Today’s Daily Chicagoan is brought to you, in part, by:
|
|
|
|
|
It’s Monday. Start your week with these local stories from WTTW News.
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
A Chicago coach house. (WTTW News)
|
An ordinance allowing 34 of Chicago’s 50 wards to build additional dwelling units, or ADUs, took effect April 1.
Adopted last September, the ordinance permits Chicagoans to build small homes in their backyards, basements and attics and rent them out. Often called granny flats or coach houses, ADUs are the city’s latest effort to address rising housing costs in Chicago.
Ald. Bennett Lawson (44th Ward) was the ordinance’s main sponsor. He said that legalizing ADUs in Chicago has been a goal from the start of his time in City Council.
“I had been able to see in my neighborhood, which is very multi-unit, we have coach houses, we have attics and basements, how successful that could be,” Lawson said. “We wanted to make sure we were bringing those options in every neighborhood.”
The ordinance began as a 2021 pilot program to test legalizing ADUs. About 116,000 parcels were eligible under the pilot. City leaders deemed it a success and expanded it to more parts of Chicago. Now, more than 320,000 parcels are eligible.
“I wanted to take what had been a successful pilot we had seen in five different areas in the city and make it available citywide,” Lawson said. “We had a lot of interest from colleagues in different corners of the city to do that.”
The ordinance faced pushback from alderpeople representing parts of Chicago’s Northwest, Southwest and South sides. Led by Ald. Marty Quinn (13th Ward), they argued ADUs would detract from the suburban-style character of their wards and lead to overpopulation.
Proponents of the expansion were forced to compromise, allowing 14 alderpeople to keep their wards ADU-free.
More context:
Local affordable housing advocates like Steffany Bahamon, a co-leader volunteer at Abundant Housing Illinois, have been pushing back.
“This is not the allowance of 50 50-story buildings all at once,” Bahamon said of the notion that ADUs create congested neighborhoods.
The push for ADUs comes at a time when Chicago is experiencing increasing rent and mortgage prices. According to a WBEZ analysis, someone making 50% of the city’s median income in 2000 could rent half the apartments in at least 12 of Chicago’s 77 neighborhoods. By 2022, that number shrank to just five neighborhoods.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Sponsor Message
|
|
Life happens outside your comfort zone. Out Here, a courageous new musical at Court Theatre by Leslie Buxbaum, David J. Levin, and Erin McKeown, invites you to be among the first to experience Dawn’s journey. Torn between her husband, her family, and her ex-girlfriend Robin, Dawn must discover how to harmonize with those she loves and embrace change. Enjoy an intimate, joyful exploration of family, identity, and the choices that shape us. Out Here is on stage at Court Theatre April 10–May 10.
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
(WTTW News)
|
A key City Council panel is set to vote on a measure to rid the Chicago Police Department of officers with ties to hate groups and far-right extremist organizations, records show.
The proposal, authored by Ald. Matt Martin (47th Ward), would give the Civilian Office of Police Accountability the authority to probe officers accused of “actively participating” in extremist and anti-government groups like the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers.
The City Council’s Workforce Development Committee is set to consider the proposal at its meeting set for 10:30 a.m. Monday. A final vote could come as soon as April 15.
“If you’re part of a violent hate group, you shouldn’t be empowered to enforce Chicago’s laws,” Martin said, adding that proposal has been in development for more than a year and went through 17 different versions in consultation with a variety of city agencies and departments.
Before Trump returned to office in January 2025, the FBI labeled the Proud Boys as an antisemitic white supremacy organization and considered the Oath Keepers a “large but loosely organized collection of individuals, some who are associated with militias” who have vowed to “not obey unconstitutional (and thus illegal) and immoral orders.”
Members of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers in the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol insurrection. Leaders of both groups were convicted of seditious conspiracy before being pardoned by Trump.
More about the ordinance:
The measure specifically prohibits members of the Chicago Police Department from participating in groups that advocate the overthrow of any level of U.S. government by violence.
The measure defines active participation in an extremist organization as paying dues, attending meetings, recruiting others or posting and sharing content online that promotes extremist activities.
The proposal also prohibits officers from engaging in the “planning, execution, or other material support of hate crimes and hate incidents.”
Officers would also be prohibited from “knowingly displaying paraphernalia, words, or symbols in support of extremist activities,” according to the proposal.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Chicago Police Supt. Larry Snelling talks to the news media following a meeting of the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability on Thursday, April 2, 2026. (WTTW News)
|
The city of Chicago spent at least $58.8 million on overtime for members of the Chicago Police Department during the first three months of 2026 — 3% less than during the same period a year ago, according to records published by the city’s watchdog.
