Ald. Jason Ervin (28) is the sponsor of a resolution calling for hearings to establish a City Council Office of Legislative Counsel. 

A resolution introduced in February takes the first step toward setting up an independent legal shop for members of the City Council following a prolonged dispute between some aldermen and the city’s law department. 

The measure (R2021-217), sponsored by Ald. Jason Ervin (28), calls for a hearing  on creating a City Council Office of Legislative Counsel that would provide independent counsel for City Council members. Although Mayor Lori Lightfoot has so far been silent on the proposal, it would fulfill a key promise from her campaign, when she pitched creating a separate legal office as an ethics reform measure.

News in brief: Discover opening call center in shuttered Chatham Target store; Commission takes step to landmark Morton Salt shed

Chicago Police Supt. David Brown and Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced changes to the police department’s search warrant policy on Wednesday.

The Chicago Police Department rolled out a series of reforms on Wednesday aimed at adding guardrails around how police plan for, carry out and follow up on search warrants, more than two years after police erroneously conducted a raid on Anjanette Young’s home.

The proposed policy changes included restricting the number of police leaders who can approve search warrants. They would also require certain personnel to be on site during raids, and they chart out a process to hold officers accountable for botched warrant executions.

Chicago Public Health Comm. Allison Arwady briefed aldermen on the city’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic during a hearing Wednesday.

Chicago Department of Public Health Comm. Allison Arwady struck positive notes on Wednesday, telling aldermen during a briefing on the city’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic that the city may be able to move to the next phase of vaccinations earlier than anticipated.

City health officials earlier this year set March 29 as the tentative date for when officials expected to be able to open up vaccines to the people in “Phase 1C,” including people over the age of 16 with underlying conditions and the next wave of “essential workers.”

Mayor Lori Lightfoot defended her request to call up the National Guard and issued a warning to would-be looters. And Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle hit back at Lightfoot after the mayor blamed the county courts for contributing to crime.

Aldermen have the option to attend Wednesday’s City Council meeting in person.

When Mayor Lori Lightfoot gavels in the City Council at 10 a.m. Wednesday, things will look different than they have for the past year, but they still won’t be completely back to normal.

For the first time since last March, aldermen have the option to attend Wednesday’s City Council in person, though it is still classified as a virtual meeting under the Open Meetings Act, according to a news release from the mayor’s office.

Ald. Pat Dowell (3) on Wednesday delayed a vote on pandemic relief funding, and Department of Public Health Deputy Comm. Tina Anderson outlined an agreement with Rush University Medical Center for genomic sequencing.

Aldermen on Friday will consider allocating December federal stimulus dollars for endeavors including COVID-19 vaccinations and emergency rental assistance. Aldermen will also consider rolling over $68 million in CARES Act funds into 2021.

The City Council Committee on Budget and Government Operations is scheduled to resume its recessed meeting from Wednesday at 1 p.m. on Friday to consider the various pandemic-related spending proposals.

Ald. Scott Waguespack (32) chairs the City Council Committee on Finance.

City finance and budget officials would be required to publish monthly revenue reports under a measure that advanced to the full City Council floor Monday.

Ald. David Moore’s (17) proposal to rename Lake Shore Drive after Jean Baptiste Point DuSable is set for a hearing on April 29.

The proposal to rename Outer Lake Shore Drive after Jean Baptiste Point DuSable, Chicago’s first permanent resident, won’t be on this month’s City Council agenda. The ordinance is due for a hearing later this month, but sponsor Ald. David Moore (17) on Monday warned against “any games” to further keep it from a vote.

Ald. Jason Ervin asked Department of Aviation Comm. Jamie Rhee questions during Wednesday’s budget committee meeting.

Aldermen opened the floodgates on Wednesday for the city to spend more than $100 million in federal pandemic-related grants to bolster O’Hare and Midway airports and feed a slew of other city programs related to health, transportation and small businesses.

The ordinance (SO2021-747) appropriating the federal COVID-19 grant funding was approved unanimously during the City Council’s Committee of Budget and Government Operations meeting on Wednesday. The latest draft of the ordinance approved by aldermen was not posted on the city clerk’s website until Wednesday afternoon after the meeting had adjourned.

News in brief: CPAC and GAPA coalitions reach agreement on police oversight ordinance; Snow removal ordinance set for consideration

The 12-story affordable housing building proposed near the intersection of Lake Street and Damen Avenue.

