(WTTW News)

Polls show Brandon Johnson, a Cook County commissioner, and Paul Vallas, the former CEO of Chicago Public Schools, running neck and neck with a large portion of voters undecided.

Pilsen homes. (WTTW News)

Teresa Fraga of the Pilsen Neighbors Community Council has been a homeowner in Pilsen for the last 43 years. She said she was expecting a $2,500 bill in December but instead received one for $14,279.

Chicago City Hall. (Michael Izquierdo / WTTW News)

Anabel Abarca, a McKinley Park resident and attorney, was the only one of the four people to apply to fill the vacant seat on the City Council who is also running for the spot in the Feb. 28 election. 

Chicago City Hall. (Michael Izquierdo / WTTW News)

A survey designed to determine what residents of the Southwest Side’s 12th Ward think should be the highest priority for their new alderperson received just 25 responses, according to results posted on the city’s data portal on Monday.

(WTTW News)

The applicants include Anabel Abarca, Ald. George Cardenas’ former chief of staff and a candidate in the Feb. 28 election.

George Cardenas appears in the WTTW News Voter Guide. (WTTW News)

Although George Cardenas will not take his seat on the Board of Review until January, he said his resignation will take effect Nov. 30, giving the mayor a chance to conduct a “thorough search for his replacement.”

The Discount Mall in Little Village is pictured in August 2022. (WTTW News)

For now, it’s business as usual inside the Discount Mall in Little Village as customers navigate through the aisles and vendors work to land a sale. But these merchants don’t know how long they have left to run their businesses. 

Chicago City Hall. (Michael Izquierdo / WTTW News)

A growing list of alderpeople have announced they will not be running for re-election in 2023, or have already resigned from the City Council. We hear from four of them. 

Members of the Chicago City Council meet on Wednesday, May 26, 2021. (WTTW News)

While the map set to take effect in time for the next round of municipal elections in 2023 has been the subject of more public scrutiny than any other revised map in Chicago’s history, it still allows incumbent alderpeople to pick their own voters and punish their enemies.

(WTTW News)
Chicago city council members say that — after a lot of haggling — they have an agreement on a new ward map. This means there are likely 41 votes in council to confirm what the wards will look like for the next ten years, and it will not be put to the voters in a public election. But some good government groups have blasted the proposal as another typical backroom deal.
The iconic arch that welcomes everyone to La Villita is set to become an official landmark. (WTTW News)

The Little Village arch is the first structure designed by a Mexican American architect to get landmark status in Chicago, officials said. 

Mayor Lori Lightfoot presents her budget proposal for 2022 to the Chicago City Council on Monday, Sept. 20, 2021. (WTTW News)

Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s plan to close a projected $733 million budget gap in 2022 relies on $385 million in federal relief funds and nearly $299 million in savings and efficiencies, but the plan contains “no new tax or significant fee increases” for Chicago residents, she said.

(Filmbetrachter / Pixabay)
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Under the new law, restaurants will only provide single-use plastic utensils by request. Supporters called the ordinance an important first step toward waste reduction but opponents said it will do little to stem the plastic tsunami.

(WTTW News)

A trio of aldermen gave Mayor Lori Lightfoot poor marks for her accomplishments during her first two years in office, citing her record on crime and divisive governing style during an interview Thursday on “Chicago Tonight.”

(WTTW News)

As Chicago reeled — again — from the police killing of a teenager recorded on video, Inspector General Joseph Ferguson offered aldermen a way to reverse what he called the city’s “long history” of covering up police misconduct. “We are out of runway with respect to the public’s patience and beliefs that we care to reform,” he said.

(WTTW News)

Mayor Lori Lightfoot said the revised ordinance was “better” than her administration originally proposed and will “put our city on the right track to full ensuring that our residents have clean air, no matter what ZIP code in which they reside.”