocacy groups that abused women and their families are being left in the lurch.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Ald. Jason Ervin (28) cut the ribbon on a new roller rink in West Garfield Park as part of an initiative to fight crime with youth activities and economic development.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Chicago police leaders hosted a ribbon-cutting event on Friday for a new publicly backed roller rink in West Garfield Park, spotlighting a novel strategy they hope to use to wrest control of the highest-crime corridors in the city.

City planning officials hope to sell this 26-space parking lot at 3840 N. Lincoln Ave. to a private developer. [The Daily Line/Alex Nitkin]

City planning and budget officials are hoping to raise at least $10 million by selling off a crop of city-owned parking lots in Lakeview, North Center, Lincoln Square and Portage Park to private developers.

The Cook County Board of Commissioners held its first all-in-person meeting of 2021 on Thursday. [Alex Nitkin/The Daily Line]

Cook County Chief Judge Timothy Evans’ office isn’t moving fast enough to accommodate a surge of women seeking legal protection from their domestic abusers, multiple county commissioners said during a meeting on Thursday.

Cook County Comm. Larry Suffredin (D-13) speaking during a meeting of the Cook County Board of Commissioners Finance Committee on Wednesday

The Cook County Board of Commissioners is poised on Thursday to delay the next property tax deadline until October and approve a framework for spending the county’s first round of American Rescue Plan dollars, among dozens of other measures, during the board’s last scheduled meeting until September.