A rendering of the affordable housing development proposed for South Shore. [City of Chicago presentation]

The City Council Committee on Zoning, Landmarks and Building Standards during its 10 a.m. meeting Thursday is set to consider a variety of developments proposed across the city including a proposal for a 43-unit affordable housing development in South Shore.

Chicago’s Midway Airport marked completion of nearly decade-long modernization project Wednesday, and two county bodies will meet Thursday to hear reports on the county’s juvenile detention center and an ordinance that prohibits housing discrimination against convicted individuals.

The City Council Committee on Education and Child Development met Tuesday. [Erin Hegarty/The Daily Line]

Chicago Public Schools officials on Tuesday answered questions from alderpeople about the school district’s budget, enrollment and how the officials are handling the constant arrival of new migrant families and children to the city.

Cook County Circuit Court Clerk Iris Martinez speaks to reporters after giving her “State of the Clerk’s Office” address in 2021. [Don Vincent/The Daily Line]

The local Democratic Party’s pick for the clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County on Monday officially filed her candidacy to take on incumbent Circuit Court Clerk Iris Martinez.  

Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago (MWRD) Comm. Mariyana Spyropoulos filed nominating petitions with more than 27,000 signatures to launch her primary challenge against Martinez March 19. 

Work began Monday on the Brighton Park site that will soon be set up as a basecamp to house migrants. The City Council Committee on Housing and Real Estate is scheduled to meet at noon Wednesday. 

Cook County Comm. Tara Stamps, who filed to campaign to keep her appointed seat Monday, is pictured during a Cook County Board of Commissioners meeting in September 2023. [Don Vincent/The Daily Line]

Competitors in multiple county races to be held this spring filed nominating paperwork with the Cook County Clerk’s Office Monday on the first day of candidate filing. Candidate filing lasts through Dec. 4 for Democratic and Republican party contenders running in the March 19, 2024 primary election. 

After the filing deadline, candidates will have until Dec. 11 to file challenges to other candidates’ nominating petitions.

The City Council Committee on Education and Child Development during a September meeting. [Erin Hegarty/The Daily Line]

Chicago Public Schools officials on Tuesday are expected to detail to alderpeople how the school district is addressing asylum seekers, transportation and its budget this school year. 

Tuesday’s meeting of the City Council Committee on Education and Child Development will begin at 4 p.m., much later than council committee meetings that usually begin in the morning or early afternoon. 

Members of the Committee on Economic, Capital and Technology Development met earlier this month. [City of Chicago livestream] 

A Chicago alderperson is working with the mayor’s office in hopes of establishing a permanent a guaranteed basic income program after a yearlong pilot program that has since expired showed the additional payments to households across the city helped people stay in their homes and pay for utilities and food.

The Cook County flag flies over the county government building in downtown Chicago. [Don Vincent/The Daily Line]

The Cook County Bureau of Human Resources is hoping the Board of Commissioners authorizes an extension and possible expansion of a $25 million pilot program that provides additional pay to certain jobs within county agencies to help alleviate the hiring challenges the county has faced since the pandemic.

The human resources bureau has reported the Recruitment Incentive and Retention Bonus Pay Program, which is just over a year old, to be a success so far in increasing interest in some of the county’s vacant roles. 

A group of aldermanic and mayoral staffers sent a letter to Mayor Brandon Johnson and members of the City Council Tuesday urging them to support a call for a ceasefire in the Middle East.

While the letter was sent by at least 35 staffers Tuesday, by Wednesday morning 54 staffers from aldermanic offices, the mayor's office and other city departments had signed the letter, according to an email from the group.

County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, pictured in October, declared a local disaster following the flooding in September in parts of Cook County. [Don Vincent/The Daily Line]

President Joe Biden on Monday approved a disaster declaration for parts of Cook County that experienced severe flash flooding in September, opening additional avenues to receive financial assistance for those affected in addition to existing state and county assistance. 

Ald. Bill Conway (34) during a September City Council meeting. [Don Vincent/The Daily Line]

The City Council last week delayed a vote on a proposal that would create a quiet zone around a West Loop clinic that provides abortions, but ordinance sponsor Ald. Bill Conway (34) is working with the city’s Law Department on potential tweaks to the ordinance to further strengthen the proposal’s enforceability before it comes back for a vote sometime after the new year. 

The county will gather additional research before the board of commissioners considers approving a new paid leave ordinance again next month, and the county board president attended an indigent burial ceremony.

Mayor Brandon Johnson initially announced the new 60-day shelter stay limit for migrants during a news conference last week. [City of Chicago livestream]

Shelter stays for migrants arriving in Chicago will be limited to 60 days under new policy details Mayor Brandon Johnson announced on Friday.  

Migrants who arrived in 2022 and are currently in shelters — about 50 people — were issued 60-day notices on Friday, and migrants arriving in shelters on or after Friday are also receiving the 60-day stay notices. The 50 people who have been in shelters since 2022 are spread among only three of the city’s 25 shelters.

A little over a week after the company defended its record-high rate hike request in front of a committee that included multiple skeptical City Council members, Peoples Gas Company was denied its request for a nearly $404 million rate increase on Thursday.

Some alderpeople and utility watchdog group representatives celebrated the decision by the Illinois Commerce Commission to rein in the hike by pausing the pipeline replacement program that Peoples Gas said accounted for over half of the revenue being sought.

The ICC reduced Peoples Gas’ request by $101 million and also approved a 9.38 percent return on equity (ROE) for the company, down from the company’s requested 9.9 percent ROE, cutting shareholders’ profitability.