Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas is pictured. [Provided]

The Cook County Treasurer’s Office’s latest study showed nearly $2 billion in property taxes were shifted to homeowners from business owners as a result of successful appeals by business owners over three years.

Public Safety Chair Brian Hopkins (2) is pictured at a City Council meeting in April 2024. [Don Vincent/The Daily Line]

The City Council Committee on Public Safety will reconvene on Monday and could consider a measure that would give police more power to impose emergency curfews to respond to large “teen takeovers” that occur downtown predominantly in the summer.

The City Council’s ethics and environment committees will meet Monday to hold a variety of subject matter hearings and to consider two board appointments.   

Bogdana Chkoumbova, CPS chief education officer, discusses first day of school at Excel Academy of South Shore on Monday, August 22, 2022. Chkoumbova announced she is leaving the district in June. (Mauricio Peña / Chalkbeat)

Bogdana Chkoumbova, the Chicago Public Schools chief education officer and outgoing CEO Pedro Martinez’s second-in-command, is leaving the district at the end of the school year.

The Trump administration opened an investigation Tuesday into Chicago Public Schools, alleging race-based discrimination related to the district’s recently released Black Student Success Plan.

The Chicago City Council Committee on Public Safety held off on voting on an ordinance Wednesday that would give the city more power to impose emergency curfews to respond to large teen gatherings.

The City of Chicago warns that mass federal firings and agency restructuring threaten emergency response, public health and environmental protections.

As summer approaches, Chicago’s Public Safety Committee will meet Wednesday to discuss whether to grant the city expanded authority to impose emergency curfews in response to large-scale teen gatherings.

Pictured: Cook County Circuit Court Clerk Mariyana Spyropoulos. [Provided]

Shortly after launching a court data dashboard and launching a mobile app for public use, Cook County Circuit Clerk Mariyana Spyropoulos highlighted what she called some of the office’s successes of her first 100 days  in office. 

On the horizon for the circuit clerk’s office includes creating an e-citation system for traffic tickets throughout the county, as well as allowing defendants to pay fines electronically and schedule court dates without having to appear in person, according to Spyropoulos.

Democrats interested in running for Cook County offices in the 2026 election had the chance to speak to county party members in a pre-slating meeting held April 16 and 17. The party will officially slate and endorse its candidates for county and statewide offices in July.

Mayor Brandon Johnson on Wednesday announced the city is now taking applications for Chicago’s Reparations Task Force, a group that will conduct a comprehensive study on reparations for Black Chicagoans.

Chicago alderpeople welcome a panel of environmental science and justice experts during an April 23, 2025 city council health and environmental joint committee meeting regarding the hazards of single-use plastics. [Screenshot / City of Chicago]

Experts on environmental science and activism – as well as Chicago residents – urged city officials to take immediate action against the production and use of single-use plastics during a city council joint committee meeting this week.

Public commenters talked on Wednesday, both as local environmental leaders and as city dwellers, about the importance of eliminating single-use plastics and common microplastics like polyester fibers, in the name of creating a better Chicago for future generations.

Ald. Maria Hadden (49) asks Environment Comm. Angela Tovar questions at a budget hearing on Dec. 3, 2024. [Livestream]

The Chicago city council’s joint committee on environmental protection and energy, as well as health and human relations, will hold a hearing to set up a future hearing on single-use plastics. 

The meeting is scheduled for 12 p.m. Wednesday in council chambers on the second floor of City Hall, 121 N. LaSalle St. 

Mayor Brandon Johnson speaks at a press conference after signing his executive order creating the budget working group Monday. 

Facing a nearly $1 billion shortfall this year and deeper fiscal pain on the horizon, Mayor Brandon Johnson signed an executive order Monday creating a working group aimed at tackling Chicago’s structural budget challenges. 

By a margin of two votes, the majority of Chicago alderpeople voted on Wednesday to hold the commonly known Green Social Housing ordinance proposal in the council’s joint finance, housing and real estate committee.