The Chicago Plan Commission is scheduled Thursday to consider three proposals in the 27th Ward, including a 12-story “affordable housing high-rise” and an indoor Esports stadium proposed for the 3rd Ward. 

Plan commissioners will take up the proposal (O2020-3720) from Brinshore-Michaels to amend the planned development on a portion of the Westhaven Park development site that was once the Henry Horner Homes public housing Development and is currently owned by the Chicago Housing Authority. The Henry Horner Homes development was demolished in 2006.

Aldermen on Friday advanced a proposal targeting ‘recklessly driven’ motorcycles.

Aldermen gave unanimous approval Friday to an ordinance aimed at deterring motorcyclists from “recklessly” driving up and down Chicago streets, particularly downtown and along the lakefront.

Members of the City Council Committee on Public Safety approved the ordinance introduced by Ald. Pat Dowell (3) during the Friday meeting, during which aldermen also held a short discussion of Anti-Asian hate crimes and approved an ordinance adding gender identity to the protected classes covered under the city’s hate crime ordinance. 

Members of the Plan Commission on Thursday heard a presentation on the first building proposed for the massive Lincoln Yards development.

Chicago Department of Planning and Development Comm. Maurice Cox commended developer Sterling Bay’s plans for an office building and riverfront features in the first phase of the 55-acre Lincoln Yards development as an example of “how you meet the water's edge."

Developer Sterling Bay unveiled plans for the nine-story building and adjacent riverwalk in a “courtesy” presentation during the Plan Commission’s Thursday meeting. No vote was taken on the development, and commissioners largely withheld any questions or comments. 

Aldermen approved an ordinance loosening restrictions on home businesses.

Aldermen gave unanimous support Tuesday to an ordinance designed to make it easier for entrepreneurs, many of whom have been hard-hit by the pandemic, to operate their business out of their homes.

The City Council Committee on Economic, Capital and Technology Development also approved three Class 6(b) tax incentive deals and nine reappointments to various Special Service Areas  during its Tuesday meeting.

City finance officials briefed aldermen on Wednesday on revenues and spending for the first two months of 2021.

Repaying more than $900 million in debt will likely be city budget and finance officials’ first priority for the estimated $1.9 billion in federal stimulus dollars Chicago stands to get from the American Rescue Plan, they said Wednesday.

Chicago Budget Director Susie Park and Chief Financial Officer Jennie Bennett briefed aldermen Wednesday on revenues and spending for the first two months of 2021 during a City Council Committee on Budget and Government Operations meeting. The presentation was described as the first quarterly report on the current year budget, but Park and Bennett only included data for January and February.

Cyril Nichols, a senior athletics administrator with City Colleges of Chicago, was sworn in Thursday as the newest member of the Illinois House of Representatives. [Caroline Kubzansky / The Daily Line]

Democratic Party officials on Thursday appointed Cyril Nichols, a 55-year-old senior administration official at City Colleges of Chicago, to represent a slice of Chicago’s South Side and southwest suburbs in the Illinois General Assembly for the next 21 months.

Democratic committeepeople whose jurisdictions overlap with the 32^nd House District chose Nichols from a slate of five candidates vying to replace Rep. Andre Thapedi (D-Chicago), who stepped down last month after 12 years in the seat.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot said on Tuesday that she still intends to hold the April 22 City Council meeting in person at City Hall despite concerns from some aldermen about accessibility and safety amid increasing cases of COVID-19 in the city.

At the end of the March 24 City Council meeting, Lightfoot opened the door to holding the first in-person meeting since COVID-19 landed in Chicago. Mayor’s office staffers briefed aldermen in the weeks following the meeting on plans to meet in council chambers, but some say they still have questions about the plan.

News in brief: Dowell launches Secretary of State election campaign; aldermen to consider parade ordinance; Lightfoot announces 10 libraries with expanded Sunday hours

Aldermen tore into Chicago Department of Public Health Comm. Allison Arwady on Thursday, saying city health officials were doing enough to work with ward offices in getting COVID-19 vaccinations out to their areas of the city. 

Arwady addressed aldermen during the City Council Committee on Health and Human Relations meeting to provide an update on how the city is responding to the pandemic. The health commissioner’s testimony came as the city sees an uptick in COVID-19 cases and as the city prepares to widen vaccinations to people eligible under Phase 1C.