City officials hope a new ordinance partnering with the Cook County Land Bank Authority will help speed efforts to rehab long-vacant and neglected properties. [Eric Allix Rogers on Flickr]

A proposal that would empower city housing and planning officials to work with county officials to reclaim and rehab long-abandoned properties is set for a vote in the City Council Committee on Housing and Real Estate Tuesday. The committee is also set during the 10 a.m. meeting to approve a city-backed loan for an Englewood affordable housing complex and the sale of an Austin city-owned lot to a neighboring church.

A map and timeline of road construction projects planned as part of the Elgin O’Hare West Access Project [Illinois Tollway Authority]

A $3.4 billion plan to open western highway access to O’Hare International Airport is set to vault forward on Monday as aldermen weigh a land transfer deal that would allow the Illinois Tollway Authority to begin construction on a new roadway along the outer edge of the airport.

A group of aldermen penned a letter on Friday demanding the city commit to not disciplining police officers who remain unvaccinated by a Monday deadline. And nearly 8,000 derelict properties were scooped up in the biennial Cook County Scavenger Sale.

Sen. Dave Syverson (R-Rockford) speaks during a news conference on Thursday surrounded by his GOP Senate colleagues. [Blue Room Stream]

A group of Republican senators is looking to one-up Gov. JB Pritzker on his plan to stall a gas hike with an alternative pitch they say would save consumers more at the pump without risking state revenues. Meanwhile, Senate Democrats are pushing bills through the legislature designed to wean the state off gasoline in the long run and are promising to “explore” more short-term relief in the meantime.

Police misconduct claims cost Chicago taxpayers more than $40 million in 2020, a tally that is likely to more than double for 2022, city records show. [Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago]

Chicago taxpayers shelled out more than $40 million in 2020 for plaintiffs and their attorneys who alleged misconduct against the Chicago Police Department, according to a report published by the city’s law department last week. And early indications show the city’s police-related legal costs have only risen since. 

From left: Frank Avila, Rick Garcia and Cristina Nonato are running on a slate together for Metropolitan Water Reclamation District Board of Commissioners. Elizabeth Joyce is also running on the slate for a two-year term.

An ousted commissioner of the $1.2 billion agency responsible for treating Cook County’s wastewater is leading an insurgent slate of candidates to reclaim seats on its board this year, setting up a test of the Cook County Democratic Party’s power in down-ballot races. 

City officials hope a new ordinance partnering with the Cook County Land Bank Authority will help speed efforts to rehab long-vacant and neglected properties. [Eric Allix Rogers on Flickr]

Chicago housing and planning officials are asking the City Council to sign off on a plan that would let them snag long-neglected properties off the Cook County tax rolls so they can turn the lots over to rehabbers. They say the ordinance is part of a longer-running effort to lure residential investors back to neighborhoods long plagued by blight. 

Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi’s office remains under the thumb of a monitor appointed by a federal judge to keep tabs on hiring policies. [A.D. Quig/The Daily Line]

As Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi faces a tough reelection campaign this year, the incumbent was on pace to escape court oversight of his office’s hiring regime in May, setting him up to boast of a major reform milestone in the final stretch before voters go to the polls.   

But a fresh delay last week will deny him that opportunity. 

A demolition site in Bucktown [Arvell Dorsey Jr. on Flickr] 

Last month, city housing officials were trumpeting the success of an experimental policy to make demolitions more expensive in two of the city’s most rapidly gentrifying neighborhoods, saying they hoped to extend the fees and potentially replicate them in other neighborhoods.  

Weeks later, city leaders are on the verge of letting the policy sunset.  

Advocates of the demolition fee policy say they’re still working to prevent the pilot program from ending on April 1 as scheduled, and housing officials say they’re committed to keeping it alive. But landlords and real estate groups are rooting for its demise, saying the fees have choked off construction and will only hurt the city’s affordable housing efforts in the long run. 

