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"In order to provide as much ongoing regulatory relief as possible for the businesses that are continuing to experience closures and a lot of hurt during this pandemic, these measures need to continue," Business Affairs Commissioner Rosa Escareno said.
"Let's be clear, why are we valuing Bohemian-inspired buildings over people's lives?" said Adriana Diaz, who grew up in Pilsen.
Aldermen voted 29-21 to approve the mayor's spending plan, and 28-22 to back the property tax hike. It was the tightest margin of approval for any city budget since the infamous City Council Wars under Mayor Harold Washington, when a coalition of 29 mostly white men routinely voted against Washington's agenda.
"Hopefully this will really be an effort that helps a lot of our restaurants and keeps a lot of them in business," Ald. Scott Waguespack (32nd) said.
The mayor needs at least 26 votes to pass her budget plan on Tuesday, and while it appears she has the votes, it could be the closest budget vote in decades.
The vote sets the stage for the full City Council to take a final vote on the mayor's full budget plan as soon as next week. The 26 votes approving her spending plan on Thursday are the bare minimum needed for full Council approval.
The 21-12 vote by the Finance Committee signals Lightfoot likely has the votes to pass her budget plan through the full City Council, possibly as soon as next week.
"We have looked at a lot of things before we get to this point," Budget Director Susie Park said. "The property tax was not an easy decision to come to."
The City Council could set a 15% cap on the fees delivery services such as Grubhub and DoorDash charge to restaurants before Thanksgiving, offering a "lifeline" to the city's struggling hospitality industry during the second wave of the pandemic.
Two aldermen are proposing a measure to expand the city's hate crime ordinance to add protections for people based on their gender identity or their citizenship and immigration status.
"I feel like we are all on the right path as we are right now," Lightfoot said.
"This will provide critical temporary relief to eligible small businesses that cannot operate indoors right now," Mayor Lori Lightfoot said.
United Working Families, a community coalition which helped draft the proposals, denounced the moves to bottle up the ordinances in the Rules Committee, calling it "cynical maneuvering."
With no financial help on the horizon from Congress or the state, the mayor said the city must rely on making "shared sacrifices" to address the economic crisis created by the pandemic.
The City Council Ethics Committee on Tuesday balked at Mayor Lori Lightfoot's proposal to partially roll back the city's ban on "cross-lobbying," which aldermen unanimously approved in February.
Two weeks before she unveils her 2021 budget plan, Mayor Lori Lightfoot still isn't willing to say if she'll be able to avoid a property tax hike or massive layoffs to help plug a $1.2 billion shortfall.
The mayor's proposal would require industrial developers to clear additional regulatory hurdles before opening facilities near residential neighborhoods.
"It's not just those who experienced her long career or her long life that she's impacted, but it's young people like my daughter here who's been inspired by her work," Ald. Michael Rodriguez (22nd) said of Ginsburg.
During the public comment period at the start of today's City Council meeting, Catalina Andrade said her son was slain on July 18 near 24th and Washtenaw in Little Village, but to date "no one is giving me answers" on his case.
The city is facing a projected shortfall of $1.2 billion in 2021, including more than $780 million in tax revenue lost to the pandemic.
Aldermen will begin holding quarterly budget meetings next year, and starting next month will hold an annual meeting on the Chicago Police Department budget outside of the City Council's annual budget hearings in October and November.
The measure is designed to protect Woodlawn residents from being forced out of their homes when the Obama Presidential Center is built in Jackson Park.
Ald. Scott Waguespack (32nd) introduced the proposal to require the Inspector General's office to create "a user friendly, publicly accessible and searchable digital repository" of CPD's closed misconduct complaints.
The measure, approved by a 46-4 vote on Wednesday, would ban the sale of all flavored vaping products in Chicago stores, except those that taste or smell like tobacco.
Ald. Matt O'Shea (19th), the chief sponsor, originally wanted to ban any kind of flavored tobacco, including cigarettes, cigars, and chewing tobacco.
The city of Aurora is kicking off Black History Month by honoring a living legend, one of the last remaining Negro Leagues baseball players.
Fewer Chicago kids are getting the dental care they need, and some dentists are blaming Chicago Public Schools.
A federal judge has ruled that the man cleared of offering $10,000 for the murder of Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino must be released from custody or given a bond hearing by Wednesday.
Former Joliet Bishop Ronald Hicks was installed on Friday as the new Archbishop of New York in a ceremony at St. Patrick's Cathedral in Midtown Manhattan.
Two west suburban high schools have something extra to celebrate Sunday, when alumni from their schools make their Super Bowl debuts.
The footage is included in a video that promotes false claims that the 2020 presidential election was rigged against Mr. Trump.
The FBI has arrested "one of the key participants" behind the attack on U.S. facilities in Benghazi, Libya, in 2012 that killed four Americans.
A new push to pass a GOP elections bill known as the SAVE America Act is underway in Congress, but Democrats warn the proposal could disenfranchise millions of eligible voters.
As immigration sweeps expand nationwide, the work of justifying detentions is overwhelming federal prosecutors, who are being forced to sideline a range of other cases in order to keep pace.
Marimar Martinez, the Chicago woman shot five times by a Border Patrol agent in October, plans to attend President Trump's State of the Union address to Congress later this month, according to her attorney.
This week marks Identity Theft Awareness Week, and Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza emphasized some safety tips Monday for avoiding and dealing with identity theft.
A controversial data center in Naperville, Illinois, could be the cause to pack a city council meeting there on Tuesday night.
