Lori Lightfoot’s new rideshare tax makes it more expensive to travel in, around downtown Chicago
Elena King, Contributing Writer
January 19, 2020
Chicago, home to some of the highest taxes in the nation, introduced a new rideshare tax on Jan. 6. This tax, brought on by Mayor Lori Lightfoot, aims to alleviate much of the traffic congestion in Chicago as a form of incentivizing commuters to take public transit or shared rides in order to lessen traffic ...
Chicago mayor fires city’s top cop over ‘ethical lapses’
Sophia Tareen, Associated Press
December 2, 2019
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot fired the city’s retiring police superintendent Monday, citing “ethical lapses” that included telling lies about a recent incident in which Eddie Johnson was found asleep at the wheel of his car after having drinks. Named to the job in the wake of a police shooting...
City Council approves Lightfoot’s $11.6B budget plan
November 26, 2019
The Chicago City Council has passed Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s $11.6 billion budget plan by a 39-11 vote. Lightfoot’s office says Tuesday the budget is balanced and will close an $838 million shortfall without a “significant” increase in new property taxes. Lightfoot says in a release that...
Lightfoot pleads case in Springfield on casino, budget
November 12, 2019
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot crisscrossed the state Capitol Tuesday looking for help from lawmakers to make a Chicago casino feasible and shore up the city's budget. The Democrat is troubled by a study last summer that showed that Illinois' "onerous" tax structure on casinos would hamstring the Chica...
Chicago wants public to weigh in on legal marijuana sales
October 7, 2019
Chicago officials are holding public meetings for residents to weigh in on the sale of recreational marijuana in the city. A new state law will allow recreational marijuana to be sold to people 21 and older starting Jan. 1. Mayor Lori Lightfoot says her office wants to hear from residents, business...
Chicago to spend $2.7 million for 2020 census
October 2, 2019
Chicago will spend $2.7 million to make sure more residents are included in the 2020 census. It's an effort that Mayor Lori Lightfoot says is driven in large part to combat fear that the Trump administration's immigration raids created. At a news conference on Tuesday, Lightfoot announced what...
Chicago mayor proposes zoning rule limiting pot dispensaries
September 18, 2019
When the recreational use of marijuana becomes legal, Chicago's mayor wants its sale banned in the central business district, near schools and in residential areas. The bans are in zoning rules proposed by Mayor Lori Lightfoot. However, Alderman Brendan Reilly, who represents the business distric...
Chicago mayor says police won’t assist ICE in migrant sweep
June 21, 2019
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot says the city's police department will not participate in an U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement roundup of migrant families who have been ordered out the country. ICE agents have been directed by President Donald Trump to conduct pre-dawn raids in major U.S. cities...
Chicago mayor gets first reforms through City Council
May 29, 2019
Mayor Lori Lightfoot has begun implementing reform to Chicago's City Hall. During her first time chairing a City Council meeting, Lightfoot got aldermen to go along with her picks to chair council committees that will vote on key parts of her agenda. The aldermen also approved new operating rules...
Lightfoot promises she will govern for communities, not corporations
Benjamin Conboy, Editor-in-Chief
May 28, 2019
When she took the stage on Monday, May 20, Lori Lightfoot made history. Lightfoot was inaugurated as the 56th mayor of Chicago, but she is the first black woman and the first openly gay person to ever hold the job. At her inauguration, she spoke poetically of Chicago’s lure, of its checkered past and...
OPINION: With a fresh City Hall, Chicago’s new mayor faces an uphill battle
Stuart Dantoin, Contributing Writer
May 28, 2019
Lori Lightfoot, the first openly gay African-American woman to be elected mayor of Chicago, won a sweeping mandate of 73.7% of the vote. Lightfoot gained public support form public attorneys, the former Chicago Public Schools board president, and numerous co-runners who lost the first round. Lightfoot...
Lori Lightfoot sworn in as Chicago mayor; vows big reforms
Michael Tarm, Associated Press
May 20, 2019
Lori Lightfoot told aldermen and other city powerbrokers assembled at her inauguration Monday as Chicago's first black woman mayor that she meant what she said on the campaign trail about top-to-bottom reforms in the nation's third largest city. "For years, they've said Chicago ain't ready for reform,"...
Elena King, Contributing Writer
January 19, 2020 • No Comments
Chicago, home to some of the highest taxes in the nation, introduced a new rideshare tax on Jan. 6. This...
Women’s March Chicago 2020 focuses on local elected officials, marchers with disabilities
January 18, 2020
Women and allies took to Chicago’s slush-filled streets Jan. 18 for the fourth-annual,...
Chicagoans swarm dispensaries in first week of recreational cannabis sales
January 12, 2020
By 6 a.m. on New Year’s day, thousands were already lined up outside the many...
Real ID is coming — here’s what you need to know
January 12, 2020
By Oct. 1, 2020, Illinois citizens will be required to have a Real ID in lieu...