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FEB 11, 2025
UNLOCKEDManny Alvarez, who was wounded in the fatal shooting of his mom, Karina Gonzalez, and sister, Daniella Alvarez, speaks at the signing of Karina's Bill Monday in Chicago.
In July 2023, Karina Gonzalez and her teen daughter Daniella Alvarez were shot and killed. Her husband, Jose Alvarez, was later arrested for allegedly fatally shooting the mother and daughter, as well as injuring their son, Manny Alvarez.
Gonzalez had been granted an order of protection against Jose, which led to his firearm owner’s identification (FOID) card being revoked. But his guns were never taken by law enforcement.
Rep. Maura Hirschauer (D-West Chicago) was already working on legislation to require law enforcement to seize guns when an order of protection had been granted when Gonzalez was killed. That measure was later named Karina’s Bill, and on Monday Gonzalez’s son Manny watched it become law.
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JAN 30, 2025
UNLOCKEDMayor Brandon Johnson presides over a City Council meeting Dec. 16, 2024. [Don Vincent/The Daily Line]
Mayor Brandon Johnson’s office failed to make a record of gifts the office has accepted publicly available and denied the Chicago Office of the Inspector General (OIG) access to a “gift room” where items such as luxury handbags and nice shoes were being stored, the OIG alleged in an advisory issued Wednesday.
As a result, the OIG and Board of Ethics have advised the mayor’s office to no longer follow an “unwritten agreement” with the ethics board that has allowed the mayor’s office to skirt government transparency rules for decades.
Asked about the report Wednesday, the mayor told reporters the advisory mischaracterized his office’s conduct, insisted he had nothing to hide and promised that anyone who wants to view the gift log is welcome to do so.
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JAN 29, 2025
UNLOCKEDBudget Director Annette Guzman speaks at a press conference Jan. 28, 2025. [Livestream]
Chicago budget office and law department officials were analyzing Tuesday just how much of the city’s $4.7 billion in grant funding would be affected by an order from the Trump administration to halt the spending of federal assistance for myriad purposes nationwide — if upheld by the courts.
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JAN 26, 2025
UNLOCKEDAn aerial view of Evanston. [City of Evanston]
Chicago’s neighbor to the north, Evanston, could vote on Monday to approve an ordinance that would require all large buildings to reduce their carbon emissions to zero by 2050. The action comes as an effort to increase building electrification in Chicago has stalled for over a year.
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JAN 24, 2025
UNLOCKEDA U.S. federal judge has temporarily blocked President Donald Trump’s executive order ending birthright citizenship. The decision came in a case filed by Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul and three other states.
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JAN 10, 2025
UNLOCKEDA rendering of the development proposed for 2222 S. Michigan Ave. is displayed during a zoning committee meeting Jan. 9, 2025. [Livestream]
The City Council Committee on Zoning, Landmarks and Building Standards on Thursday approved new land use allowances for the Elston Corridor, a rezoning for a Motor Row District property owned by a former Chicago Bears player that is planned to become a mixed-use development. The committee also approved multiple other zone change and variation requests to accommodate new developments.
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DEC 17, 2024
UNLOCKEDAld. Anthony Beale (9) speaks in opposition to the mayor's 2025 budget plan during a City Council meeting Dec. 16, 2024. [Don Vincent/The Daily Line]
By a slim 27-23 margin, the Chicago City Council approved a $17.1 billion budget for 2025 on Monday.
The narrow vote helped the city avoid an unprecedented government shutdown nearly two weeks before a deadline and after weeks of negotiations between the mayor and alderpeople. It concludes a budget process that already began late but sets up a potentially similar contentious fight next year, multiple council members said.
“With this budget, we put yet another down payment toward a better, stronger and safer future for the working people and families who call this city their home,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said at a news conference following the council meeting. “While the budget process may have been different from the past, it included truly unprecedented levels of collaboration and input from the City Council.”
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DEC 10, 2024
UNLOCKEDAld. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35), one of the sponsors of the Northwest Side Housing Preservation Ordinance, is pictured at a City Council meeting in April 2024. [Don Vincent/The Daily Line]
The City Council zoning committee on Monday approved changes to the Northwest Housing Preservation Ordinance, an anti-gentrification and affordable housing protection law that offers tenants the chance to buy their building before it’s sold to a third party.
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NOV 06, 2024
UNLOCKEDMWRD Comms. Kari Steele, Marcelino Garcia and Precious Brady-Davis and commissioner-elect Sharon Waller. [MWRD website/Waller campaign site]
Three Democrats retained their seats on the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District (MWRD) of Greater Chicago’s Board of Commissioners Tuesday night, and a fourth Democrat is set to replace an outgoing commissioner.
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NOV 06, 2024
UNLOCKEDPeople United for Action Chairman Rod Wilson speaks alongside union-endorsed school board candidates at Chicago Teachers Union headquarters on Election Night. [Michael McDevitt/The Daily Line]
In the city’s first-ever Chicago Board of Education elections, candidates backed by the powerful Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) were leading or had won in just four of the 10 races on Tuesday night. Three races were seemingly on track to be won by candidates backed by groups in support of charter school and school choice, and three more were on track to be won by candidates that were not endorsed by the competing interests in the race.
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