Representatives from the pharmaceutical industry told the City Council’s Budget Committee that a proposed license for drug salespeople included in the 2017 budget is “onerous” and would do little to curb the epidemic of opioid abuse within the city.

Ald. Pat Dowell (3), along with the other 17 members of the City Council’s Black Caucus, sent a letter to Mayor Rahm Emanuel demanding that minority hiring be added to the list of criteria for an annual bonus Aviation Commissioner Ginger Evans is entitled to every year.

The Committees on Budget and Finance meet today to consider a patchwork of ordinances concerning the 2017 budget, from the proposed seven-cent bag tax to the new commercial loading zone pilot program for the city’s Central Business District. As previously reported, there’s also a direct introduction up in Finance Committee from Ald. Patrick Daley Thompson (11) to amend the city’s ban on the sale of flavored cigarettes near schools.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know that the Cubs won the World Series for the first time in over a century. Cubs mania has taken over Chicago, with a record five million people showing up to the victory parade that wound through downtown on Friday. That excitement spilled over into City Council again. But this week, we wanted pivot to take a deeper dive into a more pressing issue facing the city right now: the Department of Justice’s investigation into the Chicago Police Department. It’s been nearly a year since DOJ opened its pattern or practice investigation into CPD, and with a new administration on the way in, we wanted to give you a more in-depth understanding of what that investigation entails and what we can expect in the next few months (and years) ahead.

This episode was spurred by testimony from Corporation Counsel Steve Patton during his budget hearing. The city’s Law Department spent much of 2016 complying with DOJ document requests, and Patton anticipates the investigation will wrap “within the next few months.” This episode includes an extended interview with a former Special Litigation Section Chief at the DOJ from 2010 to 2015, Jonathan Smith. He worked on nearly two dozen police investigations, including probes in Ferguson, Seattle, Albuquerque, and Portland. He says it’s likely the Obama administration is working as quick as it can to finish the investigation before the new administration begins–whoever it might be.

Chicago’s 2017 budget introduces over a dozen new and increased fees and taxes. To accomplish this, a revenue ordinance typically accompanies the budget appropriation. Here is an overview of the items in this year’s revenue ordinance.

The city’s proposed pharmaceutical licensing fee included in the 2017 budget appears to be focused more on tracking drug marketers than revenue. As detailed in the 2017 Management Ordinance introduced this week, the application process would require a significant amount of information aimed at tracking the doctors pharmaceutical reps are meeting with and what drugs they’re pushing.

Kicking off a nearly three hour long public hearing on Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s $8.33 billion 2017 budget ($9.81 billion counting grant funds), the Civic Federation’s Laurence Msall expressed concern over the city’s ambitious hiring plan for the police department, urged aldermen to oppose the statewide “lockbox” amendment, and suggested the city’s newly-imposed monthly garbage fee be increased annually.

The City Council approved a $2 million settlement with two police officers, Shannon Spalding and Daniel Echeverria, who accused their superiors of retaliating against them for whistleblowing. It’s a case that Mayor Rahm Emanuel had been called to testify on, but was ultimately spared from when the city’s Law Department announced a settlement on the eve of the trial.

Aldermen on the Council’s Finance Committee approved the $2 million settlement of a long-standing lawsuit against the Chicago Police Department filed by police officers Shannon Spalding and Daniel Echeverria. The two claim they were retaliated against for whistleblowing. Mayor Rahm Emanuel was called to testify for this suit earlier this year following his acknowledgement last December that a “code of silence” exists within the Chicago Police Department. He was ultimately spared from doing so on May 31, the eve of the trial, when the city’s Law Department announced its decision to settle.

The full City Council is scheduled to meet today to consider some non-budgetary items, such as a $2 million settlement of a cases brought by two Chicago police officers alleging retaliation by superiors for whistleblowing, an ordinance repealing the Trump Plaza street designation, and a new appointment to the Police Board.

Corporation Counsel Steve Patton told aldermen Friday that he anticipates the Department of Justice will conclude its pattern and practice investigation into the Chicago Police Department “within the next few months.”

Asked by reporters to peg down a more specific timeline after his more than two hour hearing with aldermen on his department’s budget, Patton refused, saying only, “We will continue to try to move this process as quickly as we can, and with the goal of completing it next year. But, again, we don’t control the Department of Justice and I want to continuously emphasize we are trying to do everything we can to give them what they need, so they can do their work as quickly as [they] can.”

CPD Budget Hearing (Claudia Morell, The Daily Line)

Chicago Police Supt. Eddie Johnson told aldermen Thursday that he wants to make the Chicago Police Department a “model” for the rest of the country when it comes to training, professionalism and diversity.

With the Chicago Cubs advancing to the World Series for the first time in over 70 years, aldermen spent a majority of Inspector General Joe Ferguson’s budget hearing griping about a new ethics rule barring them accepting face-value tickets to any of the home games from the team. Even though it was the Board of Ethics who drafted the advisory ethics rule, not the Inspector General, Ferguson was left holding the bag, sounding like a broken record as he continuously told aldermen that he had no part in drafting the rules, and he had no opinion on them.

Improving and expanding behavioral health services throughout the city of Chicago is one of the Department of Public Health’s (CDPH) biggest priorities right now, Commissioner Dr. Julie Morita told aldermen Wednesday, as she fielded questions about a supposed privatization of one of the city’s mental health clinics on the far South Side.

Talk of rats, garbage cans, and tree trimming took up much of the Department of Streets and Sanitation budget hearing Wednesday, as well as an overhaul of the city’s recycling rules set to start next year. DSS saw a modest increase in its budget for next year, from $256.2 million in 2016 to $257 million in 2017. This includes funding for a new position, a Senior Policy Analyst, who will basically be a  go between for the department and Springfield, said Commissioner Charles Williams, "Thats currently a vacancy, that's going to be helping with issues involving ordinances, policies, laws, particularly with Springfield." 

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.

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.