That includes $1.3 million earned by officers in January, February and March to patrol what CPD lists as “planned gathering/march/civil unrest,” according to data published by the inspector general. Chicagoans have frequently taken to the streets to protest President Donald Trump and his policies since the start of the year, including the third “No Kings” rally on March 28 that drew thousands downtown.
Officers earned an additional $1 million in overtime to police the funeral of civil rights icon the Rev. Jesse Jackson, Sr., according to the data published by Witzburg. Former Presidents Joe Biden, Barack Obama and Bill Clinton attended the March 6 memorial along with a host of prominent Democrats and thousands of mourners.
By comparison, CPD spent $60.5 million on police overtime during the first three months of 2025, based on the data published by Witzburg.
Some backstory:
In all, Chicago taxpayers spent $285.9 million on overtime for members of the Chicago Police Department during 2025 — 185% more than the Chicago City Council set aside for police overtime as part of the city’s annual budget, according to updated records published by the city’s watchdog.
CPD’s 2026 budget is $2.1 billion, including $200 million for overtime, records show. Between 2020 and 2025, CPD had an annual overtime budget of $100 million — but spent far more every year to pay members of the police department to work more than eight hours a day or 40 hours a week.
|
|
|
|
|
|
More From WTTW News:
|
The National Confectionery Sales Association announced last week that Chicago has been chosen as the permanent home of the Candy Hall of Fame Experience. The attraction is slated to open in 2027 at 830 N. Michigan Ave.
A Chicago man faces federal charges after he allegedly threatened President Donald Trump and later a Secret Service agent, claiming he planned to “shoot up his place of work immediately.”
|
 |
|
|
|
|
Back in the Day: April 13, 1891 - Novelist Nella Larsen Born in Chicago
|
On this day, 135 years ago — April 13, 1891 — the pioneering and enduring novelist Nella Larsen was born in Chicago. Her mother was a Danish immigrant and her father was from the West Indies but left the family shortly after her birth. Larsen grew up on the South Side of Chicago, in a vice district known as the Levee, which is near what we now call Chinatown. While Chicago was her first home, she had stints in Nashville, Denmark and New York City—only returning to the Windy City in her novels and for the 1933 World’s Fair. She’s best known for her book “Passing,” which was adapted into a Netflix film starring Ruth Negga and Tessa Thompson in 2021. Larsen, whose
work navigated identity, relationships, class and sexuality, became in 1930 the first Black woman to receive a Guggenheim fellowship. She died in 1964. For more on her life and work, revisit this WTTW story from 2020.
|
|
|
|
|
This Week’s Civic Events and Meetings
|
Every Monday, WTTW News highlights the best ways to get involved with local government.
City Council’s Committee on Finance
On Monday at 10 a.m., the City Council's Committee on Finance will hold a meeting to consider two proposed settlements, which includes a potential $9.5M payout to a man who was wrongfully convicted and spent 19 years in prison. For the full agenda and location, click here.
City Council’s Committee on Workforce Development
On Monday at 10:15 a.m., the City Council’s Committee on Workforce Development will meet to consider an amendment that prohibits the Chicago Police Department from having ties to hate groups and far-right extremist organizations. For the full agenda and location, click here.
City Council
On Wednesday at 10 a.m., Chicago’s City Council will hold a regular meeting. The deadline to submit public comment is 9 a.m. Wednesday. For more information, click here.
WTTW: "Henry David Thoreau: A Screening & Conversation"
On the evening of April 16, join WTTW for a screening of “Henry David Thoreau,” a new three-part documentary directed by Erik Ewers and Christopher Loren Ewers and executive produced by Ken Burns and Don Henley. Following the screening, WTTW News environmental reporter Patty Wetli will moderate a conversation with filmmaker Erik Ewers on Thoreau’s enduring relevance, from conservation and climate to urban development and public space. For more information on the event at the UIC Isadore & Sadie Dorin Forum and tickets, click here.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
What's your favorite fancy restaurant in Chicago?
|
|
|
Email DailyChicagoan@wttw.com with your responses and your answers might be published.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
5:30 PM | 10:00 PM
|
|
|
|
Want more WTTW News content? Follow WTTW on Instagram to check in with us daily, go behind-the-scenes, and more.
|
Newsletter Producer: Josh Terry
|
|
|
|
|
