Mayor Brandon Johnson is pictured at a City Council meeting in April 2024. [Don Vincent/The Daily Line]

Chicago is facing a nearly billion-dollar budget gap for the upcoming fiscal year, a tough financial situation that will necessitate “collaborative solutions and strategic planning,” Mayor Brandon Johnson announced Thursday morning as the city unveiled its 2025 budget forecast.

NASCAR will return for a street race in the final year of its multi-year deal with the city, and the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) announced the debut of a new system to crack down on gun crime.

City Hall is pictured in this file photo.

Alderpeople on the City Council’s immigration committee approved an ordinance Thursday that compels the city’s Department of Family and Support Services (DFSS) to publish regular tallies of migrant evictions from the city’s temporary shelters under the 60-day shelter stay policy.

Ward committeepeople are elected to unpaid positions to work on behalf of a local political party in their respective wards. Committeepeople help recruit potential candidates for office, organize voting efforts in their wards during elections, help fundraise for the party, vote to appoint officials to vacant elected positions and help decide which candidates the local party will endorse each election cycle.

In Chicago, 50 Democratic and Republican ward committeeperson seats were up for election March 19. Here are the results so far. An (I) will signify an incumbent candidate in a contest. Winners of each race will be listed in bold text accompanied by the percent of the overall vote they earned.

A file photo of voting booths.

A Cook County judge on Friday sided with real estate and commercial groups that had sued the Chicago Board of Elections to keep the Bring Chicago Home referendum off the March 19 primary election ballot. While voters might still be able to vote on the ballot question, the results could be suppressed if a higher court does not reverse the decision on appeal.

The fight to raise the real estate transfer tax was supported by Mayor Brandon Johnson while he campaigned for office. In a statement Friday evening, the mayor’s office said the city was disappointed, believed in the referendum’s legality and was exploring “every legal option available” to ensure voters remain the final say on the question. 

A file photo of voting booths.

A coalition of real estate industry groups and other commercial groups filed a lawsuit Friday morning against the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners alleging the city’s Bring Chicago Home ballot question is legally invalid in a few ways.

Ald. Matt O'Shea (19) asks Chicago Aviation Comm. Jamie Rhee questions during a budget hearing Friday. [Livestream]

Chicago Department of Aviation Comm. Jamie Rhee answered alderpersons’ questions about O’Hare airport’s massive modernization effort and migrant arrivals during a budget hearing Friday evening. 

The aviation department, which manages O’Hare and Midway international airports’ operations, maintenance and capital improvement projects, is set to see its budget balloon to $1.42 billion under Mayor Brandon Johnson’s 2024 spending plan. That represents a more than 23.5 percent increase from 2023’s budget of $1.14 billion.

Ald. Debra Silverstein (50), who introduced the fatal traffic crash review ordinance, is seen during a meeting in 2022. [Don Vincent/The Daily Line]

The City Council Committee on Pedestrian and Traffic Safety on Wednesday is expected to discuss and vote on an ordinance that would lead the city to study fatal traffic crashes on a regular basis and pose policy solutions. The committee will meet at 2 p.m. Wednesday.

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle speaks at an event in Dixmoor on June 12, 2023. [Livestream]

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle traveled to the village of Dixmoor Monday to celebrate the groundbreaking of a water main infrastructure improvement project that is backed by federal funding and money allocated by the county board of commissioners. Preckwinkle was joined by U.S Rep. Robin Kelly (D-Ill.), U.S Rep. Jonathan Jackson (D-Ill.) and the Army Corps of Engineers.

Former CPS CEO Paul Vallas and Cook County Comm. Brandon Johnson are running for Chicago mayor. [Provided photo for Vallas, Colin Boyle/Block Club for Johnson]

A new Chicago Index survey shows public safety, schools and transit matter most to likely voters and an increase in name recognition for Cook County Comm. Brandon Johnson (D-1) and former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas in the upcoming mayoral election. 

The survey, administered by The Chicago Index, in conjunction with the Colorado-based firm Polco, collected answers between Feb. 9 and 20 from 1,332 people who said they lived in Chicago. The survey was weighted to better reflect disparities in the actual demographics of those who responded to the survey. The survey’s weighting was applied to demographic metrics such as race, gender, area of residence and housing tenure. Its margin of error is 3 percent.

The Cook County Board of Commissioners on Thursday swiftly and unanimously approved a resolution related to property tax administration software that sparked debate and passed with several detractors at Wednesday’s Technology and Innovation Committee meeting.

A measure that would allow the Chicago Zoological Society to raise ticket prices and parking rates at the Brookfield Zoo to support the zoo’s budget was referred to committee during Tuesday’s Cook County Forest Preserve District Board of Commissioners meeting.

The Cook County Board of Commissioners approved a measure Thursday that will compare the costs involved in maintaining or merging two software systems used for property tax administration. Meanwhile, a measure that would allow ticket prices and parking rates to increase at Brookfield Zoo will be heard in a Forest Preserve District committee. Chicago City Treasurer Melissa Conyears-Ervin gave her annual State of the City Treasurer’s Office address Thursday. And state officials gave an initial OK to the temporary Chicago casino. 

Comm. Alma Anaya (D-7) speaks about a proposal to create a countywide property tax relief loan program during a Board of Commissioners meeting Dec. 15. [Cook County Board of Commissioners livestream]

The Cook County Board of Commissioners is considering creating a program to provide relief to homeowners who have seen their property taxes increase tremendously in the past year. Three commissioners are sponsoring a piece of legislation expected to be tweaked in the county’s finance committee.

Chicago Public Health Comm. Allison Arwady speaks during a press conference [File] 

The City Council Committee on Health and Human Relations will hear an update on the city’s COVID-19 response from Public Health Comm. Allison Arwady and discuss funding citywide programs to fight HIV and AIDS among the city’s Black population during a Monday meeting. 

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle speaks before the County Board of Commissioners following its vote to approve the county budget Thursday. [Michael McDevitt/The Daily Line]

The Cook County Board of Commissioners approved the county’s annual budget for 2023 by a unanimous 17-0 vote during a special meeting Thursday. The full board’s approval of the budget came after the spending plan passed the County Finance Committee by the same margin with more than two dozen amendments.

Democrat Maggie Trevor, left, faced Republican Matt Podgorski for the District 9 seat on the Cook County Commission [Courtesy photos]

The number of Republicans serving on the Cook County Board of Commissioners will soon fall to just one after results for a close contest in District 9 flipped the seat for a Democrat Tuesday evening.