The City Council will meet Thursday for a special meeting. [Erin Hegarty/The Daily Line] 

Aldermen are scheduled Thursday to vote on new rules for the City Council and an ordinance detailing who will chair a proposed 28 council committees for the next four years. 

Former CPS CEO Paul Vallas and Cook County Comm. Brandon Johnson give victory speeches at Election Night watch parties on Feb. 28, 2023, as both head into an April runoff for mayor. [Don Vincent/The Daily Line]

Chicago mayoral candidate Paul Vallas spent the last several weeks collecting nearly double the amount of donations compared to Cook County Comm. Brandon Johnson (D-1) as Vallas has earned endorsements from across the political spectrum and from key labor groups.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot speaks during a news conference Tuesday. [Facebook livestream]

A plan to revitalize downtown’s LaSalle Street Corridor and add virtually nonexistent affordable housing to the city’s center took one step closer to reality Tuesday as city officials unveiled three proposals as finalists to add more than 1,000 mixed-income apartments to the downtown corridor. 

Ald. Sophia King (4), chair of the City Council Progressive Caucus who ran as a mayoral candidate in the Feb. 28 election, endorsed former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas in the mayoral runoff. But a group of nine aldermen who are members of the Progressive Caucus issued a statement saying King’s endorsement doesn’t speak for the caucus. 

CPD announced two new hiring programs on Friday.

The Chicago Police Department on Friday enacted two new hiring programs meant to appeal to officers who left the department in the past few years to come back and to bring sworn officers from other law enforcement agencies to Chicago on an expedited basis. 

Joe Dunne and Ald. Gilbert Villegas (36) are two aldermanic candidates using red boxes on their websites. [Courtesy photos]

Candidates in multiple aldermanic runoffs are using red boxes on their campaign websites often used to highlight approved ad messaging to independent political action committees, a strategy that — while not explicitly banned in Illinois — some election experts say essentially skirts legal prohibitions on coordination between campaigns and outside PACs.

Joe Dunne, an affordable housing developer competing in the 48th Ward, and Ald. Gilbert Villegas (36), who is defending his City Council seat in the April runoff, both have red boxes on their websites. The boxed text includes messaging about both the candidates and their opponents. 

Copies of two mailers opposing Angela Clay paid for by Get Stuff Done PAC, left, compared with the red box on Kim Walz's website, right.

With less than two weeks until the April 4 runoff election, a candidate running for alderman in the 46th Ward has accused her opponent of using a tactic to indirectly influence ads produced by independent political committees. 

The open race to replace retiring Ald. James Cappleman (46) also intensified last week as it became the first aldermanic contest to see contribution caps blown. The ward covers Uptown and parts of Lakeview.

Sen. Bernie Sanders will be in Chicago on Thursday to rally support for Cook County Comm. Brandon Johnson (D-1) ahead of the mayoral runoff. Additionally, Arne Duncan on Friday announced his support for former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas in the April 4 runoff.  

City Council members held a news conference last week. [Erin Hegarty/The Daily Line]

A group of aldermen is pushing to hold a special City Council meeting next week to vote on changes to the council’s Rules of Order that they say would help make the legislative body more independent. But even if aldermen approve the rule changes next week, the new City Council will still have to vote on its own set of rules after being sworn in on May 15. 

The city’s health department announced a partnership with the public libraries to offer mental health services to residents. Meanwhile, the Mayor’s Office announced applications are open for the city’s youth summer jobs program.

Protesters march down Stony Island Avenue in favor of a CBA ordinance to combat displacement as a result of the Obama Presidential Center in 2019 [Maxwell Evans/Block Club Chicago]

Voters in the 5th Ward overwhelmingly support the implementation of a community benefits agreement (CBA) for parts of South Shore that will be affected by the construction of the Obama Presidential Center, but the two aldermanic candidates in the April 4 runoff to replace retiring Ald. Leslie Hairston (5) differ in how much of the CBA’s policy demands they support. 

One of the candidates, community organizer Desmon Yancy, fully supports the demands of the coalition calling for a CBA, while Tina Hone, former chief engagement officer for the city of Chicago, disagrees with some of the demands.

Aldermen are calling for a special City Council meeting next week to consider changes that would make the City Council more independent from the mayor’s office. The city’s Office of Inspector General issued an advisory this week on the topic of the mayor’s failure to appoint a chief administrative officer. Chicago Public Health Department officials this week are launching a new Crisis Assistance Response & Engagement team in the Loop.

Members of the CCPSA held a news conference last week. [Erin Hegarty/The Daily Line] 

The Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability (CCPSA) on Tuesday sent a list of four finalists to fill two vacancies on the Chicago Police Board to Mayor Lori Lightfoot. The mayor is now tasked with choosing from the list to fill both or one of the positions or requesting a new list of qualified candidates entirely.

An outgoing alderman has formalized his plans to exit office three days early, and campaign contribution limits have come off in the first aldermanic race of the runoff season. 

Meanwhile, the public has a chance to weigh in on the process for crafting district boundaries for Chicago’s elected school board.

A voter marks their ballot in Chicago during the 2022 primary election [Don Vincent/The Daily Line]

A new state law would make it easier for municipalities such as Chicago to implement ranked choice voting in future elections.