News in brief: Dowell launches Secretary of State election campaign; aldermen to consider parade ordinance; Lightfoot announces 10 libraries with expanded Sunday hours

News in brief: Dowell launches Secretary of State election campaign; aldermen to consider parade ordinance; Lightfoot announces 10 libraries with expanded Sunday hours 

Advocates of an elected Chicago Public Schools board rallying downtown in January [Justin Laurence/Block Club]

Chicago-area power brokers are poised on Wednesday to take two symbolic but potentially meaningful votes, setting up a test of the Cook County Democratic Party’s influence.

The party’s Central Committee is set to meet virtually at 5 p.m. Wednesday to vote on a resolution in support of a long-fought state bill (HB2908) that would transition the mayoral-appointed Chicago Public Schools Board of Education into a fully elected body. They will also vote on whether to publicly admonish Ald. Brendan Reilly (42) for endorsing a Republican in a competitive partisan race last year.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Chicago Police Supt. David Brown addressed the fatal police shooting of a 13-year-old boy.

One week after police fatally shot a 13-year-old boy in Little Village, Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Monday said she wants the Chicago Police Department to revisit its policy on foot pursuits “before the summer,” but neither she nor Supt. David Brown offered details on how the policy should change.

Lightfoot made the announcement from New Life Community Church in Little Village, representing her and Brown’s first in-person remarks on the fatal police shooting of 13-year-old Adam Toledo that occurred March 29 in the same neighborhood.

News in brief: Pritzker signs Chicago firefighter pension bill; Pritzker promotes program to combat learning loss

News in brief: Pritzker signs Chicago firefighter pension bill 

News in brief: CTA tests electric buses; Pritzker signs CTU bargaining bill

CTA buses saw a 50 percent decline in trips between 2019 and 2020. [Lee Edwards/Block Club]

Mass transit became an immediate casualty of the COVID-19 pandemic last year, as nationwide stay-at-home orders and crowding concerns drove Americans away from trains and buses.

The drop-off did not spare Chicago-area transit networks, which saw a freefall in ridership in April and May 2020, according to a March 25 report from the Illinois Economic Policy Institute. Even as the region began to partially reopen in June, CTA buses saw a 50 percent decline in trips compared to 2019, while CTA trains suffered a loss of 77 percent and Metra lost 89 percent of its riders.

News in brief: CTA tests electric buses; Pritzker signs CTU bargaining bill 

News in brief: Emissions decline from large buildings, but schools lag; Chicago ‘probably will’ see delay in Johnson & Johnson vaccine: Arwady 

News in brief: Emissions decline from large buildings, but schools lag; Chicago ‘probably will’ see delay in Johnson & Johnson vaccine: Arwady

Instead of fusing all their ideas together, proponents of two competing proposals to enact civilian oversight of the Chicago Police Department struck a compromise last month by asking voters to chose which version they like better.

The new proposed measure, called the Empowering Communities for Public Safety Ordinance, is endorsed by advocates of the Grassroots Alliance for Police Accountability (GAPA) and Civilian Police Accountability Council (CPAC) proposals — neither of which is supported by Mayor Lori Lightfoot.

News in brief: City opens ‘state of the art’ West Pullman firehouse; Lightfoot says she wants casino ‘entertainment district;’ BACP fires warning shot at businesses 

News in brief: City opens ‘state of the art’ West Pullman firehouse; Lightfoot says she wants casino ‘entertainment district;’ BACP fires warning shot at businesses

The city of Chicago and the Chicago Police Department continue to miss deadlines set out in the federal consent decree established in March 2019, a semi-annual report from Independent Monitor Maggie Hickey shows.