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It’s Tax Day today. Whether you owed or got a welcome refund, take a minute to read these stories from WTTW News. |
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Ald. Gilbert Villegas (36th Ward) appears on “Chicago Tonight: Latino Voices” on April 8, 2023. (WTTW News) |
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The city of Chicago is on track to exhaust the $82 million officials set aside to cover police misconduct settlements and judgments in 2025, just four months into the year, city records show.
With the financial toll of decades of police misconduct likely to grow in the coming months, Ald. Gilbert Villegas (36th Ward) plans to invoke the rarely used Rule 41 at Wednesday’s Chicago City Council meeting to force representatives of Mayor Brandon Johnson to answer questions publicly about their plan to handle the lawsuits that pose the biggest threat to the city’s financial stability — those filed by Chicagoans who spent decades in prison after being wrongfully convicted.
“We need to know what the city’s actual liability is,” Villegas told WTTW News. “What’s the plan? How are we going to pay for this? Which should we fight, and go to trial?”
Some backstory:
Through the first three months of 2025, officials have already agreed to pay more than $62 million to resolve nearly two dozen lawsuits alleging a wide range of misconduct.
Those expenses are expected to top $82 million, the city’s entire annual budget for police misconduct settlements, on Wednesday if the City Council, as expected, agrees to pay $32 million to the family of a St. Louis man who was struck by a driver being chased by Chicago police and lost both legs, the latest massive settlement prompted by a police pursuit that violated department policy.
Villegas has been asking since December 2023 for a hearing about the cost of settling and defending lawsuits alleging that misconduct by Chicago police officers resulted in innocent men, nearly all of them Black or Latino, spending decades behind bars. |
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LaSalle Street in Chicago. (Michael Izquierdo / WTTW News) |
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Two proposals that will use $66 million from Chicago taxpayers to breathe new life into Chicago’s Financial District by transforming it into the city’s newest residential neighborhood advanced Monday. The City Council’s Finance Committee endorsed the $179.2 million plan from the Prime Group Inc. and Capri Investor LLC to transform the former Harris Trust & Savings Bank buildings at 111 W. Monroe St. into an apartment building with 345 units, including 104 units set aside for low- and moderate-income Chicagoans. The project relies on $40 million in city subsidies and includes a 228-room hotel, which is set to be built separately.
The Finance Committee also OK’d the $100 million plan from The Prime Group Inc. to transform three floors of the landmark Continental and Commercial National Bank building at 208 S. LaSalle St. into 168 units, including 51 units set aside for low- and moderate-income Chicagoans. The new apartments would be sandwiched between two hotels in the building designed by Daniel Burnham in 1914 near Adams and LaSalle streets. A final vote on both proposals, which would create 104 units of affordable housing, by the full City Council is set for Wednesday. |
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(WTTW News) |
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Rank-and-file members of the Chicago Teachers Union have overwhelmingly approved their tentative labor contract, the latest step toward finalizing the new four-year agreement. CTU officials on Monday morning announced that 97% of its members who voted last week cast ballots in favor of the contract proposal, a mark union President Stacy Davis Gates called “overwhelming (and) historic.”
“We’re gonna pay for schools in this city to thrive,” Davis Gates said at a press event Monday. “We’re gonna have safe and clean public transit. We’re gonna have a place where all of the work that we are doing to give young people the schools they deserve, we can give them a city that they deserve. That’s going to take all of us.”
What's next:
The last hurdle to finalizing the deal comes from Chicago’s partially elected Board of Education, which also must vote to approve the agreement later this month.
What's in the deal:
Under the proposed deal — which Chicago Public Schools officials say will cost $1.5 billion over the life of the contract — teachers will see raises of 4% to 7.5% in the first year and 4% to 8.5% each during the remaining three years of the deal, depending on their level of education and tenure. The deal also includes enforceable class size limits. |
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More From WTTW News |
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A review by Illinois Answers Project of publicly available payroll data for 259 Chicago ward and committee staffers found that 65 council staffers received increases in their salaries between October and December 2024, representing more than $260,000 in taxpayer funds for bonuses.
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Back in the Day: April 15, 2015 - City Council Approves $5M Settlement to Family of Laquan McDonald |
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On this day 10 years ago, City Council approved a $5 million settlement to the family of Laquan McDonald, a 17-year-old Chicagoan who was shot 16 times by CPD officer Jason Van Dyke on Oct. 20, 2014. The ordinance passed unanimously with no debate or dissent — a rarity for the full council and the move came after news that federal prosecutors and the FBI were investigating the death of the teen, who police said was wielding a knife. Alderpeople voted without seeing the police dashboard camera video, which would be released to the public in November 2015. In 2018, a 12-person jury convicted Van Dyke of second-degree murder and 16 counts of aggravated battery with a firearm. He was sentenced to 81 months and was released in 2022. |
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This Week’s Staff Recommendations: Plant and Gardening Shops |
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Every Tuesday, WTTW News staffers highlight their favorite things about Chicago. Here’s editor Erica Demarest on where to stock up on houseplants and succulents.
Erica Demarest: Chicago gardeners are gearing up for another growing season, but not everyone in the city has a yard or garden plot. If you’re looking to flex your green thumb indoors, here are some of my favorite places for houseplants, terrariums and everything you’ll need to get growing inside.
Terrace, 1329 W. Wilson Ave.
Billed as a furniture and botanical showroom, this Uptown spot is home to a beautiful collection of plants and planters. Sign up for terrarium-building workshops or a plant-themed game night. And if you just want to enjoy the space, Terrace hosts a silent book club on select Sundays.
Gethsemane Gardens, 5739 N. Clark St.
How could we not include one of the oldest and largest independent garden centers in the city? This Andersonville spot spans two blocks, is home to a sizable gift shop and offers convenient services (e.g., repotting, delivery). There’s a big selection of planters, and staffers will drill drainage holes on site.
Terracotto, 3056 W. Diversey Ave.
With a striking Sick Fisher mural wrapped around the storefront, Logan Square’s Terracotto is hard to miss. The view inside is just as beautiful with diverse plants (including carnivorous species), rows of terrariums and a wall space for taking and leaving cuttings.
Adams & Son & Daughter, 1057 N. California Ave.
Home to another Sick Fisher mural, this densely packed Humboldt Park spot has everything you need to start or expand your plant collection. Signs offer care instructions, and there’s a selection of fresh-cut bouquets. And if you’re interested in another kind of plant, the store often teams with other local businesses for Puffing & Pot Painting sessions at different sites.
Because there’s always room for one, or three, more plants: Chicago Bloom (tons of planters), Sunnyside Plants (sells items from local artisans) and Plant Shop Chicago (unique soil mixes). |
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This year, lawmakers in Springfield and Washington D.C. are attempting to make daylight saving time permanent. What do you think? Let us know and tell us why. |
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Email DailyChicagoan@wttw.com with your responses and your answers might be published. |
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Newsletter Producer: Josh Terry |
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