The City Council Committee on Immigrant and Refugee Rights will meet at 9 a.m. Friday. [Erin Hegarty/The Daily Line] 

As buses of migrants continue arriving in Chicago and the city has entered a contract with controversial GardaWorld to build migrant base camps, the City Council Committee on Immigrant and Refugee Rights will hold a regularly scheduled hearing on the city’s response to the migrant crisis Friday.

Cook County's flag is pictured outside the county building in downtown Chicago. [Don Vincent/The Daily Line]

Cook County’s Water Affordability Program, an offshoot and continuation of a program that the Community and Economic Development Association of Cook County (CEDA) previously administered, was approved by the county board of commissioners last week. 

The county’s economic development office shared data that showed which municipalities received the most assistance from CEDA’s previous program, giving a potential preview of where assistance may end up in the latest program.

A pair of City Council committees will hold a hearing Friday afternoon on the Office of Inspector General’s annual public safety report.

Larry Snelling was sworn is superintendent of the Chicago Police Department on Wednesday. [Don Vincent/The Daily Line]

Police accountability and the need to prevent and solve violent crimes were both a major focus of comments from alderpersons Wednesday before the City Council voted unanimously to confirm Larry Snelling as the new superintendent of the Chicago Police Department.  

Snelling agreed with the call to hold members of the police department accountable, as long as it’s done fairly, and acknowledged that while public safety issues may look different across the city, “we have to stand with each other and bring some of these issues to a conclusion, especially violent crime.” 

Cook County officials are celebrating the completion of a comprehensive plan to improve the county’s transit network. Additionally, the county women’s issues commission will meet to discuss grant funding recently passed by the county board that funds multiple projects to aid domestic violence victims.

Advocates that make up a coalition supporting Bring Chicago Home rally in the lobby of City Hall ahead of a hearing in July 2023. [Michael McDevitt/The Daily Line]

An organization representing the interests of commercial housing providers hosted a virtual panel Tuesday to argue against the passage of Bring Chicago Home, claiming it would lead to higher rents for tenants, higher taxes for homeowners and the exacerbation of issues affecting the downtown real estate market.

Ald. Rossana Rodriguez-Sanchez (33), who chairs the Health and Human Relations Committee, speaks during a committee meeting Tuesday. [Erin Hegarty/The Daily Line]

After facing pushback from the prior mayoral administration, a proposal to send mental health professionals instead of armed police to calls of people experiencing mental health crises came one step closer to reality Tuesday.

The City Council is poised to approve Mayor Brandon Johnson’s appointment of Chief Larry Snelling to lead the Chicago Police Department. And a committee OKed a measure to ban new late night liquor licenses in the 2nd Ward.

Mayor Brandon Johnson speaks during a news conference earlier this month. [City of Chicago livestream]

A working group, if approved by a committee Tuesday and the full City Council next week, would make recommendations on a program that would send mental health professionals instead of police to calls of people experiencing mental health crises. 

The flag of Cook County flies outside the county building. [Don Vincent/The Daily Line]

Cook County officials on Monday launched a $3 million program funded through federal COVID-19 assistance to help residents install green energy systems on their homes.

The program is launching at the same time as the county considers legislation that would protect certain commercial property owners from property tax increases based on their use of solar energy.

Chief Larry Snelling answers questions during a committee meeting Friday. [Erin Hegarty/The Daily Line]

After spending three hours asking him about his stance on officer wellness, recruitment and the federal consent decree, members of a key City Council committee on Friday voted unanimously to send the appointment of Larry Snelling as the next superintendent of the Chicago Police Department to the full council for approval Wednesday. 

Comm. Dennis Deer (D-2) speaks during a Cook County Board of Commissioners meeting on Sept. 21, 2023. [Don Vincent/The Daily Line.]

Cook County commissioners introduced a measure to hold a hearing on Cook County Health’s use of staffing agencies, a measure to hold a hearing on missing and murdered Black women and a measure calling for opioid settlement funds to be used to fight trauma and substance abuse Thursday.

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle presides over a meeting of the Cook County Board of Commissioners on Sept. 21, 2023. [Don Vincent/The Daily Line]

The Cook County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously Thursday to accept grant funding to assist asylum seekers, but Board President Toni Preckwinkle noted it was a one-time allotment as the county continues to spend millions per month to care for new arrivals.

A rendering of the building proposed for 200-208, 222 N. Halsted St. in the 27th Ward. [City of Chicago presentation]

A proposal to build a 36-story building with more than 400 residential units near the intersection of Lake and Halsted streets on the Near West Side will now go through the City Council approval process after the Chicago Plan Commission gave the development its stamp of approval Thursday.

Mayor Brandon Johnson (left) and Larry Snelling, chief of the Chicago Police Department's Bureau of Counterterrorism, speak during a news conference in August [Erin Hegarty/The Daily Line]

Larry Snelling, chief of the Chicago Police Department's Bureau of Counterterrorism, will undergo likely rounds of questions from alderpersons Friday as a City Council committee takes a first vote on whether to confirm him as Mayor Brandon Johnson’s pick to lead the Chicago Police Department.