The Forest Preserve of Cook County introduced its $192 million FY2017 budget Tuesday. It includes $2.6 million in extra costs, driven in part by lowered Personal Property Replacement Tax receipts from the state, and a scheduled raise for unionized employees.

Cook County’s Legislation and Intergovernmental Affairs committee passed minimum wage provisions along a divided party line and after sometimes-contentious debate between commissioners and members of the public. The vote came less than three weeks after the ordinance was introduced, and shortly after commissioners also voted to adopt paid sick leave provisions. Both mandates have the same start date: July 1, 2017.

Commissioners will face a full Board vote on the minimum wage (more in our report, above), a drug takeback program that received bipartisan support, three tax and procurement changes proposed by Comm. John Fritchey (D-12), and a possible overhaul of the county’s property tax incentive system. Committee meetings are scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m.

Investigators at the Independent Police Review Authority will be offered an opportunity to apply for open positions at its replacement agency, but the overall job qualification criteria, selection process, and training for the new investigators are still being worked out, IPRA Chief Administrator Sharon Fairley told aldermen Tuesday.

The first traditional day of Early Voting in Chicago Monday broke previous presidential election year records by almost two thousand people as 17,493 people flowed to polls across the 50 wards for a total 39,725 early votes since polls first opened, reports the Chicago Board of Elections. Meanwhile, 31,077 residents have voted in suburban Cook County during the same period, according to the Cook County Clerk’s Office, which manages suburban Cook elections.

Pre-trial detention and bond court practices took center stage at a morning press conference with President Toni Preckwinkle and Comm. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia (D-7) Monday, and just after the press conference at a lengthy budget hearing with Cook County Public Defender Amy Campanelli. Both suggested the costs of bonds needlessly keeps non-violent offenders in jail, and should be reformed.  

Cook County interrupts its budget hearing marathon Tuesday for regular county business, including votes on a recently-introduced county minimum wage, and a long-awaited, much-amended pharmaceutical disposal ordinance. The minimum wage ordinance includes some key amendments, including penalties for companies that don’t follow the mandate.

Jet plane noise, a lack of minority contractors, rocky labor relations at O’Hare Airport and a $100,000 bonus for Aviation Commissioner Ginger Evans dominated the discussion of the Department of Aviation's budget hearing Monday.

Private event management companies hired by local Chicago community groups to organize street festivals were accused of “fraudulent” practices at the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events budget hearing Monday.  

Chicago won’t move forward on legislation to require that ride-share companies make at least five percent of their fleet wheelchair accessible until first reviewing Uber and Lyft’s internal studies on the matter, the Commissioner for the Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities told aldermen Monday.

An ordinance from downtown Ald. Brendan Reilly (42) to repeal an ordinance establishing an honorary street sign for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is on the Transportation Committee agenda for this morning. It’s the only non-routine item on Tuesday’s agenda.  At the October monthly City Council meeting, citing Trump’s repeated racist comments and “mean-spirited remarks about Chicago,” Ald. Reilly introduced an ordinance that would repeal the designation and require that CDOT Commissioner Rebekah Scheinfeld remove the honorary "Trump Plaza” sign which is located at the east side of North Wabash Avenue.

In under 10 minutes, and without a quorum, the Committee on Public Safety approved the appointment of Steve Flores, a partner at Winston & Strawn LLP, to the Police Board, the agency in charge of recommending disciplinary action against police officers accused of misconduct.

Cook County Circuit Court Judge Diane J. Larsen delayed ruling Monday morning on an Open Meetings Act injunction on the May 18 and June 22 City Council meetings, directing plaintiffs to file a new brief that takes into account a new seating policy issued by the City Council Sergeant-at-Arms on October 4. Plaintiffs Andy Thayer and Rick Garcia charge they and other protesters were kept from attending the meetings because city employees packed the Council gallery and prevented members of the public from going to the gallery.

The city’s Commissioner for Animal Care and Control ran into a buzzsaw of questioning from Ald. Raymond Lopez (15) Friday afternoon, as Lopez ran down a lengthy list of prepared questions charging shoddy management of the agency and a failure to fulfill requirements for a donor’s two million dollar gift.

A little over a dozen aldermen showed up for budget hearings Friday morning, which included swan song testimony for City Clerk Susana Mendoza, who is widely expected to win her campaign for State Comptroller on November 8. Aldermen in the Budget Committee, helmed by Vice Chair Jason Ervin (28) for the fourth day in a row, also lightly questioned the Public Library commissioners, mostly asking for further details on how they can obtain additional library services.