Chicago officials on Monday announced they will dedicate $500,000 in funding for the city’s public health department to help people seeking abortion services. And the city is currently facing a nearly $900 million budget deficit, the city’s top financial official said Monday.

Supporters of the People’s Coalition Map, left, and the Chicago United Map speak during different news conferences. [Alex Nitkin/Erin Hegarty/The Daily Line]

Enough aldermen struck a tentative compromise on Monday over a new ward map to avoid tossing the issue to voters in the June 28 primary.

Cook County on Friday announced a plan to dedicate $37 million in federal funding to supporting small businesses. And a candidate for Cook County Sheriff is vowing to push back against a ruling that she’s ineligible to run.

Ald. Felix Cardona (31) switched on the ward map proposal he supports. [City of Chicago; Frank Calabrese]

The remap group including a supermajority of Chicago aldermen claimed Northwest Side Ald. Felix Cardona (31) on Thursday as a new crossover member of its coalition — but supporters of the competing map say the reality is more complicated, and the alderman in the middle is keeping quiet amid the confusion. The chaotic episode added a fresh hurdle to emerging negotiations this week over a potential compromise between the two competing maps.

Supporters of the People’s Coalition Map, left, and the Chicago United Map speak during different news conferences. [Alex Nitkin/Erin Hegarty/The Daily Line]

With exactly two weeks to somehow agree on a new ward map and avoid sending the decision to voters in June, aldermen behind two competing maps restarted negotiation talks this week, sources told The Daily Line. But so far, there’s little evidence of progress toward a deal.

Chicago officials on Tuesday announced the city is officially jumping into the running to host the 2024 Democratic National Convention. And Mayor Lori Lightfoot held an event unveiling “Chicagwa”, a new initiative by the city to use canned tap water to boost the city’s brand.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s initiative to grow the city’s dwindling tree canopy began last week. [Erin Hegarty/The Daily Line]

City officials began planting trees last week to meet a goal Mayor Lori Lightfoot included in the 2022 budget to plant 75,000 trees — or 15,000 per year — during the next five years.

Members of the ECPS Coalition speak during a news conference on Wednesday [Erin Hegarty/The Daily Line]

What do community advocates, pastors, a former alderman and a state representative’s chief of staff all have in common? They are all part of a group of 14 finalists to be on the city’s first-of-its-kind citywide civilian committee tasked with overseeing the Chicago Police Department.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot defends her gas and transit card giveaway plan at the Wednesday City Council meeting. [Don Vincent/The Daily Line]

Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s plan to spend $12.5 million on prepaid gas and transit cards as relief for Chicago residents facing high gas prices gained just enough support during Wednesday’s City Council meeting to squeak by and be approved.

Aldermen are set on Wednesday to vote on Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s proposal to give away $12.5 million in gas and transit cards. [Mack Liederman/Block Club Chicago]

Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s proposal to give away $12.5 million in prepaid gas cards and transit cards is set to face a City Council vote on Wednesday, nearly one month after the mayor announced her so-called transportation relief plan. Lightfoot’s proposal has undergone a barrage of changes in an attempt to ease aldermen’s qualms about equity and spending taxpayer money on gas.

But it’s unclear whether the tweaks will be enough for Lightfoot’s proposal to gain the required 26 votes the ordinance needs to pass following a tight committee vote last week.

Ald. Michele Smith (43), left, and Ald. Scott Waguespack (32) speak during a press conference on Monday.

Two days ahead of the last regular City Council meeting before the final deadline to reach an agreement on a new ward map, supporters of the map drawn under the Rules Committee leadership took a new approach calling the opposing map a “protection plan for Alderman Ed Burke.”

It was the latest push by the rules committee group to prevent an effort by the City Council Latino Caucus to force a vote that would allow its updated “People’s Coalition Map” onto the June 28 ballot.

From left: Ald. Tom Tunney (44), CFO Jennie Huang Bennett and Deputy Mayor Samir Mayekar speak during a committee hearing on Monday.

Aldermen did not hold back in pelting city officials with their questions and concerns on all three of the potential locations and proposals for a potential Chicago casino, and all agreed that future casino employees need to be allowed to unionize.

Ald. Michele Smith (43) during a City Council meeting.

A new ethics package set to be introduced during Wednesday’s City Council meeting would expand the city’s conflict of interest reach, hike fines for flouting the ethics code and end former aldermen’s City Council floor privileges.

Ald. Chris Taliaferro (29), and Streets and Sanitation Deputy Comm. Michael Lacoco speak during a committee meeting on Friday.

Following unanimous approval from a key committee on Friday, a proposal that would ensure victims of car theft are no longer required to pay towing and storage fees incurred while their cars are stolen is set for final City Council approval on Wednesday.

Supporters of the People’s Coalition Map and the Chicago United Map speak during different news conferences. [Alex Nitkin/Erin Hegarty/The Daily Line]

With less than a month for aldermen to broker a deal on the city’s new ward map before it’s officially put to voters to decide, tensions have reached new heights as the two opposing groups argue for their proposals and take jabs at people who helped draw the opposing maps.

Chicago Chief Financial Officer Jennie Huang Bennett and Ald. Walter Burnett (27) speak during a committee meeting earlier this month.

Aldermen are set on Wednesday to consider approving the third version of a proposal from Mayor Lori Lightfoot to give away prepaid gas gift cards and transit cards as fuel prices remain high. It marks the mayor’s second attempt to win aldermen’s approval for the plan after it hit a wall earlier this month.

Ald. Gilbert Villegas (36) oversees a committee meeting on Tuesday.

City officials updated aldermen on Tuesday on how they are working to update Chicago’s data sharing practices and the tools officials use to share the data.

Ald. Gilbert Villegas (36) speaks during a City Council meeting. [Ashlee Rezin-Garcia/Sun-Times/pool]

Aldermen are set on Tuesday to probe the city’s internal data sharing practices and the tools officials use to share data.

Ald. Jason Ervin (28) speaks during a news conference celebrating the passage of a civilian oversight ordinance. [Erin Hegarty/The Daily Line]

Aldermen are on track to send their recommendations for members of the city’s first civilian commission to oversee the Chicago Police Department to Mayor Lori Lightfoot this month, the chair of the City Council Committee on Public Safety told The Daily Line on Friday.