Erin Hegarty, The Daily Line

Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration is pushing back hard on a proposal from the City Council to reshuffle mental health spending to reopen city-backed clinics.

The city has received more than 300 applications from property owners who want to turn basements, attics and coach houses into additional dwelling units in five pilot zones.

The Chicago Fire Department is dominated by white men — but the department’s first-ever Black woman leader vows to change that.

Streets and Sanitation leaders also revealed the city's dismal recycling rate remained flat at 8 or 9 percent.

The mayor’s budget plan is likely to be met with tough scrutiny amid ongoing calls from some aldermen and advocacy groups to divest money from the police department.

Aldermen voted 40-8 to approve the $600 million contract. Reform groups said the agreement “fails to make many of the changes we know we need.” 

Greater Englewood has been split up among six different wards since at least after the 2000 Census. 

Ald. Daniel La Spata’s ordinance would make permanent the ban on water shutoffs due to non-payment and expand existing utility relief.

The area could undergo a shift, from being primarily a medical district to becoming a "truly mixed-use neighborhood," a city official said.

The $100 million high-rise would be sandwiched between buildings at 1201 W. Washington Blvd. and 1229 W. Washington Blvd.

The development would bring Goose Island its first residential units in decades and a 300-room hotel.

"I think if, and when, we see numbers move into the high-risk territory, we may move to put a mandate in place,” Chicago Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady said.

One proposal would eliminate no-knock warrants and require police officers to wait at least 30 seconds after knocking and announcing themselves before entering a home to execute a search warrant.

If approved Wednesday, the ordinance will establish a seven-member oversight commission charged with drafting and proposing Police Department policy.

Chicago aldermen meet Wednesday to take on a host of proposals including creating a civilian oversight board for Chicago Police.

The plan would empower the civilian commission to draft and mandate police department policy. The mayor would be able to reject the commission’s policymaking decisions, but the City Council could then override her veto.

Also on the agenda for the meeting is the long-awaited renovation of the Ramova Theatre in Bridgeport.

Nearly half the City Council used a legal maneuver on Wednesday to trigger a special meeting designed to probe Chicago Police Department leaders about their plans to head off summer violence ahead of the July 4 weekend.

Ald. Jeanette Taylor noted the change is "about identity," but Ald. Pat Dowell said she prefers to keep the title "alderman."

Bubbly Dynamics’ intent to sublease the warehouse space on 37th Street has generated “a lot of interest already from potential tenants who would love to move in,” Edel told aldermen.