Aldermen advanced a measure to expedite fire code enforcement at the city’s airports. Mayor Lori Lightfoot said she supports making Juneteenth an official city holiday, and she once again called on state lawmakers to pause their push to create an elected Chicago school board. And the Cook County Democratic Party’s semi-annual slating session, usually a summer affair, will take place in August this year.

José Torres [Courtesy of Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy]

This story was originally published in Chalkbeat.

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot has named José Torres, a former superintendent of the state’s second largest school district, to serve as the interim schools chief of Chicago Public Schools until a permanent replacement is hired to succeed CEO Janice Jackson.

The school district has said it aims to have a new CEO in place by Aug. 1, but extended its application window for candidates, and observers say the timeline is extremely aggressive. The interim CEO announcement signals that the mayor wants to be prepared for a lengthier stretch in between permanent top leaders.

Rep. Will Davis (D-Homewood) (left) and Rep. Michael Zalewski (D-Riverside) [Facebook]

A long-debated push by Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi to compel extra financial data from large property owners hit a wall in Springfield last month, as supporters failed to bridge their differences with a coalition of powerful business groups. 

But after a dizzying flurry of negotiations left both sides more embittered than ever, some key legislators say their patience for compromise is wearing thin. Following three consecutive failed attempts at pushing the bill to the finish line, House Revenue and Finance Committee chair Rep. Michael Zalewski (D-Riverside) said the opponents won’t be able to keep it bottled up forever.

A proposed ordinance would allow the fire commissioner to issue citations at O’Hare and Midway airports. 

Aldermen are set on Monday to consider a proposal that would give the city’s fire commissioner authority to issue fire regulation citations at the city’s airports. 

Members of the City Council Committee on Aviation are scheduled during the 10 a.m. meeting Monday to take up the proposed ordinance (O2021-2151) from Mayor Lori Lightfoot that would allow the commissioner of the Chicago Fire Department to issue citations for violations of fire regulations at both O’Hare and Midway Airports.  

Ald. Daniel La Spata (1) (left) and ComEd president Terry Donnelly during a hearing on Thursday

Chicago would be hard-pressed to find a new electric utility provider that can match the reliability, responsibility and affordability of Commonwealth Edison, leaders of the company argued during a three-hour hearing on Thursday.

But the company needs to step up its commitments if it wants to keep its monopoly over the city’s electric grid, aldermen said.

Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35) (left) and Ald. Christ Taliaferro (29). Aldermen attended briefing sessions this week on proposals for civlian oversight of the police department.

A little more than one week before they’re set to take an initial vote, aldermen were briefed on the two competing proposals for civilian oversight of the Chicago Police Department, one of which is expected to emerge as the measure the full City Council will vote on during its June 23 meeting. But it’s still unclear which will net enough votes to pass.

Chicago Public Health Comm. Allison Arwady addressed aldermen during a hearing on Thursday. 

Aldermen largely focused their questions during a Thursday subject matter hearing with public health Comm. Allison Arwady on whether the city will mandate masks and vaccinations now that it’s fully reopened. 

The city is set Friday to shed almost all of the various health and safety precautions it put in place to stop the spread of COVID-19. 

Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi appears on track to break free of a 12-year-old federal monitor, spurring allegations from Clerk Karen Yarbrough’s office of preferential treatment.

Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi’s office could be on track to shake loose a federal hiring monitor that’s dogged the office for nearly a decade, a potential breakthrough that could give Kaegi a boost ahead of a grueling reelection campaign. 

But a separate monitor spurred by attorney Michael Shakman’s 52-year-old anti-patronage lawsuit shows no signs of leaving county Clark Karen Yarbrough’s office, which came under the shadow of federal oversight last year. And a senior official in Yarbrough’s office is calling the purpose of the Shakman probe into question, saying the lawsuit has created a “cottage industry” for lawyers to squeeze money from county taxpayers. 

Joint Civic Committee of Italian Americans president Ron Onesti (left) and Ald. Nicholas Sposato (38) during a committee hearing on Wednesday

Proposals to designate October as “Italian American Heritage and Culture Month” and expand city resources for farmers markets both gained unanimous approval from aldermen on Wednesday.  

Members of the City Council Committee on Special Events, Cultural Affairs and Recreation during its Wednesday meeting did not ask questions about Ald. Nicholas Sposato’s (38) resolution (R2021-525) to designate October as “Italian American Heritage and Culture Month,” but leaders from the Italian American community spoke in favor of the measure. 

More than a dozen top executives from ComEd are expected to be on hand for a subject matter hearing set to discuss the company’s relationship with Chicago on Thursday. [Facebook/ComEd]

Representatives of Commonwealth Edison are set to withstand a grilling from aldermen during a wide-ranging hearing on Thursday as the utility giant vies to remain the city’s sole provider of electricity.

The City Council Committee on Environmental Protection and Energy is scheduled to host a subject matter at 10 a.m. Thursday to discuss ComEd’s “annual franchise report” and the company’s “summer preparedness” plans. The franchise report has not been publicly released.

The Department of Family and Support Services is working on a new mobile app to connect students with city programming for youth. And Chicago Department of Public Health Comm. Allison Arwady will face aldermen on Thursday to give an update on the state of COVID-19 in Chicago. 

Chaundra Van Dyk [left] and Madeleine Doubek of CHANGE Illinois spoke about a new independent ward remapping commission during a news conference on Tuesday. 

The work of an independent commission hoping to draw a new ward map for City Council will officially begin its work this week after leaders named members of the 13-person commission Tuesday, saying they hope to gain aldermanic support in the coming months. 

Members of CHANGE Illinois on Tuesday touted the diversity of the new commission that aims to use community input to influence the decennial task of redrawing Chicago’s ward boundaries rather than leaving it up to aldermen in a largely closed-door process. 

Ald. Nicholas Sposato (38) speaks during a Columbus Day event in October 2020. [Joint Civic Committee of Italian Americans]

Aldermen are set on Wednesday to consider designating October as “Italian American Heritage and Culture Month,” as well as tightening regulations for some farmers markets. 

The discussion on the agenda for the City Council’s Committee on Special Events, Cultural Affairs and Recreation comes weeks after Cook County hosted a robust county discussion on renaming its Columbus Day holiday, and just under one year after Mayor Lori Lightfoot had Christopher Columbus statues removed from Grant Park and Arrigo Park following police clashes with protesters. 

Two tax-increment financing districts are being lined up for extensions as dozens of others are on track to expire. And aldermen on Wednesday will consider launching a new city phone app.

Chicago Treasurer Melissa Conyears-Ervin speaks during her “State of the Chicago Treasurer’s Office” address on Monday.

Chicago Treasurer Melissa Conyears-Ervin wants to widen the city’s investment pool to include an array of smaller-community-based banks as part of an effort to juice loans in neighborhoods that have been overlooked by national banks, she said Monday. 

Making it easier for small banks to hold city assets is one outcome Conyears-Ervin hopes to draw from a forthcoming “municipal depositories task force,” she told The Daily Line in advance of a “State of the Chicago Treasurer’s Office” address Monday morning. The treasurer earlier this year said the task force, which would include Comptroller Reshma Sonni and members of the City Council, could devise strategies to upend entrenched patterns of systemic racism in the baking industry.