Chicago News
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MAY 27, 2020
Members of the Cook County Board of Commissioners were surprised to learn Tuesday morning that county board President Toni Preckwinkle vetoed their proposal to hand over the addresses of Covid-19-positive residents to suburban police and fire agencies, a 180-degree reversal days after Preckwinkle said she would reluctantly support the measure.
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MAY 26, 2020
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Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said restaurants in Chicago will not be offering outdoor dining, as suggested by Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker a day earlier. In talking with reporters Thursday, Lightfoot said the data does not show Chicago has reached the benchmark where it is safe to loosen those restrictions. Chicago ranks as the biggest hotspot in the state for Covid-19 cases and deaths .
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MAY 22, 2020
County commissioners overwhelmingly voted Thursday to extend a series of emergency powers for county Board President Toni Preckwinkle through September, notching a victory for the president as she tries to harness every lever of county government to fight the Covid-19 pandemic and its economic fallout.
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MAY 21, 2020
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MAY 21, 2020
UNLOCKEDAffordability for renters and equity for contract hiring were two issues discussed Wednesday at the monthly meeting of the Chicago City Council. The three-hour meeting was also the one-year anniversary in office for Mayor Lori Lightfoot who credited the 12 freshman aldermen she shared the milestone with. Over the past year their collective efforts made the city “more fair and more transparent” since the time they took office, she said.
Near the top of the meeting, Lightfoot introduced a new ordinance (O2020-2862) that she said enshrines tenant stability by extending the notice period for eviction or lease non-renewals from 30 to 90 days. The so-called Fair Notice ordinance also guarantees renters $2,500 from their landlord if they are forced to leave because their building will be either demolished or redeveloped. The payment is based on federal standards developed by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). -
MAY 20, 2020
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As the Chicago City Council meets Wednesday, its challenge will be to start addressing an elephant in the room: Having to fill a budget hole of more than $500 million created by revenue lost from the Covid-19 pandemic.
That estimated figure emerged Monday during a city finance committee hearing when alderman questioned Chief Financial Officer Jennie Huang Bennett about how much revenue the city needs to find without slashing services or raising property taxes. Although she recently told Crain’s a more realistic shortfall estimate is $1 billion, Mayor Lori Lightfoot has resisted releasing hard numbers in past weeks but has been transparent about the difficult decisions that lie ahead for the City Council in addressing the hits in tax revenue the city has taken as a result of the pandemic. Illinois’ stay-at-home order started in late March and set to be lifted May 30, although it’s not yet clear if Gov. JB Pritzker will extend it into June. -
The City Council Committee on Finance approved $3.3 million in settlements on Monday, including a $2.25 million payment to an autistic man who was shot by an off-duty Chicago Police sergeant in 2017. The man, Ricardo Hayes, was a teenager when Sgt. Khalil Muhammed shot him twice while Hayes was running and skipping down a street in the Morgan Park neighborhood.
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MAY 19, 2020
UNLOCKEDA flurry of cannabis entrepreneurs seeking zoning approval for their proposed dispensaries or indoor weed farms are stuck in regulatory limbo, as the coronavirus pandemic has slowed the already tedious public approval process for pot-related businesses to a near-standstill.
Six proposals for pot shops and another two for craft grow facilities were included on the agenda for a 10 a.m. meeting of the City Council’s Committee on Zoning, Landmarks and Building Standards on Tuesday. But none of the applicants have won over their local aldermen, and none are expected to be considered at the meeting. -
MAY 18, 2020
