A current and former alderman are the latest examples in having friends in high places. more ›

The Chicago City Council approved new regulations for taxicab drivers yesterday that it hopes to improve safety. more ›

The council approved tighter restrictions on parade organizers, give authority to Chicago Police Superintendent Gary McCarthy to deputize law enforcement from other states and closes parks to the public for an extra two hours. The City Council also approved blanket spending authority to the Mayor for the events. more ›

16 aldermen, including the entire City Council Latino Caucus, filed their version of the redistricted wards with the City Clerk's office today. more ›

The Chicago City Council declared Nov. 25 - Dec. 4 "Buy Local First Week." more ›

It appears that Emanuel has the 26 votes necessary for passage. 40th Ward Ald. Patrick O'Connor told Chicago News Cooperative, "If it was not going to pass, I would have stayed home." Or in Puerto Vallarta, where he was returning to Chicago from. more ›

There are also some questions as to the effectiveness of a legislative inspector general. Once Khan is officially appointed, he must receive approval to investigate an alderman with the City's Board of Ethics, which has turned a blind eye never found evidence of wrongdoing by an alderman. This despite 31 aldermen having been sent to prison since the 1970s. more ›

A group of Chicago aldermen have proposed a way for the city to close the budget gap and avoid having to reduce certain city services -- go after $749 million in unpaid debt. more ›

28 aldermen sent a letter to Mayor Rahm Emanuel asking for a meeting with Budget Director Alexandra Holt on proposed cuts to library staffing, 911 dispatching, graffiti removal and public health centers. more ›

The city could use existing wireless technology to ticket home and business owners for not shoveling their sidewalks. more ›

The changes raise the limit on the size of community gardens to about half an acre, relaxes rules on fencing and parking for large urban farms, allows limited produce sales in residential areas. more ›

2nd Ward Ald. Robert Fioretti’s ordinance would expose the disciplinary board’s largely secretive decision-making process to public review. more ›

The a proposal first floated by Richard M. Daley during the final months of his mayoralty, will certainly be opposed by some aldermen who have long contended the current ward-based system is "good customer service." more ›

City Council approved rolling back the curfew for children ages 12 and under to 8:30 p.m. more ›

One idea to balance the budget is a plan approved by City Council allowing inmates at Cook County Jail to work at the City's Animal Care and Control pound on the South side. more ›

Three South Side aldermen proposed a stricter curfew for children 12 and younger, but is it a good idea or a case of City Council trying to be your nanny? more ›

City Council approves a measure to extend the closing time for outdoor patios and rooftop decks downtown to midnight. more ›

City Council approved an ordinance fast-tracked to allow gun ranges within the city limits, a response to two federal lawsuits challenging Chicago’s ban on gun ranges. more ›

Our new Elective Majesty reaches another first today as Mayor Emanuel calls to order his first City Council meeting at 10 a.m. Not only will this be Emanuel's first Council meeting as mayor, but the reconstituted City Council will be diving head first into the pool together as well. The agenda for today's meeting is available for downloading at City Clerk Susana Mendoza's website (PDF). more ›

Some of you expressed curiosity that Mayor Daley's final City Council meeting might tackle some tough city business. We'll just call you eternal optimists, instead of "silly." Though Ald. Ed Burke did propose a measure in today's meeting requiring cell phones contain a special feature built into them allowing parents to block their kids from what called an "epidemic" of teens texting while driving, much of the session was reserved for what 30th Ward Ald. Ariel Reboyras called the "resolution of all resolutions" - two hours of praise for the outgoing Elective Majesty. The aldermen even pooled their allowances together and gave Daley a parting gift of a crystal bowl engraved with the city seal, the start and end dates of Daley's time in office and the names of the 129 City Council members with whom he served. (We don't know if there were asterisks next to those who were indicted.) more ›

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For voters in 14 wards, it's Election Day again as the polls are now open for the ward runoffs. The city Board of Elections is predicting a low voter turnout - fewer than one in four voters are expected to cast ballots - and that tends to favor incumbents. So if you're wanting to get rid of Danny Solis in the 25th Ward because he took campaign donations from the companies responsible for the elevated lead levels in the air around Perez Elementary in Pilsen; or if you want to Rhymefest to be your alderman in the 20th Ward because he may have some ideas to improve the ward you agree with (and/or because he co-wrote "Jesus Walks"); or if you want to hand old and crotchety Bernard Stone his walking papers in the 50th, today is your opportunity. more ›

The Sun-Times reports today that Mayor-elect Emanuel has been floating the idea of a 25-member City Council to aldermen in private conversations. If Emanuel were looking pick fight with City Council and burnish his "Rahmformer" credentials in the process, that would probably be the most direct route to starting Council Wars II. more ›

UIC Political Science professor and former alderman Dick Simpson released a study today that predicts next month's ward runoff elections have the probability of shaping a City Council more independent from the agenda of Mayor-elect Emanuel. Early voting for the ward runoffs starts Monday and 10 incumbent aldermen are fighting for their jobs. more ›

“They cannot be a rubber stamp. That’s unacceptable. The challenges are too big. They can’t be what they were in the last few years. They don’t want it. The city doesn’t want it. ... I was a former legislator. I don’t want it." more ›

A complaint has been filed with state election officials against the nascent political action committee For a Better Chicago by the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform in the hopes that FABC's undisclosed donor list will be made public. more ›

City Council approved a contract Monday to give firefighters and paramedics a total of $94 million in back pay dating back 3-1/2 years. But the back pay is bankrolled by bonds in a "borrowing from Peter to pay Paul" move. more ›

It's not just the Wicked Witch of Uptown that's riding off into the sunset. Chicago's City Council could see as many as a third of the city's aldermen leaving the council this election cycle, CBS2 is reporting. And while seven aldermen may be retiring, others could leave to run for mayor, or other elected office. 4th Ward alderman Toni Preckwinkle is running for Cook County Board President - she'll leave the city council if she wins. 32nd Ward Alderman Scott Waguespack has speculated publicly about a run for mayor, as has 2nd Ward Alderman Robert Fioretti and 38th Ward Alderman Tom Allen. more ›

22nd Ward Alderman Ricardo Munoz publicly discussed his battle with alcoholism this week in the Tribune's Spanish-language daliy Hoy, and again in an interview with the Tribune. “This last year has been rather difficult for me, in terms of my abuse of alcohol,” Munoz told the paper. “In May, I came to the conclusion that I needed help. That’s when I checked myself into an outpatient rehab clinic.” Munoz said that he'd checked himself into an outpatient rehabilitation program for five weeks in May. That program involved daily counseling, but now he goes once a week while attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. “The disease had affected every aspect of my life,” Munoz told the paper. “It affected me professional, socially and at home. That’s why I came to the conclusion that I couldn’t continue it and needed help.” He added that “there’s no real good time to deal with this,” noting that "my motivation right now is to protect my sobriety and my family. Everything after that? Hey, God’s will.” more ›

Not that anybody really needs any more proof that the Chicago City Council is a rubber stamp for Mayor Daley's whims, but this one is a beaut. According to the Chicago Reader's formidable Mick Dumke, the City Council is all set to vote on new gun-control legislation in response to the U.S. Supreme Court's overturning of Chicago's handgun ban. The problem? It seems most aldermen don't even know what's in it. In fact, Dumke found that several aldermen weren't even aware they were voting on any such law on Friday. more ›