Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events Comm. Erin Harkey (left) Chicago Department of Housing Comm. Marisa Novara (left) speak during a committee meeting on Wednesday. 

New funding from the American Rescue Plan Act will allow Chicago to multiply the impact of a broad suite of existing housing programs, from support for new affordable developments to repair grants for homeowners to anti-homelessness initiatives, housing officials said Wednesday. And city-backed cultural grants will flow much more heavily than they have in previous years.  

But with months to go before many of the programs are underway, aldermen pushed for more information about how the new spending will be overseen. 

A $29 million Cook County vaccination program is among new proposed spending initiatives set to be unveiled on Thursday. [Facebook/Cook County Health]

Cook County budget officials are set Thursday to unveil more than $35 million in new long-term spending initiatives backed by federal stimulus dollars. They will also pave the way for the county to recruit its first new inspector general in 14 years and will finalize the approval of nearly $11 million in settlement payments to end various lawsuits against the county.  

The items are among dozens of orders of business the county’s Board of Commissioners is scheduled to dispatch during its regular monthly meeting at 10 a.m. Thursday. 

A key committee is scheduled on Thursday to vote on adding new outdoor liquor licenses to Millennium Park. Another committee will hear about contractors’ use of minority- and women-owned businesses. And city public health officials announced they may lift vaccination and mask mandates by the end of February. 

Opening arguments in Ald. Patrick Daley Thompson’s (11) federal criminal trial began on Tuesday. [Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago]

In opening arguments during his federal criminal trial, attorneys painted different pictures of Ald. Patrick Daley Thompson (11) on Tuesday. The alderman’s lawyer portrayed him as often unorganized and “frazzled,” while an assistant U.S. attorney saying the real estate attorney and alderman knew what he was doing in allegedly underreporting his income and lying to banking regulators. 

Aldermen listen to Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s 2022 budget address in September 2021. [The Daily Line/Don Vincent] 

A new City Council subcommittee launched to keep tabs on Chicago’s spending of federally backed stimulus money is set to hold its first meeting Wednesday, kicking off a process one key alderman said he hopes sets a new standard for oversight on the city’s spending of taxpayer dollars.  

Lawyers for indicted Ald. Ed Burke (14) argued during a critical evidentiary hearing on Tuesday that key secret recordings by former Ald. Danny Solis should be thrown out as evidence in Burke’s upcoming extortion trial. A key City Council committee is set on Wednesday for the second time in less than one month to consider the appointment to head the city’s Civilian Office of Police Accountability. City leaders unveiled members of a new Museum Campus working group on Tuesday. And the Chicago Board Ethics released a list of lobbyists who have been fined for late registration. 

Snow covers a sidewalk and part of a crosswalk in Logan Square [Erin Hegarty / The Daily Line]

A proposal organized by Chicago residents asking city leaders to consider the clearing of snow from sidewalks as a municipal service is getting attention from some aldermen who are asking city officials to take a look at costs and logistics of such a service. 

The Aldermanic Black Caucus filed paperwork on Monday to create a political action committee to support caucus members and the work of the caucus. And city leaders held a news conference to update residents on efforts to curb carjackings. 

Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas during a 2019 news conference. Pappas has repeatedly demanded information from the Cook County Land Bank on how many properties it hopes to acquire from the county’s upcoming Scavenger Sale. [Alex Nitkin/The Daily Line]

Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas stepped up her back-and-forth with the county Land Bank Authority with a special delivery on Friday to every elected county commissioner and to Eleanor Gorski, the land bank’s executive director. 

Menu dollars helped fund a new fieldhouse at Maplewood Park in the 1st Ward. [Chicago Park District]

Aldermen across the city’s 50 wards routinely use their $1.5 million in annual discretionary funding to pay for projects like improvements to Chicago Park District parks, CPS playgrounds and fencing, and landing pads for CTA buses.

Large buildings in Chicago reported progress in lowering carbon emissions, but fewer buildings are sharing their data. And Chicago and Cook County leaders offered a mix of reactions to the early release of former Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke from prison on Thursday. 

More than 31,000 properties are set to go up for auction in this month’s Cook County Scavenger Sale. Nearly 12,000 of them were also offered at the last three Scavenger Sales and found no buyers. [Eric Allix Rogers on Flickr]

The biennial Cook Count Scavenger Sale, when investors are invited to bid on thousands of delinquent properties, will look different this year. For the first time, potential bidders will be able to sift through a public interactive database of properties in the county’s charge when the sale gets underway on Feb. 14.  

But county Treasurer Maria Pappas hopes the next Scavenger Sale looks far more different. 

With the signing of an executive order, Mayor Lori Lightfoot formalized Chicago’s first Food Equity Council on Wednesday. And the city office that helps people with disabilities is partnering with Microsoft for a new mentorship program. 

Ald. Michelle Harris, 8th, head of the Chicago City Council’s Rules Committee. (Don Vincent/The Daily Line)

As Black and Latino politicians continue to struggle for power on the Chicago City Council, the likelihood of a citywide referendum — followed by an expensive and lengthy court battle — grows along with political tensions.

The city of issue issued bid requests for a guaranteed income pilot program that could begin issuing checks by the summer. [Giorgio Trovato on Unsplash] 

City officials are hoping the outreach and recruitment processes for a planned $31.5 million guaranteed income pilot program can be launched in March with an initial batch of payments going out to qualifying households as early as May, according to requests from the city published this week.