‘Puppy mill’ ordinance stalls again, 6 months after committee passage; aldermen to grill health officials on vaccinations

An ordinance designed to crack down on commercial pet breeders will be put on hold for at least one more month, more than six months after the proposal failed to reach the finish line in the City Council. 

The council’s Committee on Health and Human Relations had been scheduled at 10 a.m. Wednesday to take up the ordinance (SO2020-2827) before holding a subject matter hearing to quiz city health officials about their efforts to contain the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Skeptical aldermen interrogate CPS, public health officials over reopening plan

On the same day the first wave of Chicago Public Schools (CPS) students returned to in-person learning for the first time in more than 300 days, aldermen took turns posing searing questions  to  school district officials and the city’s Department of Public Health over their reopening plan. 

The City Council’s Committee on Education and Childhood Development’s subject matter hearing drew aldermen who were frustrated with CPS’ plan to reopen schools amid the coronavirus pandemic to question schools and health officials for more than seven hours Monday.

News in brief: @chicagosmayor, City Council rip @FOPChicago7 prez; Brookins to sue over ethics fine; @ChicagoDCASE sets announces $750K for ‘Artist Response Program’

News in brief: Watchdog follow-up finds CDPH implementing recommendations to ‘mitigate risks of excessive emissions;’ ethics board to consider Brookins fine, ‘prayer session’ social media posts 

Aldermen to dive into school reopening debate as teachers’ union tensions flare

Members of the City Council will get a long-awaited chance on Monday to publicly challenge Chicago Public Schools and city health officials over their controversial plan to send some students back to school.  

The council’s Committee on Education and Childhood Development is scheduled to hold a subject matter hearing at 10 a.m. to discuss the district’s reopening plan, at the same time preschoolers and special education students are invited to return to in-person learning for the first time since last March. 

Campanelli throws in for another 6 years as ‘check and balance’ against ‘horribly racist criminal justice system’ 

When it was Cook County Public Defender Amy Campanelli’s turn last July to beg county commissioners for mercy from a crushing wave of budget cuts, she warned them taking an ax to her office could make it impossible to meet the county’s constitutional obligation to give every defendant access to a lawyer. 

Experts, officials say there’s time to establish independent remap commission but ‘the train is leaving the station’ 

If city leaders want to fulfill Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s 2019 promise to tap an independent commission to redraw boundaries of Chicago’s 50 wards, time is running out to make it happen,  some advocates say. 

News in brief: Lightfoot, Preckwinkle, Foxx condemn D.C. ‘insurrection;’ Aldermanic hearing on CPS’ reopening plan scheduled for Monday; Lightfoot statement on Georgia elections 

News in brief: Lightfoot, Preckwinkle, Foxx condemn D.C. ‘insurrection;’ Aldermanic hearing on CPS’ reopening plan scheduled for Monday; Lightfoot statement on Georgia elections

 

Nearly 30 percent fewer Cook County property owners filed appeals with the Cook County assessor’s office last year than in 2019, even as the county’s Board of Review braces for a familiar surge of taxpayers contesting their assessments.

County Assessor Fritz Kaegi lauded the sharp downward trend in requests to his office as a sign that more homeowners than ever trust the accuracy of his team’s valuations. But some real estate professionals believe the opposite: that disillusioned property owners have lost faith in Kaegi’s methods and are simply taking their chances with the more binding Board of Review instead.

Aldermen and advocates behind two proposals that would formalize civilian oversight of the Chicago Police Department are hoping the most recent versions of their plans will finally make it to a City Council vote early this year.

 

The City Council Committee on Public Safety during its Tuesday meeting accepted modifications to proposals for a Chicago Police Accountability Council (CPAC) and another from Grassroots Alliance for Police Accountability (GAPA), with committee hearings on each proposal expected later this month, according to Ald. Chris Taliaferro (29), chair of the committee.

 

 

Aldermen and advocates behind two proposals that would formalize civilian oversight of the Chicago Police Department are hoping the most recent versions of their plans will finally make it to a City Council vote early this year.

The City Council Committee on Public Safety during its Tuesday meeting accepted modifications to proposals for a Chicago Police Accountability Council (CPAC) and another from Grassroots Alliance for Police Accountability (GAPA), with committee hearings on each proposal expected later this month, according to Ald. Chris Taliaferro (29), chair of the committee.

News in brief: Lightfoot calls on feds for ‘exponential’ increase in vaccine doses; Tensions heat up over CPS partial reopening plan

Part of a report from Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas showing which Chicago properties have registered the biggest tax hikes since 2000, showing which residential properties have gone up most.

A Gold Coast condo charged with a $6,700 tax bill in 2000 was saddled with nearly $134,000 in taxes in 2019. The bill for a two-story house in Winnetka went from about $53,000 in 2000 to more than $675,000 19 years later. And an industrial building on Chicago’s Near West Side saw its tax burden multiply from $785.11 to $30,354 during the same period.

GAPA coordinator Desmon Yancy and CPAC leader Tamer Abouzeid in October spoke about their plans during a City Council Committee on Public Safety hearing.

After months of delays, aldermen are not wasting time in the new year moving toward a vote on a civilian oversight commission for the Chicago Police Department.

The City Council’s Committee on Public Safety is scheduled during its 11 a.m. meeting Tuesday to hear changes to two police oversight proposals: one from the Grassroots Alliance for Police Accountability (GAPA) and one for a Chicago Police Accountability Council (CPAC).