Lightfoot set to claim Neighborhood Opportunity Fund as her own

By Heather Cherone  - February 18, 2020

Mayor Lori Lightfoot is set to claim ownership of the Neighborhood Opportunity Fund Wednesday, giving her administration an opportunity to leverage booming development Downtown and in the West Loop into help for struggling small businesses on the South and West

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Lightfoot blasts Trump’s commutation of Blagojevich: it ‘sends entirely the wrong message’

By Heather Cherone and Hannah Meisel  - February 18, 2020

Mayor Lori Lightfoot Tuesday blasted President Donald Trump’s decision to commute the 14-year prison sentence of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who was convicted of trying to sell President Barack Obama’s former Senate seat as well as extorting the CEO of a

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Chicago still No. 1 most corrupt U.S. city: study 

By Heather Cherone  - February 18, 2020

Chicago is once again the most corrupt city in the country, according to a new report by University of Illinois at Chicago professor and former Ald. Dick Simpson (44.)

Is requiring 12,500 petition signatures to run for mayor unfair? New proposal would lower the requirement

By BlockClub Chicago  - February 18, 2020

By Pascal Sabino, Block Club Chicago In 1995, candidates running for mayor of Chicago needed to gather 2,261 nominating signatures from residents to earn a spot on the ballot. But in the most recent election, candidates were required to collect

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Aldermen to weigh paying $10.7 million to settle 3 police misconduct cases

By Heather Cherone  - February 18, 2020

Aldermen are set to consider whether to pay approximately $10.7 million to settle three lawsuits alleging misconduct in the Chicago Police Department, adding to the growing cost that Mayor Lori Lightfoot has vowed to get under control.

‘Poverty is killing us — all of us’: Lightfoot pledges to end generational poverty

By Heather Cherone  - February 17, 2020

 Mayor Lori Lightfoot vowed Friday to end “poverty in Chicago in a generation,” saying that government must act boldly to undo the policies it created that force tens of thousands of Chicagoans to struggle daily to find food, clothing and

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Zoning Board set to approve first wave of new dispensaries at special March meeting

By Alex Nitkin  - February 17, 2020

As many as nine new recreational cannabis dispensaries could clear a crucial regulatory hurdle during a special meeting of the Chicago Zoning Board of Appeals scheduled for March 6, potentially almost doubling the number of pot shops allowed to operate

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Aldermen OK push to tighten ethics ordinance to prevent city employees from working for contractors

By Heather Cherone  - February 14, 2020

A measure that would limit the ability of city officials and employees to work outside City Hall advanced on Thursday, marking the second time in as many months that aldermen have moved to tighten the city’s ethics laws.

Building code amendments put on ice after Lopez, Beale cry foul on basement units rule

By Alex Nitkin  - February 14, 2020

Ald. Tom Tunney (44) said he will delay introducing more than 200 proposed edits to the Chicago Construction Code following accusations from Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s two most persistent City Council critics that the mayor intentionally tucked substantive changes into what

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Ready, set, brunch: Aldermen OK 9 a.m. start for booze sales on Sundays

By Heather Cherone  - February 14, 2020

Brunch aficionados — and soccer fans — are one step closer to no longer having to suffer through booze-free Sunday mornings. The City Council’s Committee on License and Consumer Protection unanimously advanced the measure (O2020-123) sponsored by Alds. Brendan Reilly (42), Michele Smith (43),

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