Fran Spielman

Inspector General Deborah Witzburg’s third-quarter report also includes three more city employees accused of fraudulently obtaining Paycheck Protection Program loans and another allegation of police abuse during civil unrest after the death of George Floyd.

A property tax increase “should be literally the last resort,”Civic Federation President Joe Ferguson, the city's former inspector general, told the Sun-Times.

In order to get 26 votes in the 50-member City Council, Southwest Side Ald. Marty Quinn (13th) said Johnson will have to renew the ShotSpotter contract he has already canceled and raised property taxes he promised to freeze.

The 1989 murder of 24-year-old Dana Feitler, a day before she was to start graduate school at the University of Chicago, made national headlines. Under pressure to solve the case, Chicago police charged Lee Harris, who spent more than 33 years in prison before being exonerated — eight months before he died.

The mayor's spending plan was crafted to deal with an expected shortfall next year of nearly $1 billion.

Ald. Anthony Beale predicted an emboldened City Council wil reduce or eliminate the $300 million property tax increase, shrink the $570 million TIF surplus and $272 million pension advance, slash the city's bloated ranks of middle-manager and restore more than 400 police vacancies the mayor wants to cut.

Under the mayor's plan, spending for the office charged with implementing reforms to get CPD out from under the costly constraints of a federal consent decree would shrink by 45%, and more than half the positions would be eliminated.

El alcalde está rompiendo una promesa de campaña de no aumentar los impuestos a la propiedad al proponer un aumento de $300 millones para lidiar con un déficit esperado el próximo año de casi $1 billón.

Choose Chicago is preparing to create a "Tourism Improvement District" that would raise millions, more than doubling the marketing agency's budget. At downtown hotels opting in, the tax on hotel rooms would rise to 18.9%. The current rate of 17.4% already is highest among major U.S. convention…