State Rep. La Shawn Ford (D-Chicago) [left] and NAACP West Side Chicago President Carl Brinson speak during a hearing on Monday.

One month after state officials announced a second round of funding for a program that uses cannabis sales tax revenue to help communities harmed by the so-called War on Drugs, Illinois lawmakers grilled organizations Monday on their progress in helping communities they are charged with serving. 

Organizers and at least one alderwoman are blasting city finance officials’ indirect use of federal rescue dollars to pay off a short-term loan. And aldermen will make another attempt to push forward remap negotiations in a hearing on Tuesday. And the department that will support the civilian commission charged with overseeing the Chicago Police Department now has an executive director and applications for the citywide commission are open.

Spending on surveillance cameras through the menu program nearly quadrupled in 2021. [Chicago Inspector General's Office]

Aldermen spent more than $4.3 million in discretionary funds meant for street infrastructure to buy new police cameras and license plate reader technology last year — more than quadruple what they spent on surveillance in 2020, according to data available on the city’s website. 

City Council rules committee chair Ald. Michelle Harris (8) and Ald. Patrick Daley Thompson (11) during a committee hearing on Friday

A chaotic and abortive meeting of the City Council Committee on Committees and Rules on Friday showed that aldermen remain as divided as ever over the city’s decennial remap as the drop-dead deadline to avoid a voter referendum draws nearer.

Ald. Michelle Harris (8) held a news conference in December with supporters of the ward map proposed by the City Council Committee on Committees and Rules. [Erin Hegarty/The Daily Line]

Public discussion on the once-a-decade remap of Chicago’s 50 wards is set to resume Friday during the year’s first public hearing on the topic, testing a new strategy by the City Council Latino Caucus that aims to shake loose a months-long stalemate on the topic. 

Ald. Pat Dowell (3) during a Dec. 15, 2021 City Council meeting. [Don Vincent/The Daily Line]

Ald. Pat Dowell (3) on Wednesday became the first candidate to throw in her hat to succeed Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.) in Congress since Rush announced he will not seek a 16^th term representing Chicago’s South Side and south suburbs.

Members and supporters of the Chicago Teachers Union demonstrate at Union Park on Jan. 5, 2022. [Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago]

This article was first published in Block Club Chicago.

Chicago Public Schools classes are canceled Thursday as the district and Chicago Teachers Union battle over in-person versus remote learning during the ongoing COVID-19 surge.

Cook County Board of Review Comm. Michael Cabonargi (D-2) [left] and Comm. Tammy Wendt (D-1) during a virtual public meeting of the board on Monday.

Cook County’s employee vaccination mandate has ripped open a new front in the internal war at the county’s Board of Review, heightening the chaos at the agency as it stands at the cusp of a crushing wave of appeals work.

The Chicago Police Department plans to add 200 detectives to its ranks at the beginning of this year to help with caseloads and homicide clearance rates, department leaders announced Tuesday. And Mayor Lori Lightfoot urged aldermen to pass her proposal to sue gang members and seize their assets. 

Chicago Public Schools students returned to school on Monday. [Colin Boyle/Block Club] 

As Monday marked the first day back from winter break for Chicago Public Schools, parents and some aldermen aired concerns that the school district’s plans for detecting and managing COVID-19 cases are inadequate and were not communicated to members of the City Council. 

Teachers, parents and members of the Chicago Teachers Union speak outside Park Manor Elementary about parents keeping their CPS students remote until Lightfoot’s CPS team provides testing and safety guarantees, on Jan. 3, 2022. [Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago]

This article was first published in Block Club Chicago.

Chicago teachers may refuse to work in-person in schools starting Wednesday over concern about COVID-19 spread in schools.

The return to school Monday from winter break comes as the city is experiencing a record surge in confirmed cases and after parents grappled with a chaotic student testing program. Some school districts in other major cities, including Detroit, Atlanta and Cleveland, have delayed reopening or opted to start school with remote learning.

Starting this year, expired smoke detectors with detachable batteries must be replaced with more modern hard-wired devices.

The new year brings a panoply of fresh rules into effect for Chicago residents and businesses, including a litany of measures designed to help the city’s most vulnerable residents while simultaneously making life easier for entrepreneurs.

The following is a roundup of major city legislation that took effect when the clock struck midnight on Friday night, as well as subsequent city policies set to take place in the months to come.

Ald. Jason Ervin (28) speaks during a news conference celebrating the passage of a civilian oversight ordinance [Erin Hegarty/The Daily Line] 

A little more than five months after the City Council approved the creation of a long-sought civilian commission to oversee the Chicago Police Department, aldermen are set to open applications for the inaugural interim citywide commission after missing a series of key deadlines. 

Mayor Lori Lightfoot and other city officials announced a vaccine requirement set to take effect Jan. 3. 

People wanting to dine, drink or workout indoors in Chicago will be required to show proof of vaccination beginning Jan. 3, Mayor Lori Lightfoot and public health officials announced on Tuesday.

[Danielle Scruggs, special to ProPublica]

This article was first published in ProPublica. ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox.

The bank’s board meeting on April 28, 2016, started with a prayer. Then it turned to plans for keeping the bank alive.

That week, federal regulators had signed off on a deal allowing new owners to take control of Illinois Service Federal Savings and Loan, one of the last Black-owned banks in the country. For more than a year, regulators had warned the bank could be shut down if it didn’t raise capital. They had also ordered it to improve its management.