Police Supt. Larry Snelling speaks at City Club of Chicago on Aug. 12, 2024. [Livestream]

Chicago Police Supt. Larry Snelling addressed summertime violence and the Democratic National Convention at City Club of Chicago on Monday.

U.S. Palestinian Community Network national chair Hatem Abudayyeh speaks to reporters about the March on the DNC at an organizing event in April 2024. [Michael McDevitt/The Daily Line]

The Coalition to March on the Democratic National Convention expects a federal judge to issue a decision Tuesday in the group’s legal battle with the city to receive a permit for planned demonstrations on Aug. 19 and Aug. 22.

City Hall is pictured in this file photo. [Don Vincent/The Daily Line]

Mayor Brandon Johnson and the Chicago Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection (BACP) announced on Friday the issuance a request for proposals to select an organization interested in administering the federally funded Small Business and Not-For-Profit Support Grant Program, which will aim to help businesses and nonprofits hurt by the pandemic.

The Cook County forest preserves celebrated the completion of a major renovation project, and City Club of Chicago has plans to host multiple events during the week of the upcoming Democratic convention.

Kyle Lucas of Better Streets Chicago speaks at a rally against the current Redefine the Drive proposal at Truman College on Aug. 8, 2024. [Don Vincent/The Daily Line]

Public transit, bicycle and safe streets advocates rallied with local lawmakers outside an open house in Uptown Thursday afternoon where the state and city transportation departments were showing off the current plans for a major overhaul of North DuSable Lake Shore Drive.

At the rally, scores of attendees continued to call for the city and state to halt the planning process for the Redefine the Drive project and put forward a new proposal that gives more priority to green space, pedestrian and bike friendliness and bus transit and less priority to car traffic.

The Cook County Board of Review speaks to the County Board of Commissioners on July 29, 2024. [Livestream]

Not all commissioners on the Cook County Board of Review are in agreement with County Assessor Fritz Kaegi’s calls for a state or countywide “circuit breaker” program to help mitigate property tax bills for homeowners that can’t pay. Those that are think more should still be done.

U.S. Palestinian Community Network national chair Hatem Abudayyeh speaks to reporters about the March on the DNC coalition's protest plans on April 13, 2024. [Michael McDevitt/The Daily Line]

The coalition of groups planning to march near the United Center during the Democratic National Convention (DNC) later this month is still engaged in a legal battle with the city over securing a permitted route for potentially tens of thousands of people seeking to decry the party’s complicity in Israel’s actions in the Gaza Strip and call for the end of military aid, along with other progressive policy goals.

The Chicago Department of Transportation and Illinois Department of Transportation are set to host a public open house Thursday on the Redefine the Drive effort, which aims to pair the replacement and reconstruction of crucial infrastructure elements on North DuSable Lake Shore Drive with improvements to the boulevard.

Chicago's skyline is pictured in this file photo.

The Democratic National Convention is estimated to generate $150 million in revenue across restaurants, hotels, bars and other places around the city when the four-day event occurs later this month, according to the city’s tourist arm, and business and hospitality groups are preparing ways to maximize their slice of the economic boon.

City Hall is pictured in May 2023. [Don Vincent/The Daily Line]

The city has obligated 90 percent of its federal pandemic relief funds and spent 83 percent of the funds as it faces a deadline to exhaust the money and ensure none of it is clawed back by the federal government, the city said as it issued its annual report on the use of the funds last week.

Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi gives a mid-year budget update to the County Board of Commissioners on July 29, 2024. [Livestream]

Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi discussed rising tax bills for homeowners when he faced questions from the County Board of Commissioners for the second time in a week on Monday. While he faced questions last Monday about how his office has addressed the “apartment loophole” at a county legislation committee meeting, this past week he addressed how the government could alleviate the burden of higher property tax bills for homeowners.

Then-acting Public Building Commission Executive Director Ray Giderof speaks at the Chicago Build Expo in October 2023. [Public Building Commission of Chicago Facebook page]

Mayor Brandon Johnson on Wednesday announced the appointment of Ray Giderof to serve as the next executive director of the Public Building Commission (PBC). Giderof had been serving as the PBC’s acting director before being tapped for the permanent position.

The city received a bond ratings upgrade, and Republican presidential contender Donald Trump traveled to Chicago Wednesday to speak to a conference of Black journalists.

Ald. Michael Scott during a political event in March 2020 [Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago]

Former 24th Ward Ald. Michael Scott Jr. will succeed the late County Comm. Dennis Deer on the Cook County Board of Commissioners after a committee of County Democratic Party committeepersons met Tuesday evening and selected Scott to fill the vacant District 2 seat on the board.

Mayor Brandon Johnson announced the appointment of a new chief procurement officer on Tuesday, nearly two weeks after the City Council approved a severance agreement that allowed the mayor to terminate the former head of the city’s Department of Procurement Services. 

Sharla Roberts, former director of procurement diversity at the University of Illinois, was appointed by Johnson to the role, the mayor’s office announced in a news release.