Black drivers were the targets of more than 80 percent of traffic stops that involved police use of force between 2017 and 2020, according to a new report. [stock] 

Black drivers have been the recent targets of about 68 percent of police stops and 84 percent of documented uses of force by Chicago Police officers despite comprising less than one-third of the city’s population, a city watchdog found in a report published Tuesday.  

Police responded by highlighting a number of tactics they’ve introduced to close the gap since the report’s findings were gathered, including expanding and revamping use-of-force training for officers. 

Mayor Lori Lightfoot wants Russia’s status as one of Chicago’s “Sister Cities” to be suspended. And city licensing officials tallied the hundreds of citations they issued during the nearly two months the city required masks and proof of vaccination in most public indoor settings. 

(Illustrations: Cori Lin/City Bureau)

While communities continue to mobilize to have a say in the developments coming to their neighborhoods, policy experts see some positive changes at the city level, signaling the importance of community input in proposals citywide. Though residents fighting for equitable development say a few recent ordinances, as well as pending legislation, would increase community engagement requirements or strengthen regulation for certain types of new developments, they also say there are policy gaps that still need to be filled.

Chicago Department of Public Health Comm. Allison Arwady speaks during a committee hearing on Monday. 

As masks and proof of vaccination are no longer required in most indoor settings and the number of new COVID-19 cases continues trending downward, Chicago has graduated to a “new phase” of the pandemic, the city’s top doctor told aldermen on Monday. 

The Civilian Office of Police Accountability published a summary of its work in 2021 saying it’s ramped up transparency efforts. And dozens of aldermen filed a City Council order finding a new way to punish Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.

Ald. Susan Sadlowski Garza (10) and public health Comm. Allison Arwady speaking during a committee hearing in January.

On the same day the city is set to lift both its indoor mask mandate and requirement that people show proof of vaccination at restaurants and entertainment venues, public health department Comm. Allison Arwady is set to brief aldermen on the city’s response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. 

Chicago Department of Assets, Information and Services Comm. David Reynolds speaks at the kickoff of the city’s “Chicago Works” capital plan in April 2021 [City of Chicago] 

Chicago Department of Assets, Information and Services Comm. David Reynolds will step down on Monday after nearly 11 years overseeing Chicago’s hundreds of buildings and thousands of vehicles, he announced on The Daily Line’s CloutCast podcast. He will move to the Obama Foundation, where he will oversee management of the Obama Presidential Center now under construction in Jackson Park.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot touts her record of anti-poverty programs during an event on Thursday.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot released new details Thursday on the city’s hotly anticipated guaranteed income pilot program, pitching it as part of a multi-pronged anti-poverty campaign that will also include relief for domestic workers, undocumented residents and people who have accumulated car ticket debt.

Former 11th Ward Ald. Patrick Daley Thompson resigned last week. [Don Vincent/The Daily Line] 

Just over a week ago, Ald. Patrick Daley Thompson (11) submitted his official letter of resignation from City Council as he was required to do after a federal jury found him guilty of lying to federal banking officials and filing false income tax returns. 

Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced a plan on Wednesday to fill Thompson’s 11th Ward seat, a process over which she has final say. But in the interim, the 11th Ward is without an aldermen, and some of Thompson’s previously introduced legislation hangs in limbo without an aldermanic sponsor.  

Related: With Daley Thompson ‘guilty’ verdict, clock begins ticking to appoint new 11th Ward alderman 

Cook County Circuit Court Clerk Iris Martinez speaking to reporters after giving her “State of the Clerk’s Office” address on Dec. 1, 2021, the anniversary of her swearing-in. [Don Vincent/The Daily Line] 

Cook County Circuit Court Clerk Iris Martinez has made real progress on critical ethics and hiring reforms during her first year in office — but not enough to live up to her campaign promises or the hopes of good government advocates, according to a new report released by a trio of watchdog groups.  

Martinez’s office called the report misleading, saying her administration is doing its best to dig the office out from the dysfunction left by her predecessor. 

Ald. Chris Taliaferro (29) (left) moved to defer and publish Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s gang asset forfeiture proposal during Wednesday’s City Council meeting.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s proposal to sue gang leaders and seize their assets hit a snag on Wednesday when two supporters of the proposed ordinance moved to temporarily delay a vote on the matter, a move widely interpreted as a sign that it lacked enough support to pass. 

A group of aldermen are proposing an ordinance that would prohibit the city from investing most of its assets from fossil fuel companies. [Maxim Tolchinskiy on Unsplash]

Chicago Treasurer Melissa Conyears-Ervin is joining a handful of aldermen to introduce a City Council ordinance on Wednesday designed to forbid the city from investing approximately $6.7 billion in assets with a list of major fossil fuel companies.  

The measure was among dozens of new ordinances and resolutions introduced to the council this week, including a new plan to give the City Council independent legal representation, a call for the city to consider loosening COVID-19 rules for people who have already been infected and an agreement advancing a plan to open west access to O’Hare Airport. 

A September 2021 City Council meeting [Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago] 

Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s controversial plan to let city attorneys sue gang leaders for their assets is in line for a final vote by the City Council during its meeting on Wednesday, setting the stage for a final public debate over whether the ordinance will help the city wrangle crime or only make matters worse.  

The council is also set to approve about $4.4 million in police misconduct settlements, finalize a long-delayed appointment to head a key police investigatory office and move to tighten aldermen’s control over special event permits in their own wards. 

Ald. Sophia King (4) and the Department of Law’s Mark Siegel speak during a committee meeting on Tuesday.

After terse discussions pitting legal concerns against aldermanic involvement in the special events permitting process, aldermen on Tuesday gave initial OK to a proposal that would lengthen the advance notification period required for special events and require city officials to make an extra effort to notify aldermen of upcoming fairs or festivals planned in their own wards. 

Chicago leaders confirmed the city will loosen its COVID-19 mask and vaccination requirements on Monday. A 42-unit apartment proposal in West Lakeview was the largest development proposal to earn approval from an uncharacteristically light zoning committee meeting on Tuesday. And the City Council is set to vote on a measure approved by a key committee on Tuesday that would allow electronic voting during council meetings.