Ald. Patrick D. Thompson (11) confirmed he’s interested in changing to the city’s tobacco ordinance, likely next week. The Daily Line obtained a draft ordinance and summary that would mandate significantly higher fines on retailers that aren’t complying with existing city regulations on tobacco. But the changes would also exclude menthol cigarettes from the list of tobacco products banned from being sold within 500 feet of schools, something retailers would welcome but public health advocates are already gearing up to oppose.

Kicking off a nearly three hour long public hearing on Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s $8.33 billion 2017 budget ($9.81 billion counting grant funds), the Civic Federation’s Laurence Msall expressed concern over the city’s ambitious hiring plan for the police department, urged aldermen to oppose the statewide “lockbox” amendment, and suggested the city’s newly-imposed monthly garbage fee be increased annually.

The City Council approved a $2 million settlement with two police officers, Shannon Spalding and Daniel Echeverria, who accused their superiors of retaliating against them for whistleblowing. It’s a case that Mayor Rahm Emanuel had been called to testify on, but was ultimately spared from when the city’s Law Department announced a settlement on the eve of the trial.

Opponents to the beverage tax stood and sat wearing blue shirts, holding signs that read, “Don’t Tax Our Groceries”, “Protect Our Jobs”, and “Stop Taxing Working Families”. They were mixed with tax supporters in red shirts with signs that read “Fight to Keep Our Communities Healthy”. Support and opposition went back and forth among the more than 150 people who signed up to testify at a downtown public hearing Monday morning. It lasted well beyond its scheduled 11:00 a.m. wrap time, extending almost four hours.

Chief Judge Tim Evans defended judges’ discretion when setting bail at his budget hearing Monday, saying that while his office has embraced the use of a “cutting edge” assessment tool that has helped reduce the jail population from 10,000 to about 7,500 since President Toni Preckwinkle took office, he will continue to advocate for letting judges have the final say. 

Aldermen on the Council’s Finance Committee approved the $2 million settlement of a long-standing lawsuit against the Chicago Police Department filed by police officers Shannon Spalding and Daniel Echeverria. The two claim they were retaliated against for whistleblowing. Mayor Rahm Emanuel was called to testify for this suit earlier this year following his acknowledgement last December that a “code of silence” exists within the Chicago Police Department. He was ultimately spared from doing so on May 31, the eve of the trial, when the city’s Law Department announced its decision to settle.

The full City Council is scheduled to meet today to consider some non-budgetary items, such as a $2 million settlement of a cases brought by two Chicago police officers alleging retaliation by superiors for whistleblowing, an ordinance repealing the Trump Plaza street designation, and a new appointment to the Police Board.

Chicago’s early voting total has reached about 10% of the total registered electorate of 1.5 million people, putting it on pace to reach 2012’s early vote turnout, possibly 2008. As of Monday evening, 155,149 people have early voted in Chicago. 145,883 people have early voted in suburban Cook County during the same period.

Sheriff Tom Dart appeared before the Cook County Finance Committee for two hours Friday to answer questions about a dropping jail population, efforts to reduce bail for prisoners and the jail’s increasing role as a social service agency rather than just for housing prisoners. While Dart submitted letters with answers to written questions, he spoke extemporaneously rather than from a prepared text.

New Department of Water Management (DWM) Commissioner Barrett Murphy fielded questions about construction, diversity, and the city’s MeterSave program, just a few weeks after aldermen approved a new tax on water usage. Murphy took over at the Water Department in May, and received plaudits from aldermen nearly all around. The Water Fund is projected to have $782.70 million in total available resources in 2017.

Corporation Counsel Steve Patton told aldermen Friday that he anticipates the Department of Justice will conclude its pattern and practice investigation into the Chicago Police Department “within the next few months.”

Asked by reporters to peg down a more specific timeline after his more than two hour hearing with aldermen on his department’s budget, Patton refused, saying only, “We will continue to try to move this process as quickly as we can, and with the goal of completing it next year. But, again, we don’t control the Department of Justice and I want to continuously emphasize we are trying to do everything we can to give them what they need, so they can do their work as quickly as [they] can.”

Aldermen and Cook County commissioners stared down their second week of budget hearings, while still handling regular business this week–but the two biggest issues on lawmakers’ minds couldn’t have been further apart in substance.

For aldermen, it was disagreement over a long-standing perk–face value tickets offered by the Chicago Cubs, who are making a historic play for the World Series, but who also come to aldermen regularly asking for zoning variations and permits. An Ethics Board ruling rubbed many aldermen the wrong way, and the Cubs (and White Sox) had more than one mention in committee.  

For commissioners, it was raising the minimum wage for the 200,000 suburban workers who make $8.25 per hour–far less than city workers, who make $10.25. Business groups cried foul, saying they’re already burdened by a slew of recent mandates. Republican commissioners called the move illegal, saying only the state had power to raise wages. Workers said wages don’t come close to covering the cost of living, and that a hike was long overdue.  

Department of Family Support and Services Commissioner Lisa Morrison Butler sat for over two hours of questioning about her agency’s management of domestic violence shelters, requests for assistance for anti-homeless programs and increasing senior center programming.

A normally perfunctory Finance Committee hearing for creating Special Service Areas became contentious as dozens of Chinatown residents arrived to protest the creation of a new Chinatown SSA along Wentworth Avenue. A second new SSA, #71, in the South Calumet neighborhood that would merge SSAs #40 and #41, was approved without opposition. Opposition to SSAs at this late stage is unusual, as they are required to obtain at least 20% of property owners’ approval before submission to City Council for approval.

City Treasurer Kurt Summers registered a muted disapproval of Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s budget team Thursday morning, after he testified that neither the Mayor nor his team consulted him on the city’s debt problems.