Ordinances in the City Council Rules Committee remain stuck for the time being. Aldermen will participate in a hearing on e-scooters on Thursday. Mayor Lori Lightfoot enlisted a “working group” to reduce carbon emissions from buildings. And the Chicago Cultural Center reopened.

Aldermen have mixed responses to the title of “alderperson.”

Chicago elected officials aired mixed reactions to an omnibus election bill (SB 825) on its way to Gov. JB Pritzker’s desk that is set to change all official references to municipal elected officials from “alderman” to “alderperson.”

Cook County leaders will face ramifications from two major bills passed by state lawmakers on Monday.

A bill approved by state lawmakers on Monday will likely stretch the timeline for Cook County’s decennial remap, relieving pressure on commissioners to approve new district boundaries while census data remains in flux. But an overhaul of the state’s ethics rules, also approved Monday, cast new doubt on a long-baked effort to updated the county’s ethics code.

Downtown Oak Park. The Cook County Board of review granted nearly $56 million in tax assessment breaks to Oak Park commercial landlords this year. [David Wilson/Flickr]

The Cook County Board of Review this year has already scrubbed more than $1.6 billion in taxable value from retail, office, apartment and industrial properties across the county, once again shielding commercial property owners from the bulk of assessment hikes that would have otherwise been handed down by Assessor Fritz Kaegi.

Existing boundaries (left) for the Cook County Board of Review’s three districts, and a new map approved by state lawmakers [Cook County; Frank Calabrese]

Illinois Democrats will take advantage of shifting political winds in Chicago’s suburbs to effectively lock Republicans out of power in the three-member Cook County Board of Review under a new map approved by Illinois General Assembly on Friday.

Gov. JB Pritzker on Friday signed off on two bills lawmakers approved earlier this year.

A total of 28 newly introduced measures were banished last week to the City Council’s Committee on Committees and Rules, but 23 of the mostly perfunctory proposals are scheduled to be resurrected Wednesday and sent to the “appropriate” committees during a rules committee meeting.

Ald. Roderick Sawyer (6) and Ald. Leslie Hairston (5) speak during a news conference Thursday.

One day after Mayor Lori Lightfoot formally introduced her long-awaited proposal for civilian oversight of the Chicago Police Department (O2021-2143), proponents of a competing community proposal think they still have enough votes to get their ordinance approved.

Ald. Anthony Napolitano (41) and a rendering of a 2017 proposal by Glenstar to build nearly 300 apartments near the Cumberland CTA Blue Line station [DNAinfo/Heather Cherone; Glenstar O’Hare]

A suburban developer is resurfacing its 4-year-old bid to build nearly 300 apartments near the Cumberland CTA station, opening a new front in an intensifying City Council battle over aldermanic prerogative.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot cemented her “comprehensive plan” to honor Du Sable Thursday.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s proposal to honor Jean Baptiste Point Du Sable, the city’s first non-indigenous resident, pulls out all the stops with multiple statues, public artwork, a new festival and a renamed downtown Riverwalk. But it leaves out the proposal some aldermen and advocates have been pushing for 18 months: renaming a portion of Lake Shore Drive after Du Sable. 

Ald. David Moore (17) speaks to reporters after his long-stalled proposal to rename Lake Shore Drive was stymied by a parliamentary delay tactic on Wednesday

The moment after a pair of aldermen maneuvered to sabotage Ald. David Moore (17)’s years-in-the-making push to rename Lake Shore Drive, Moore threatened to use a similar tactic to delay “everything” that came up through the City Council as long as his proposal was held in purgatory.

He wasn’t bluffing.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot answers questions during a news conference Wednesday.

A portion of a wide-reaching business relief package unveiled Wednesday by Mayor Lori Lightfoot was one of more than 20 newly introduced measures banished to the City Council’s Committee on Committee and Rules.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot discusses her proposal for civilian oversight of the Chicago Police Department during a news conference Monday.

Aldermen and long-time community advocates for civilian oversight of the Chicago Police Department didn’t waste time poking holes in Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s long-awaited police oversight ordinance hours after she released the plan on Monday.

Wednesday’s scheduled vote to rename Lake Shore Drive after Jean Baptiste Pointe Du Sable is the culmination of a more than 18-month effort.

The outer portion of Lake Shore Drive would be renamed after Jean Baptiste Point Du Sable if aldermen approve a long-stalled name change Wednesday. And another proposal up for a vote in the City Council would empower the city to shut down “rogue” towing companies operating in the city.

Attorney Steve Friedland showcases a plan to rehab a vacant McKinkley Park building into a 120-unit affordable housing complex.

Aldermen voted on Tuesday to advance a plan to create 120 affordable apartments at the edge of McKinley Park, overruling a faction of their colleagues who said it could be dangerous to locate the homes several hundred feet from a polluting asphalt plant.

Ald. Leslie Hairston (5) ripped Ald. Scott Waguespack (32) and city attorneys for “watering down” legislation to launch a database of historic police misconduct.

An attempt to legislate a city-managed database of historic police misconduct complaints fizzled for the second time in two months on Monday, as aldermen failed to reconcile an impasse between the measure’s supporters and the agency that would be charged with putting it into practice.