Robert Fioretti

Emanuel not inclined to go back to free water for non-profit groups

Clout Street

Mayor Rahm Emanuel said Thursday that restoring free water service to churches and non-profit agencies as some aldermen suggest would reverse a campaign promise he’s fulfilled. “I pledged in the campaign that we were not going to give away...

Tags: Budgets and Budgeting, Rahm Emanuel, Chicago Mayor, Howard Brookins, Carrie Austin

City Council signs off on Emanuel's billboard plan

Tribune reporter

The City Council today approved Mayor Rahm Emanuel's plan to allow a conglomerate to build nearly three dozen digital billboards along city expressways in exchange for a lease of at least 20 years. The deal with Interstate-JCDecaux passed 43-6. It had...

Tags: Rahm Emanuel, Scott Waguespack, Chicago Mayor, Pat Dowell, John Arena

Most aldermen back proposal to restore free water to nonprofits

Tribune reporter

A majority of Chicago aldermen have signed on to a proposal to once again provide free city water to many nonprofit organizations across the city. The proposal, sponsored by Ald. Robert Fioretti, 2nd, and Ald. Howard Brookins, 21st, would restore free...

Tags: Rahm Emanuel, Chicago Mayor, Howard Brookins, Religion and Belief

Ald. Jackson a no-show for Council budget vote

WGN News

Amid questions concerning her Congressman husband's whereabouts, Alderman Sandi Jackson (7th Ward) says she is dealing with hard times by working for the residents of her ward -- yet she was not in attendance at today's City Council meeting. Jackson...

Tags: Local Elections, Patrick J. O'Connor, Proco Joe Moreno, Jesse Jackson, Rahm Emanuel

Emanuel's budget passes City Council 46-3

Clout Street

The Chicago City Council today easily approved Mayor Rahm Emanuel's $6.5 billion budget for next year.As aldermen met, the only debate was over the mayor’s expected margin of victory. Last year, the City Council voted 50-0 to approve Emanuel's...

Tags: Budgets and Budgeting, John Pope, Rahm Emanuel, Elections, Job Layoffs

Emanuel budget speech: No tax hikes, but pension woes loom

Tribune reporters

Mayor Rahm Emanuel today unveiled a new budget that he says doesn't include new tax, fine or fee increases but contains a warning about the financial havoc the city's looming government worker pension problem could wreak. Much of the mayor's speech is...

Tags: Automotive Equipment, Budgets and Budgeting, Job Layoffs, Layoffs and Downsizing, Public Employees

Aldermen want hearings on Chicago school closings

Although Chicago teachers have signed off on their new contract, the lingering anxiety about the future of the city's public education system surfaced Thursday as aldermen stepped up a call for hearings on potential school closings. Chicago Public...

Tags: Latasha Thomas, Proco Joe Moreno, Chicago Teachers Union, Strikes, Karen Lewis

Nancy Pelosi, Paul Ryan headline Chicago weekend fundraisers

Clout Street

U.S. House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Paul Ryan, the Republican vice-presidential nominee, are scheduled to be in the Chicago area this weekend on fundraising missions. Pelosi, the former House speaker from California, is headlining a...

Tags: Pat Quinn, Robert Dold, Elections, Political Fundraising, Mitt Romney

Emanuel whistleblower protections step closer to reality

Clout Street

Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s attempt to expand protections for regular folks who face retaliation for reporting city wrongdoing won praise as a concept but criticism for the details Tuesday. Since it was first established in 2004, the city’s so-...

Tags: Lawyers, Rahm Emanuel, Elections, Chicago Mayor, Laws

Chicago aldermen split on schools strike

Clout Street

For a time Monday, visitors to aldermen's offices at City Hall office were greeted by a 7-year-old whose Mets cap was barely visible over the top of a desk. Chicago teachers were out on strike, so Roberto Maldonado II wasn’t at Drummond...

Tags: Public Schools, Rahm Emanuel, Jason C. Ervin, Chicago Mayor, Timothy M. Cullerton

Police officer picked to fill Derrick Smith seat in Illinois House

Tribune reporter

West Side Democratic leaders on Friday picked Chicago police officer Eddie Winters to fill the seat vacated by former Rep. Derrick Smith, who was kicked out of office over a federal bribery charge by his Illinois House colleagues last week.   Winters will...

Tags: Democratic Party, Elections, Jesse White, Politics

City adds two crews to deal with rat complaints

Clout Street

The city will add two crews to its rodent poisoning teams to respond to a spike in the number of rat complaints around Chicago. Four Streets and Sanitation workers who are on duty disability will be brought back to work to join the 15 two-person crews...