Ald. Raymond Lopez (15), pictured at a City Council meeting in January 2025, has three ordinances before the public safety committee Tuesday. [Don Vincent/The Daily Line]

The City Council Committee on Public Safety on Tuesday will consider an ordinance hiking fines for animal cruelty, a measure to enhance penalties for minors that violate curfew and engage in other disruptive, destructive and illegal behavior, while seeking to also hold parents accountable, and a measure to enhance penalties for behavior that disturbs the peace where an offender conceals their identity. 

The public safety committee will meet at 10:30 a.m. in council chambers.

Finance Chair Pat Dowell (3) is pictured during a City Council meeting on June 12, 2024. [Don Vincent/The Daily Line]

The City Council Committee on Finance on Friday advanced a proposal to create a new local taxing district within the city’s busiest tourist areas to generate revenue to be reinvested in the promotion of the city’s tourism and convention industries.

City Hall is pictured. [Don Vincent/The Daily Line]

Two rating agencies downgraded the city of Chicago’s credit this week, citing continued under-reliance on structural fiscal solutions to its budget gaps, growing pressure on city finances due to pension obligations and uncertainty from a number of unproven revenue sources passed in the City Council-driven budget plan.

Finance Chair Pat Dowell (3) is pictured during a City Council meeting on June 12, 2024. [Don Vincent/The Daily Line]

The City Council Committee on Finance on Friday will hold a hearing and vote on a proposal to create a local taxing district to help promote the city’s tourism and convention industry.

Chicago Animal Care and Control Executive Director Susan Cappello speaks at a city animal shelter press conference next to Mayor Brandon Johnson on Feb. 25, 2026. [Livestream]

The mayor and several alderpeople traveled to Chicago Animal Care and Control (CACC) on Wednesday to extol the leadership and qualifications of the agency’s newly appointed director, whose selection has drawn some criticism.

Earlier this month, Mayor Brandon Johnson appointed CACC Executive Director Susan Cappello following a long tenure as the agency’s interim leader, which predated Johnson’s ascension to the fifth floor. Cappello has worked for the city for 36 years — including more than two decades with the animal control agency — and previously served as a deputy CACC director.

Inspector General Deborah Witzburg speaks to City Club of Chicago on Aug. 26, 2025. [Livestream]

As Chicago Inspector General Deborah Witzburg’s tenure comes to an end in a little over a month, a committee of experts and stakeholders are evaluating candidates to fill the position.

Chicago City Hall is pictured. [Don Vincent/The Daily Line]

About a week after the City Council passed a measure intended to circumvent the Johnson administration and notify the state about the city opting in to the legalization of video gambling, the Illinois Gaming Board said Tuesday it still hadn’t received any notification. City Clerk Anna Valencia’s office said it would meet its obligations to notify them this week. 

From left, Comm. Frank Aguilar (D-16), Miranda Hernandez and Berwyn City Clerk Letty Garcia are running for District 16 on the Cook County Board of Commissioners [Provided]

Comm. Frank Aguilar (D-16) is being challenged for his seat on the Cook County Board of Commissioners this spring by two opponents in his party, and one of them is raising far more funds than he has.

The incumbent commissioner is a former Republican state representative who was appointed to the board in 2020, after changing his party affiliation about six or seven years earlier, to replace Comm. Jeffrey Tobolski. He was elected in 2022 to a full term.

A rendering of the proposed building at 215 N. Racine Ave. [Department of Planning and Development]

The Chicago Plan Commission last week approved large residential projects in Lake View and the West Loop, including one project that was approved by the body despite the disapproval of the city’s zoning administrator. 

State's Attorney Eileen O'Neill Burke attends the 2025 Machine Gun Conversion Device Summit in June 2025. [Cook County State's Attorney's Office]

A couple weeks after Mayor Brandon Johnson issued an executive order that directs the Chicago Police Department (CPD) to investigate potential crimes committed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other federal immigration agents in the course of their duties and refer them to the state’s attorney’s office for possible prosecution, the state’s attorney’s office has issued its own guidance after questioning the viability of the mayor’s directive. 

Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke’s office said the new guidance, dubbed the Federal Immigration Enforcement Action Response Protocol, became effective Thursday.  

Mayor Brandon Johnson presides over a City Council meeting on Dec. 16, 2024. [Don Vincent/The Daily Line]

The City Council on Wednesday passed measures to notify the state gaming board of the city’s legalization of video gambling and to create a public review period for pending retail tobacco licenses but quashed a pilot program to let residents report commercial vehicles blocking sidewalk, bus and bicycle access.

Mayor Brandon Johnson is pictured at a City Council meeting on March 12, 2025. [Don Vincent/The Daily Line] 

Alderpeople on Wednesday failed to override the mayor’s veto of Ald. Marty Quinn’s (13) ordinance limiting the sale of intoxicating hemp products. Some of those in support of the veto said the city now has time to craft a more effective and equitable law, but proponents of Quinn’s ordinance said the veto will perpetuate the dangers associated with the unregulated hemp market.

Ald. Daniel La Spata (1), sponsor of the public parking violation reporting pilot ordinance, is pictured a City Council meeting on Feb. 19, 2025. [Don Vincent/The Daily Line]

The City Council on Wednesday will consider measures to notify the state gaming board of the city’s legalization of video gambling, to create a public review period for pending retail tobacco licenses and to begin the process of establishing a pilot program to let residents report commercial vehicles blocking sidewalk, bus and bicycle access.

The council will also consider an appointment to the Community Development Commission and multiple large settlements tied to wrongful convictions. Finally, the council will have the opportunity to try to overturn Mayor Brandon Johnson’s veto of an ordinance to limit the sale of intoxicating hemp products. The council meets at 10 a.m.

Renderings show the proposed master plan for the Foundry Park development site. [Chicago Department of Planning and Development presentation]

The City Council Committee on Zoning, Landmarks and Building Standards on Tuesday approved a measure to allow some downtown developments to surpass parking limits, and it approved plans for a mixed-use development along the North Branch of the Chicago River.

The approved items will be considered by the council on Wednesday.

Cook County Board of Review Comm. Samantha Steele (D-2) will face political consultant Liz Nicholson in the upcoming Democratic primary. [Steele photo courtesy of Cook County/Nicholson photo provided]

Cook County Board of Review Comm. Samantha Steele (D-2), who’s been at the center of several ethics concerns and other controversies during her tenure, is facing political consultant Liz Nicholson in the upcoming Democratic primary, a candidate the incumbent commissioner said lacks relevant experience. 

Board of Review District 2 includes all or parts of the townships of Elk Grove, Evanston, Jefferson, Lakeview North Chicago, Leyden, Maine, New Trier, Niles, Northfield, Norwood Park, Rogers Park, West Chicago and Wheeling.