Ald. Daniel La Spata (1), left, and Ald. George Cardenas (12) speak during a committee meeting on Tuesday.

A proposal from Ald. Daniel La Spata (1) to expand subsidies and protections for people who struggle to pay their water bills was shot down by his colleagues on Tuesday after city officials and the chair of the environment committee railed against the proposed ordinance.

Workers build floating wetlands to become part of the Wild Mile during the first phase of the “Floating Boardwalk and Habitat” project in 2019 [Hannah Boufford/Block Club Chicago]

A City Council committee is set to give a green light on Wednesday to more than $2.5 million in new funding for landscape and park-related projects around the city, including a nearly $1.8 million infusion to accelerate development of the “Wild Mile” ecological restoration corridor on the Near North Side.

From left: Chicago Chief Financial Officer Jennie Huang Bennett, Ald. Brendan Reilly (42) and Deputy Mayor Samir Mayekar speak during a City Council committee meeting on Monday [City Clerk’s Office]

A phalanx of city officials and executives from the Bally’s Corporation spent nearly six hours on Monday fending off questions and challenges to their $1.7 billion plan to build a city-backed casino in River West, arguing the City Council should act fast to put the plan into motion so the city can maximize its tools to close yet another formidable budget gap on the horizon.

Ald. Daniel La Spata (1) and Mayor Lori Lightfoot are locked in a legislative battle over how to expand water access to low-income Chicagoans. [Jonathan Ballew/Block Club Chicago]

A City Council committee is scheduled on Tuesday to debate and potentially vote on a long-delayed proposal that would expand subsidies and protections for people who struggle to pay their water bills. But with the committee set to convene over the objection of its chair, the result of the meeting remains murky — especially as a competing ordinance from Mayor Lori Lightfoot lies in wait.

Chicago officials on Monday announced they will dedicate $500,000 in funding for the city’s public health department to help people seeking abortion services. And the city is currently facing a nearly $900 million budget deficit, the city’s top financial official said Monday.

Supporters of the People’s Coalition Map, left, and the Chicago United Map speak during different news conferences. [Alex Nitkin/Erin Hegarty/The Daily Line]

Enough aldermen struck a tentative compromise on Monday over a new ward map to avoid tossing the issue to voters in the June 28 primary.

A rendering of the Bally’s Tribune casino plan [City of Chicago]

Aldermen who have raised a stink over Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s choice of the Bally’s Corporation to build a casino at the Tribune Freedom Center site will get their chance to grill city officials and executives of the Rhode Island-based entertainment company during the second-ever scheduled meeting of the City Council Special Committee on the Casino on Monday.

The meeting will be a critical early litmus test as the mayor looks to wrangle 26 votes for her preferred plan before the end of May while at least two downtown aldermen gear up for an all-out war to stop it.

Cook County on Friday announced a plan to dedicate $37 million in federal funding to supporting small businesses. And a candidate for Cook County Sheriff is vowing to push back against a ruling that she’s ineligible to run.

Ald. Felix Cardona (31) switched on the ward map proposal he supports. [City of Chicago; Frank Calabrese]

The remap group including a supermajority of Chicago aldermen claimed Northwest Side Ald. Felix Cardona (31) on Thursday as a new crossover member of its coalition — but supporters of the competing map say the reality is more complicated, and the alderman in the middle is keeping quiet amid the confusion. The chaotic episode added a fresh hurdle to emerging negotiations this week over a potential compromise between the two competing maps.

Right: renderings show what a Bally's casino planned for Tribune Freedom Center site would look like along the banks of the Chicago River North Branch at Chicago Avenue. Right: Mayor Lori Lightfoot announces Bally's as the winning casino bidder during an event on Thursday. [City of Chicago]

Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Thursday confirmed rumors that have swirled all week suggesting that she would pick Rhode Island-based Bally’s proposal to build and manage a Chicago casino at the Tribune’s Freedom Center in River West. The announcement marks a major leap forward in the city’s decades-long search for gambling revenue but likely kicks off an uphill battle with neighbors and some aldermen as power shifts to the City Council.

Supporters of the People’s Coalition Map, left, and the Chicago United Map speak during different news conferences. [Alex Nitkin/Erin Hegarty/The Daily Line]

With exactly two weeks to somehow agree on a new ward map and avoid sending the decision to voters in June, aldermen behind two competing maps restarted negotiation talks this week, sources told The Daily Line. But so far, there’s little evidence of progress toward a deal.

A rendering shows what a Bally's casino planned for Tribune Publishing could look like. [City of Chicago]

Mayor Lori Lightfoot is set to announce the city's final choice of a location and operator for a Chicago casino on Thursday. She is widely expected to choose the Bally’s River West proposal over the loud objections of neighbors and some aldermen.

From left: Pace Suburban Bus board chair Richard Kawsnesky, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle and Pace executive director Melinda Metzger during a news conference to share the first-year results of the South Cook Fair Transit pilot on Tuesday; a Metra train [Facebook/Toni Preckwinkle; Flickr/Metra]

Letting commuters cheaply and seamlessly transfer between Metra and the CTA could be just the boost both transit agencies need as they struggle to attract riders back after years of relying on federal rescue funds to stay afloat, Cook County leaders said Tuesday.

But first, the CTA would need to get on board.

Chicago officials on Tuesday announced the city is officially jumping into the running to host the 2024 Democratic National Convention. And Mayor Lori Lightfoot held an event unveiling “Chicagwa”, a new initiative by the city to use canned tap water to boost the city’s brand.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s initiative to grow the city’s dwindling tree canopy began last week. [Erin Hegarty/The Daily Line]

City officials began planting trees last week to meet a goal Mayor Lori Lightfoot included in the 2022 budget to plant 75,000 trees — or 15,000 per year — during the next five years.