From left: Ald. Rossana Rodriguez-Sanchez (33), Ald. Matt Martin (47) and Ald. Jeanette Taylor (20) speak during a committee meeting Thursday.

Aldermen spent nearly three hours on Thursday grilling Chicago Public Schools officials over how they could consider making cuts to budgets in any schools while the city is still under the hold of the pandemic and whether student-based funding for schools is the right way to decide spending.

The City Council Committee on Finance has approved more than $36 million in police-related settlements so far in 2022. [Don Vincent/The Daily Line]

A City Council committee quickly teed up a $14.25 million legal settlement up for approval on Monday in what stands to be the costliest legal payout the City Council has approved so far this year. 

Bally’s Corporation Chairman Soo Kim describes his firm’s casino proposal during a May 9 City Council committee hearing.

A committee meeting scheduled for Friday morning will mark a critical test of the City Council’s faith in Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration as her top deputies prod aldermen put to Bally’s plan into motion to build a $1.7 billion casino and entertainment destination on the banks of the Chicago River.

Lightfoot’s team has argued the City Council must approve an ordinance this month authorizing a city-backed casino to open in Chicago so that officials can push forward with an application to the Illinois Gaming Board with enough time to cash in on a $40 million upfront payment from Bally’s before this budget year runs out. But scarcely three weeks after Lightfoot announced Bally’s as her administration’s pick, she must overcome a handful of aldermen who are deadset against the plan and many more who are reluctant to offer “yes” votes without more time to study the plan.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot speaks during a news conference on Monday. 

Four days after Mayor Lori Lightfoot issued an executive order directing the Chicago Police Department to “immediately increase” the enforcement of a curfew for minors rolled back from 11 p.m. to 10 p.m., the mayor is asking aldermen to codify the tweaked curfew hours into the city code.

Budget Director Susie Park speaks during a committee meeting on Wednesday.

City budget officials are projecting Chicago will face a $305.7 million budget gap in 2023 — more than $560 million than the figure officials projected last year and that they used again last week to urge speedy approval of a Chicago casino.

Left: Ald. Michele Smith (43) speaks during a City Council committee meeting on Wednesday. Right: Tyler Quast of Blue Star Properties describes the Salt Shed proposal.

Aldermen on Wednesday steamrolled two of their colleagues to advance an ordinance (O2022-1279) opening the door for mega-event spaces to hold outdoor concerts on a permanent basis. The measure will most immediately give a boost to the “Salt Shed” concert venue that is on the verge of opening on the Chicago River — but two nearby aldermen warned that the legal change could lead to a “slippery policy path” that threatens public and natural access to the river.

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle speaks with county officials and Stockton Mayor Michael Tubbs at the Chicago Cultural Center on Wednesday

Cook County is pushing forward with a plan to funnel $42 million in federal stimulus money into a guaranteed income pilot program that aims to start sending out checks by the end of 2022, officials announced Wednesday. The program is set to dwarf Chicago’s $31.5 million cash assistance program to become “the nation’s largest publicly funded guaranteed income initiative,” according to Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle’s office.

Speed cameras have captured drivers who exceed the speed limit by 6 mph or more near schools or parks since March 2021. [Anjali Pinto/ProPublica]

After spending more than a year ping-ponging through various stages of City Council purgatory, a proposal by Ald. Anthony Beale (9) to roll back a controversial speed camera penalty is finally set for a vote on Thursday — but only after city transportation officials make their case for why the extra fines should stay in place.

CPS CEO Pedro Martinez speaks during a news conference in November 2021. [Colin Boyle / Block Club Chicago]

Aldermen are set on Thursday to discuss budget cuts to Chicago Public Schools as the city’s public schools continue to see enrollment dips.

From left: Ald. Roberto Maldonado (26), Chicago Department of Housing policy director Daniel Hertz and Ald. James Cappleman (46) speak during a City Council Housing Committee meeting on Tuesday.

The city’s fledgling effort to bless the construction of backyard coach houses and basement dwelling units is working just as housing officials hoped it would, a department leader told aldermen on Tuesday — but plenty of barriers remain that hold the program back from its potential to expand affordable housing options across the city.

City officials and multiple aldermen signaled during a committee hearing on Tuesday that they’re ready to expand the program, but some aldermen remain skeptical of the policy.

A graph shows a potential timeline for CTA’s electrification of its buses.

The process of switching the city’s fleet from diesel to electric-powered vehicles is slow moving as the city makes plans to phase out old vehicles and waits for federal funding to be unlocked to move the process along, according to information presented Tuesday during a City Council committee hearing. Still, the CTA has charted out an aggressive plan to electrify its bus fleet during the course of the next two decades, agency officials said.

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Members of the City Council’s budget committee are set for a packed meeting on Wednesday when they will consider a water meter installation program proposed by Mayor Lori Lightfoot and will hear an update on the city’s finances.

A rendering of the outdoor event space planned for the Salt Shed at 1357 N. Elston Ave., which is lined up to be the first recipient of a new Outdoor Entertainment Venue liquor license from the city. [Lamar Johnson Collaborative]

Large event venues would be able to regularly play music and serve alcohol outdoors — with restrictions — under a new ordinance set for consideration by a City Council committee on Wednesday.

Supporters of the ward map approved by City Council on Monday held a news conference after a special meeting. [Erin Hegarty/The Daily Line]

Just one week after they reached a compromise over new ward boundaries, 43 aldermen voted on Monday to support a new city ward map just in time to avoid sending the decision to voters in the June 28 primary.

Ald. Daniel La Spata (1) showing an example of public bathrooms some cities have installed.

It would be “doable” and worthwhile for Chicago to build a network of freestanding public toilets around the city, a cluster of progressive aldermen argued in a City Council hearing on Monday. And while the effort has yet to gain the backing of Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration or of most aldermen, it may have gained a powerful ally in the chair of a key council committee.