Police in the west Chicago suburb of Geneva are warning of a scam involving spoofed phone numbers.
Protesters on Tuesday were cranking up the heat on Peoples Gas over a recently proposed rate hike that would add an additional $10 to $11 a month to utility bills.
A lawsuit filed late last month took Chicago-based McDonald's to task over the McRib sandwich, calling its name a form of false advertising.
Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital announced this week that it is planning to open a new pediatric hospital in the west Chicago suburb of Downers Grove.
It has been nearly six years since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and one of the many questions doctors are still working to answer concerns the long-term effects.
Leaders from Cook County, the Illinois Department of Human Services, and the Greater Chicago Food Depository denounced changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program on Wednesday.
The University of Chicago Medicine Comprehensive Cancer Center has received a grant from The Ralph Lauren Corporate Foundation for a new cancer center.
Chicago's Lurie Children's Hospital said Tuesday that it is no longer initiating gender-affirming medical treatment for minors.
A Near West Side diner known for drawing in Blackhawks fans and players is up for sale.
January may be the coldest time of the year, but Chicago is already looking forward to summer farmers' markets.
A development proposal issued this month calls for the replacement of a building housing a Giordiano's pizzeria in Chicago's Lakeview neighborhood with a new mixed-use building with 28 residential units.
United Airlines flight attendants picketed outside Chicago's Willis Tower Thursday morning as they fought for a new contract.
WSCR-AM, 670 The Score, will begin a simulcast on 104.3 FM next month.
Gamers across the world can now recreate drone strikes in Ukraine from the comfort of their own home, with this newly released game.
The members of Ratboys were teenagers when they met by chance, and now in their 30s, the Chicago band formed by two college friends almost two decades ago appears to be on the brink of something big.
Chuck Negron, a founding member of Three Dog Night whose lead vocals powered a string of hits for one of the top rock acts of the late 1960s and early '70s has died. He was 83.
Bad Bunny used his Grammy acceptance speech on Sunday to denounce U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and call for the end of the ongoing immigration crackdown.
The 2026 Grammy Awards recognized the best of the best in music from last year, with big wins for Kendrick Lamar and Bad Bunny. Here's the full list of winners and nominees.
Two west suburban high schools have something extra to celebrate Sunday, when alumni from their schools make their Super Bowl debuts.
The city of Aurora is kicking off Black History Month by honoring a living legend, one of the last remaining Negro Leagues baseball players. Dennis Biddle, 92, is sharing a narrative that was never shared in textbooks, a history he said has been largely covered up.
Fewer Chicago kids are getting the dental care they need, and some dentists are blaming Chicago Public Schools. For many of Chicago's neediest children, in-school dentists are their only access to care, but some frontline dentists say the system at CPS is driving providers away and leading to fewer kids getting the dental care they need.
A federal judge has ruled that the man cleared of offering $10,000 for the murder of Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino must be released from custody or given a bond hearing by Wednesday.
A South Side community came together on Friday, hoping for justice after a woman was shot and killed while her baby was in the back seat of their car earlier this week.
A source close to the investigation said the woman worked for the city's Office of Emergency Management and Communications.
A federal judge in Chicago has ruled key evidence in the Marimar Martinez shooting, including bodycam video and text messages, can be released.
A South Side community came together on Friday, hoping for justice after a woman was shot and killed while her baby was in the back seat of their car earlier this week.
The city of Aurora is kicking off Black History Month by honoring a living legend, one of the last remaining Negro Leagues baseball players.
Fewer Chicago kids are getting the dental care they need, and some dentists are blaming Chicago Public Schools.
Fewer Chicago kids are getting the dental care they need, and some dentists are blaming Chicago Public Schools.
Cynthia Eason recounted the moment Chicago police officers raided her family's home in 2018.
Water bills could be going up in several Chicago suburbs and other parts of Illinois, as Illinois American Water seeks a rate increase to fund infrastructure improvements.
The case involves a Chicago grandmother, her daughter, and her four grandchildren, who all said that Chicago police officers pointed guns at them during the botched raid.
Former Mayor Rahm Emanuel no longer will have to testify about an alleged "code of silence" at the Chicago Police Department, after a federal judge reversed an earlier ruling that would have allowed him to take the stand in a lawsuit over a botched police raid.
Two west suburban high schools have something extra to celebrate Sunday, when alumni from their schools make their Super Bowl debuts.
The 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics are underway after the lighting of the Olympic cauldrons and the Parade of Nations at the opening ceremony.
Caleb Williams certainly had plenty of big throws to celebrate in 2025, but it wasn't hard to pick his most memorable one after he launched a 46-yard touchdown pass to DJ Moore to beat the Packers in overtime in Week 16.
Brandon Ingram scored 33 points, Immanuel Quickley had 24 and the Toronto Raptors beat the new-look Chicago Bulls 123-107.
Chicago Bears guard Joe Thuney was named the NFL's top offensive lineman of 2025 on Thursday, winning the inaugural Protector of the Year Award.
A South Side community came together on Friday, hoping for justice after a woman was shot and killed while her baby was in the back seat of their car earlier this week.
A Chicago city employee was found shot to death Friday morning inside an apartment in the West Ridge neighborhood.
Actor Timothy Busfield has been indicted on four counts of criminal sexual contact of a child, officials said Friday.
A burglary crew smashed into a restaurant in Chicago's southwest suburbs, leaving the owner cleaning up a big and frustrating mess.
Six months after a well-known charter boat captain was found dead at DuSable Harbor in downtown Chicago, a man has been charged with his murder.
