Chicago News

  • A measure that would give an elected board control of the Chicago Police Department will get a hearing at noon on Monday at City Hall — 27 months after it was first introduced.

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  • Infrastructure changes planned around the Obama Presidential Center advanced Thursday, as the Committee on Transportation and Public Way endorsed the closure and widening of several roads to allow the four-building center to be built in Jackson Park.

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  • Two Cook County branch courts finally have a closing date—  months after Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle and Chief Judge Timothy Evans reached a settlement over proposed court cuts included in the 2018 budget.  

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  • Aldermen agreed to ban Airbnb or other home-sharing services from setting up shop in three more precincts of the 13th Ward, as Ald. Marty Quinn continued his push to keep the services out of his Southwest Side ward.

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  • Cook County commissioners met for the third day of budget hearings, with two more departments requesting a slight bump in their budgets. Commissioners will receive their final departmental briefings on Thursday from the Cook County Health and Hospitals System and Chief Judge Timothy Evans.

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  • An ad produced by Gov. Bruce Rauner's campaign depicts Democrats JB Pritzker and House Speaker Mike Madigan getting married in an "unholy union," in which the officiant pronounces Illinois "f*****" due to tax increases and corruption. [screenshot courtesy of Bruce Rauner on YouTube]
    Same-sex marriage became legal in Illinois with an act of the General Assembly nearly five years ago, on Nov. 5, 2013, prompting gay rights advocates to hail the state as a leader that would prompt other states to follow suit.
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  • Closing six of the city’s 12 mental health clinics in 2011 — a move that triggered vehement protests drew national attention and remains a political albatross for Mayor Rahm Emanuel — was the “necessary and right” thing to do, Chicago Department of Health Commissioner Dr. Julie Morita told aldermen Wednesday.

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  • Approximately 500,000 Chicago drivers don’t have a city sticker — as required by the city law — and thousands are getting hit with ticket after ticket, City Clerk Anna Valencia told aldermen Tuesday as she presented her office’s $4.1 million 2019 budget.



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  • A measure designed to keep liquor from being sold within 100 feet of places of worship, schools and hospitals as well as homes for the aged, indigent and veterans is up for a vote at the meeting of the Committee on License and Consumer Protections set for 10 a.m. Wednesday.


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  • Supporters of a measure that would give an elected board control of the Chicago Police Department rallied Tuesday at City Hall, and an alderman vowed to force a vote on the measure. Another alderman cashed a $20,000 check from Mayor Rahm Emanuel, and budget hearings completed their second day.

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  • Sheriff Tom Dart appeared at the Cook County Board Tuesday to defend his office’s $600 million budget, celebrating a $26 million reduction in overtime, taking in 10,000 pounds of leftover pharmaceuticals and efforts to battle gun violence on the city’s South and West Sides.

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  • Approximately 19,000 Chicagoans have already cast their ballot in the Nov. 6 election, officials with Chicago Board of Election Commissioners told aldermen Tuesday.

    A polling place in March 2018. [A.D. Quig/The Daily Line]
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  • While budget hearings continued, aldermen also worked through a regular slate of committee meetings in preparation for next week’s City Council meeting.


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  • Seven years after all 50 aldermen went along with Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s proposal to close six of the city’s 12 mental health clinics, triggering vehement protests and national attention, the Chicago Department of Health will detail plans to spend an additional $1.4 million on mental health services in 2019.

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  • The creation of a new Office of Labor Standards in the Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection to “promote, administer and enforce Chicago’s labor laws,” is up for consideration by aldermen Tuesday.

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