The Chicago Police Department and Chicago Public Schools were among the least-popular city institutions identified in the latest Chicago Index quarterly poll. [Colin Boyle Block Club Chicago]

Fewer than 40 percent of Chicagoans are satisfied with the performance of the city’s police department and barely one-in-four are happy with Chicago Public Schools, according to the latest quarterly findings of The Chicago Index poll sponsored by Crain’s and The Daily Line.

From left: Ald. Roderick Sawyer (6), Ald. Harry Osterman (48) and Ald. Chris Taliaferro (29) speak during the public safety committee meeting Tuesday.  

The City Council is primed to decide on Wednesday whether Chicago will adopt a mechanism for civilian oversight of the Chicago Police Department, potentially fulfilling a long-delayed campaign promise of Mayor Lori Lightfoot and a years-old call from grassroots activists. 

Aldermen during the June 23 City Council meeting [Don Vincent/The Daily Line]

A modified plan to expedite business permits, approval of a $4 billion mega-development on the Near South Side and a years-in-the-making civilian police oversight plan are among dozens of items set for consideration by the City Council on Wednesday during its last meeting before the council’s August recess. 

Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx and Comm. John Daley (D-11) during a preliminary budget hearing on Tuesday

Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx asked commissioners on Tuesday to fund a boost to her office’s payroll next year, saying the crush of cases facing prosecutors as the courts return to pre-pandemic capacity will be “unlike anything we’ve seen in the history of Cook County.”

Lincoln Property Company is seeking to turn a surface parking lot at Weiss Hospital into a 12-story apartment building. [46th Ward]

This article was first published in Block Club Chicago.

UPTOWN — Plans to replace a Weiss Hospital parking lot with a 12-story apartment building won approval from the city’s Zoning Committee Tuesday over some aldermanic objections, setting up the controversial project for a final vote in the City Council Wednesday.

A compromise proposal for civilian oversight of the Chicago Police Department is set for a key vote Tuesday. [Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago] 

A compromise ordinance between Mayor Lori Lightfoot and a grassroots coalition on civilian oversight of the Chicago Police Department could clear a critical hurdle Tuesday, potentially sending the historic ordinance to City Council for approval Wednesday. 

Assistant Corporation Counsel Jeff Levine (right) and Ald. Raymond Lopez (15) speak during the Monday finance committee meeting.

Aldermen on Monday approved nearly $2 million in payments to settle three lawsuits brought against the city for incidents related to the Chicago Police Department. 

Cook County Public Defender Sharone Mitchell was one of a handful of county officials who faced county commissioners on the first day of their preliminary budget hearings on Monday.

Cook County Public Defender Sharone Mitchell plans to ask county budget officials for dozens of new positions so his office can attack a backload of criminal court cases that has mounted amid the COVID-19 pandemic, he told commissioners on Monday.

The City Council finance committee approved a $60 million infrastructure deal surrounding the Michael Reese site on Monday, priming it for zoning and land acquisition approval on Tuesday.

A five-year back-and-forth over how to reactivate one of Chicago’s most prized slices of publicly-owned property is on track to culminate on Tuesday, as City Council committees consider zoning approval and a redevelopment agreement for the sprawling “Bronzeville Lakefront” mega-development on the former site of Michael Reese Hospital.

Aldermen advanced a measure on Monday designed to give restaurants more flexibility in their dealings with third-party delivery apps. And the City Council’s rules committee is set to resuscitate stalled proposals to establish a guaranteed income program and a permanent shared e-scooter network.

Hacked emails offer a rare glimpse at the grinding process by which civilian police oversight went from a lofty campaign promise to an ordinance on the brink of passage to a political dead end, leaving the issue open for more than a year.  [Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago]

Aldermen over the weekend appeared within striking distance of a deal with Mayor Lori Lightfoot on a blueprint to establish civilian oversight of the Chicago Police Department, an agreement that has eluded the parties for more than a year. 

A proposal by city Treasurer Melissa Conyears-Ervin to fight inequitable home lending, an infrastructure agreement surrounding the Michael Reese Hospital site and a $1.2 million police settlement are among multiple big-ticket items on tap for approval by the City Council Committee on Finance during its 10 a.m. meeting on Monday.

Aldermen in the City Council’s Committee on Budget and Government Operations approved the allocation of $113.4 million in new grant funding. The city’s Deputy Inspector General for Public Safety briefed aldermen on CPD’s delay in responding to a report that found “gaps of constitutional proportion” in how well-equipped the department is in producing documents. And the council's license committee is set to consider a cap on third-party delivery fees.

Renderings of the 34-story apartment tower proposed for 1215 W. Fulton St. [Department of Planning and Development]

Nearly one-third of apartments in a towering new Fulton Market development could be set aside at below-market rents, representing a “model” for a coming wave of residential development in a section of the neighborhood that has thus far banned it, members of the Chicago Plan Commission said Thursday.

From left: Ald. Chris Taliaferro (29), Ald. Harry Osterman (48) and Ald. Nicholas Sposato (38) during the June public safety committee hearing. 

Proponents of a grassroots-backed police oversight ordinance have been inching toward an agreement with Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s office over a long-delayed plan to establish an independent commission to oversee the Chicago Police Department, multiple aldermen told The Daily Line on Thursday.