Cook County Chief Financial Officer Ammar Rizki is set to move to the Obama Foundation next month. [Don Vincent/The Daily Line]

Three of Cook County’s most senior officials were showered with praise on Thursday for steering the county’s finances and public health efforts through the tumult of the COVID-19 pandemic as all three head for the exits, opening up a new chapter as county leaders look to the 2023 budget and the 2022-26 elected term.

A pending concession agreement will allow new food options to open in O’Hare Terminal 3 and Terminal 5.

Travelers at O’Hare Airport can expect to start seeing names like Butcher and the Burger, Bar Siena and Sparrow Coffee under a sweeping new concession agreement set for a vote before a City Council committee on Friday.

Rep. Kam Buckner [D-Chicago] speaks at a campaign announcement event in the South Loop Thursday. [Don Vincent/The Daily Line]

Illinois state Rep. Kam Buckner (D-Chicago) on Thursday became the third person to officially announce a challenge against Mayor Lori Lightfoot in next year’s Chicago mayoral race.

Buckner, whose name has been swirling for months as a likely candidate for Chicago mayor, made the announcement Thursday outside of TeaPotBrew Bakery in the South Loop to a crowd of about four-dozen people. The bakery is included in his state house district which stretches from South Chicago north to the Gold Coast. 

“A mayor’s job is not just to fight for the sake of fighting. It’s time to bring the people together,” Buckner said during his announcement event as the sun beat down and the temperature pushed past 90 degrees. “We want our mayor to be fearless and compassionate to get things done.” 

The above chart shows how the city plans to reduce its emissions by 62 percent by 2040. [City of Chicago]

Mayor Lori Lightfoot last month set an ambitious goal: to slash the city's carbon emissions by more than half in the next 18 years. But Chicago's track record of falling short on climate promises and the absence of built-in accountability systems has advocates calling for the city to do more.

Lightfoot last month unveiled a draft of the city’s new Climate Action Plan meant to guide the city in reducing emissions by 62 percent by 2040. The 87-page document, the city’s first updated climate plan since Mayor Richard M. Daley’s administration published the last one in 2008, plans to reduce emissions through strategies including retrofitting buildings, electrifying the city’s vehicle fleet, diverting waste through a long-promised compost program and expanding the city’s bike lane network.

The first phase of the floating boardwalk project along the North Branch canal is open for visitors.

Aldermen on Wednesday approved funding for the next phase of the “Wild Mile” floating boardwalk development on the Near North Side, for environmental cleanups along the 606 Bloomingdale Trail and for a “fruit and nut orchard” in East Garfield Park.

Cook County Comm. Sean Morrison (R-17), left, and Cook County Economic Development Bureau Chief Xochitl Flores speaking during a committee meeting on Wednesday

Cook County commissioners are set to unlock nearly $70 million in federally backed funding on Thursday to bankroll a range of long-term economic development initiatives including new programs designed to steer tenants away from eviction, draw more tourists to suburban Cook County, launch justice-involved residents into the workforce and more.

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.