Attorney Frank Avellone of the Lawyers’ Committee for Better Housing (left) and lobbyist Tom Benedetto of the Chicagoland Apartment Association sparred during a Friday committee meeting over the Just Cause Eviction ordinance.

The Just Cause Eviction ordinance would bring to Chicago a badly needed set of rules already working in other cities to protect vulnerable families from displacement — or it would crush property owners with burdensome fees and restrictions, driving them out of the city.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot is set to introduce her 2022 budget proposal on Monday. [Don Vincent/The Daily Line] 

Mayor Lori Lightfoot is set to unveil her 2022 spending plan Monday, about one month earlier than the city’s typical budget schedule, amid calls for the city to pump directly into communities nearly $1.9 billion in federal pandemic-related grant money.

Aldermen on Friday re-referred three proposals related to public safety that had been temporarily banished to the council’s Committee on Committees and Rules. And the City Council Committee on Ethics and Government Oversight advanced the nominations of two members of a search committee tasked with finding the city’s next inspector general.

The Chicago Plan Commission unanimously approved plans for a 282-unit residential building proposed for 160 N. Morgan St.

A 282-unit Near West Side residential building approved by the Chicago Plan Commission on Thursday would be the first major development required to meet the demands of the city’s new Affordable Requirements Ordinance, officials said. 

Members of the Chicago Housing Justice League held a rally and marched to Ald. Harry Osterman’s (48) office last month to demand a hearing on the Just Cause Eviction ordinance. [Chicago Housing Justice League]

The chair of the City Council’s housing committee will make good Friday on a year-old promise to bring a sweeping eviction crackdown up for discussion — but the measure faces long odds in its current form.

Cara Hendrickson (left) and Walter Katz are set for appointment to a search committee charged with finding Chicago’s next inspector general. [Arnold Ventures/Business and Professional People for the Public Interest]

The delayed process of finding a successor to departing Inspector General Joseph Ferguson is set to kick into higher gear on Friday, as aldermen vet two candidates for a search committee charged with finding a new leader for the watchdog office.

Ald. Andre Vasquez (40) submitted a 229-page budget appropriation proposal that would hike fines for health and building code violations to pay for more mental health and homelessness services. [Alex V. Hernandez/Block Club Chicago]

Chicago’s budget process unfolds along the same lines every year: the mayor comes out with a top-to-bottom spending plan for the next year and aldermen push for tweaks, ultimately deciding whether to register dissent when it comes up for a final vote.

This year, one member of the City Council is trying to upend that routine.

Rush University Medical Center is proposing to build a new five-story inpatient hospital building in the 28th Ward. 

Two Chicago hospitals are seeking approval from the city to add new medical buildings to their campuses. 

Ald. Jim Gardiner (45) paces at a City Council meeting on Sept. 14, 2021. [Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago]

The Board of Ethics voted unanimously Monday to issue a “notice of probable cause” that a city official matching the circumstances of Ald. Jim Gardiner (45) violated anti-retaliation rules in the city’s ethics code and should undergo a “full factual investigation” by the city’s inspector general.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot speaking during a news conference after Tuesday's City Council meeting [Alex Nitkin/The Daily Line]

The City Council voted on Tuesday to approve a collective bargaining agreement with the Chicago Police Department’s rank-and-file employees, ending the union’s four-year absence of a contract. 

Mapmaking consultant Peter Creticos presents the most recent draft of the county’s new district map during a Redistricting Committee on Tuesday [Alex Nitkin/The Daily Line]

The Cook County Board of Commissioners has one more week to keep tweaking its once-in-a-decade remap of district boundaries. But to hear commissioners tell it, the job is all but finished.

Finance committee chair Ald. Scott Waguespack (32) and Ald. Patrick Daley Thompson during a committee meeting on Monday

Aldermen punted Monday on a proposal to award damages to a man who was shot three times by a Chicago Police officer, shelving the settlement after an intense debate over the merits of the case, the city’s record of fighting lawsuits and whether discussions of police misconduct should be shielded from public view.

Cannabis dispensaries would be allowed to open across most of Downtown under an ordinance set for consideration by the City Council during its Tuesday meeting.

The City Council is scheduled to vote during its meeting on Tuesday to loosen regulations for cannabis dispensaries and approve a $600 million, eight-year contract with the city’s rank-and-file police union, among dozens of other measures.

Cook County Comm. Sean Morrison (R-17) and the most recent draft of Cook County’s redrawn district boundaries

After state lawmakers chopped up the only all-suburban Cook County Board of Review district earlier this year, politically dismembering the county’s Republican voting base, Cook County Comm. Sean Morrison (R-17) braced for a fight.

The City Council overwhelmingly voted to install Ald. Jason Ervin (28) to the chairmanship vacated by indicted Ald. Carrie Austin (34). And two powerful aldermen moved to delay Chicago Inspector General Joseph Ferguson’s departure after he warned city leaders they’re not moving fast enough to pick his replacement.