Chicago News
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A $9.3 million settlement related to false confessions the Burge torture era dating back to the mid-1980s is the city Finance Committee’s blockbuster item Friday. Aldermen will also consider new appointees to a maligned board on the Northwest Side and a resurrected TIF agreement for a catholic hospital system.
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Ben Lieberman, a grieving father who lost his 19-year-old son in a car accident, took center stage at a public safety committee hearing to consider new technology to detect when a driver has been distracted by a phone. The solution is the so-called Textalyzer, a program plugged into a cell phone to log swiping, typing, or voice activation.
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Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s office announced Thursday he had reached a new five-year deal with 31 unions representing 7,700 city workers, who will get an average annual raise of 2.1 percent.
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Ald. Marty Quinn (13) has successfully banned home-sharing booked through sites like Airbnb and VRBO in half of his ward, and has more planned in the coming weeks. Aldermen also approved an increase to maximum booting fees, and licensing costs for those booting companies.
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More than a dozen current and former city employees told aldermen in blunt terms Wednesday the Chicago Water Department remains rife with racism and sexism — despite a scandal that toppled a commissioner and cost three high-ranking employees their jobs earlier this year.
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One day after Ald. Ricardo Muñoz (22) invoked a rarely used rule to force the City Council’s Committee on Education and Child Development to hold a hearing on whether Chicago Public Schools officials improperly denied some special education students services they were entitled to under federal law, a hearing was scheduled for 2:30 p.m. on Jan. 12.
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Aldermen approved the redevelopment of a former Chicago Housing Authority site, a new 23-story building on Milwaukee in River West, and a new development near the Ravenswood Metra. Two of the biggest items on the Zoning Committee’s agenda were deferred and await Plan Commission approval, while one item notably absent from the agenda led to one couple getting ejected from the meeting and an alderman blocking an affordable housing organization on Twitter.
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The Chicago Federation of Labor, the umbrella organization for Chicago and Cook County's labor unions, publicized a selection of endorsements in countywide races in the upcoming March 20 primary. The group neglected to endorse in a few key races, opting to write “TBD” for the 2nd, 4th, 5th, 8th, 10th, 11th, and 16th district races, and for county assessor.
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Ald. Ricardo Muñoz (22) Tuesday invoked a rarely used rule to force the City Council’s Committee on Education and Child Development to hold a hearing on whether Chicago Public Schools officials improperly denied some special education students services they were entitled to under federal law. Ald. Scott Waguespack (32) said late Tuesday the mayor’s office has agreed to hold the hearing on Friday at 2:30.
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The City Council’s Committee on Transportation and Public Way meets at 10 a.m. today to consider approving dozens of permits to install planters throughout the Wicker Park business district as part of a beautification effort by the Wicker Park & Bucktown Chamber of Commerce.
