Justin Laurence

If approved, the pot shop would sell medical and recreational cannabis at the former restaurant at Clark and Ohio streets.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot selected Lee to replace convicted former Ald. Patrick Daley Thompson to represent the 11th Ward, which includes Bridgeport and part of Chinatown. Her appointment was unanimously approved Monday.

Electronic voting makes it easier than ever to track how your alderperson is voting on certain issues, like a police settlement and controversial casino committee. We're rounding up their votes here to save you time.

The committee will oversee all facets of the Chicago casino proposal and is led by mayoral allies.

The electronic voting system is part of a larger modernization of City Council business. Alderpeople also approved a $1.67 million settlement for Mia Wright, who was beaten by police at Brickyard Mall in 2020.

The City Council signed off on a zoning change Wednesday, but the dispensary must secure a special use permit and wait out a court case about state cannabis licenses before opening.

The surcharge pulled in $120,000 from eight demolition permits over the past year, resulting in fewer demolitions, officials said. The program is an effort to slow gentrification in these areas.

Ald. Daniel La Spata sought to block the demolition, but a City Council committee sided with the family who is trying to sell the house they've owned for more than five decades.

Alderpeople who have criticized the vaccine requirement for city workers unsuccessfully pushed to scrap the mandate in October. Wednesday's meeting to consider changes to the policy was canceled after a few minutes.

Alderpeople who backed a ward map proposed by the City Council's Rules Committee are putting their map on the June 28 primary election ballot, going head to head with the map created by the Latino Caucus.

Andrea Kersten's nomination was stalled for months after 20 alderpeople condemned a report from her agency that recommended discipline for a slain Chicago Police Officer.

Alds. Ray Lopez, Silvana Tabares, Felix Cardona and Nick Sposato blocked a vote on the police misconduct lawsuit settlement for Mia Wright, who was attacked when she went shopping at Brickyard Mall in 2020.

Alds. Chris Taliaferro (29th) and Anthony Napolitano (41st) punted a vote on the ordinance until the City Council's next meeting in March.

The proposal is one of several on City Council's agenda Wednesday that will put policing and police reform front and center.

The mayor proposed the ordinance as a way to fight violent crime. Critics have said it is too broad, relies on erroneous assumptions about crime and could open the city to civil rights litigation.

The head of the City Council Black Caucus fired back that the Latino Caucus map proposal would "reduce the gains the Black community has made in Chicago."

Andrea Kersten's nomination to lead the Civilian Office of Police Accountability will be reviewed by the full City Council amid ongoing criticism over the agency's decision to include slain Officer Ella French in a disciplinary report.

Eleven alderpeople want mask and vaccine requirements relaxed by Friday, but city health officials say they can't drop their requirements before the state does.

The two sides emerged without a compromise, sniping that the other wasn’t open to negotiations. If they can't compromise, Chicagoans will vote on competing proposals in June.

If your car ends up in a city lot after it was stolen, you can be charged a $150 tow fee and a $25 per day storage fee. The city lets victims appeal to get their money back, but they shouldn't have to, one alderman says.