Mayor Lori Lightfoot speaks during a news conference on Wednesday. [Alex Nitkin/The Daily Line] 

Chicagoans may be softening their pessimism on the city’s crime and other quality-of-life issues as the COVID-19 pandemic fades into a new lull, but Mayor Lori Lightfoot remains as unpopular as ever, a new Chicago Index survey found last month. 

Mayor Lori Lightfoot rolled out the beginnings of a cross-department city strategy to snuff out crime. And Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle said business leaders have been “on the sidelines” as crime has spiraled out of control. 

Then-House Speaker Mike Madigan during a floor session in 2020. [Justin Fowler/pool/SJ-R]

Former House Speaker Mike Madigan (D-Chicago) was indicted Wednesday on 22 counts of bribery, racketeering and wire fraud in the culmination of a multi-year federal corruption probe that has already ensnared multiple people in his inner circle.

The 106-page indictment handed down by U.S. Attorney John Lausch described details of an intricate "enterprise" through which Madigan used his powers as speaker and 13th Ward Democratic committeeperson to dole out personal favors to allies.

Black drivers were the targets of more than 80 percent of traffic stops that involved police use of force between 2017 and 2020, according to a new report. [stock] 

Black drivers have been the recent targets of about 68 percent of police stops and 84 percent of documented uses of force by Chicago Police officers despite comprising less than one-third of the city’s population, a city watchdog found in a report published Tuesday.  

Police responded by highlighting a number of tactics they’ve introduced to close the gap since the report’s findings were gathered, including expanding and revamping use-of-force training for officers. 

The Moody’s ratings agency delivered a positive outlook on Illinois’ economic prospects, but with plenty of caveats. And Democratic lawmakers are pushing for a bill that would expand health care services to low-income undocumented immigrants. 

The Civilian Office of Police Accountability published a summary of its work in 2021 saying it’s ramped up transparency efforts. And dozens of aldermen filed a City Council order finding a new way to punish Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.

Chicago Department of Assets, Information and Services Comm. David Reynolds speaks at the kickoff of the city’s “Chicago Works” capital plan in April 2021 [City of Chicago] 

Chicago Department of Assets, Information and Services Comm. David Reynolds will step down on Monday after nearly 11 years overseeing Chicago’s hundreds of buildings and thousands of vehicles, he announced on The Daily Line’s CloutCast podcast. He will move to the Obama Foundation, where he will oversee management of the Obama Presidential Center now under construction in Jackson Park.

Cook County Circuit Court Clerk Iris Martinez speaking to reporters after giving her “State of the Clerk’s Office” address on Dec. 1, 2021, the anniversary of her swearing-in. [Don Vincent/The Daily Line] 

Cook County Circuit Court Clerk Iris Martinez has made real progress on critical ethics and hiring reforms during her first year in office — but not enough to live up to her campaign promises or the hopes of good government advocates, according to a new report released by a trio of watchdog groups.  

Martinez’s office called the report misleading, saying her administration is doing its best to dig the office out from the dysfunction left by her predecessor. 

Mayor Lori Lightfoot touts her record of anti-poverty programs during an event on Thursday.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot released new details Thursday on the city’s hotly anticipated guaranteed income pilot program, pitching it as part of a multi-pronged anti-poverty campaign that will also include relief for domestic workers, undocumented residents and people who have accumulated car ticket debt.

A group of aldermen are proposing an ordinance that would prohibit the city from investing most of its assets from fossil fuel companies. [Maxim Tolchinskiy on Unsplash]

Chicago Treasurer Melissa Conyears-Ervin is joining a handful of aldermen to introduce a City Council ordinance on Wednesday designed to forbid the city from investing approximately $6.7 billion in assets with a list of major fossil fuel companies.  

The measure was among dozens of new ordinances and resolutions introduced to the council this week, including a new plan to give the City Council independent legal representation, a call for the city to consider loosening COVID-19 rules for people who have already been infected and an agreement advancing a plan to open west access to O’Hare Airport.