Chicago News

  • Six members of the City Council’s Committee on Housing and Real Estate voted Thursday to advance a new pilot program for Pilsen and Little Village under the city’s Affordable Requirements Ordinance in an apparent violation of the City Council’s rules of procedure.

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  • Aldermen on City Council’s Zoning Committee made quick work of a long agenda before Chairman Ald. Danny Solis (25) abruptly recessed the meeting to allow aldermen to attend a contentious session of the Housing Committee. The committee will reconvene Dec. 11.

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  • Concerns about affordable housing will once again be in the spotlight at City Hall, as aldermen weigh the city’s next five-year housing plan, which calls for Chicago officials to spend $1.4 billion to build or preserve 40,000 homes.

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  • The odds were in mayoral candidate Jerry Joyce’s favor Wednesday, allowing him to snag the pole position on the Feb. 26 ballot. Meanwhile, the Chicago Teachers Union’s House of Delegates tossed the union’s considerable weight behind Toni Preckwinkle in the mayor’s race and Melissa Conyears-Ervin in the treasurer’s race, along with 19 aldermanic hopefuls, on Wednesday.

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  • Plans for two West Loop skyscrapers featuring 401 units from Tandem Partners are at the top of the agenda for Thursday’s meeting of the Zoning Committee.

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  • News that federal officials will no longer fund an Upton psychiatric hospital prompted two aldermen to drop plans for a scheduled hearing on whether the facility should keep its city license.

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  • The allegations of sexual abuse, assault and patient safety violations swirling around a Chicago psychiatric hospital is set to take center stage at a hearing Wednesday at City Hall, as aldermen consider yanking the license for Uptown’s Aurora Chicago Lakeshore Hospital.

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  • The leadership of the Chicago Teachers Union will ask delegates to endorse Toni Preckwinkle  in the mayor’s race and Melissa Conyears-Ervin in the treasurer’s race, along with a host of aldermanic hopefuls. Candidates eager to be first — or last — on the Feb. 26 ballot will take their chances at a lottery Wednesday. Meanwhile, none of the ballot questions submitted to elections officials drew objections, meaning all will likely make it on to the ballot — as long as they survive the election board’s scrutiny. Now that the mayoral and aldermanic campaigns are in full swing, TDL brings you the first installment of trail notes with quick hits about all of the races.

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  • The Cook County Board Tuesday unanimously picked former Comm. Ed Moody, who until recently was a low-key but well-known political godson to House Speaker Mike Madigan, to take over the Recorder of Deeds’ office as it is merged with the Cook County Clerk’s office.

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  • Newly-installed Cook County Assessor Frederick “Fritz” Kaegi says he plans to open up the books in the office he campaigned to reform.

    Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi greets the crowd at his swearing in. [Cook County Assessor's Office]
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  • Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle served notice Monday that she was not holding back in the race for Chicago mayor, challenging the nominating petitions of five candidates — all women of color.

    State Rep. Melissa Conyears-Ervin, a candidate for treasurer, delivers boxes of petition objections to the Chicago Board of Elections. [Heather Cherone/The Daily Line]
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  • Chief Judge Timothy Evans installed seven new and 10 returning members of the Cook County Board Monday — one of the youngest and most diverse classes in recent memory that features two millennials, five women and the first openly gay member.

    A younger, more diverse Cook County Board was sworn in Monday. [A.D. Quig/The Daily Line]
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  • Mayor Rahm Emanuel weighed in Friday on the raids that threaten the political future of Chicago’s most powerful alderman, but acknowledged that he had many more questions than answers. The deadline to lodge an objection against the petitions filed by candidates running in the Feb. 26 municipal election looms at 5 p.m. Monday, and State Rep. Melissa Conyears-Ervin launched her campaign for city treasurer with the backing of five aldermen — plus her husband, 28th Ward Ald. Jason Ervin.

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  • Residents of Austin are set to be asked whether they favor raising their property taxes to fund mental health services, nearly seven years after city officials closed six mental health clinics, on the February ballot.

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  • As federal agents raided Ald. Ed Burke’s office one floor above them, members of the City Council’s Committee on Housing and Real Estate carried on as usual, approving an agreement to acquire abandoned railroad tracks near the proposed Lincoln Yards development.

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