The Latest Breaking News from Brandon Johnson

The department was still mourning the loss of firefighter EMT Andrew “Drew” Price, who died earlier in the week.

With the city spending $40 million a month on the migrant emergency and no assurance of more state or federal aid, the long-term financial impact of Johnson’s budget is still very much up in the air.

The mayor discussed the plan only briefly Wednesday, offering few details, but promised to reveal more on Friday. The goal, he said, is to more quickly move asylum-seekers out of shelters and into work and self-sufficiency.

Lawmakers haven’t settled on a voting map and floated a last-minute proposal to accelerate moving to a fully elected board.

The $16.77 billion plan, approved 41-8, holds the line on taxes and increases spending for an array of popular programs. But it also relies on one-time revenues and budgets far too little for the ongoing migrant crisis, on the hope that more state and federal help is on the way.

Mayor Brandon Johnson’s first budget is expected to sail through the Chicago City Council on Wednesday. It’s balanced in part with $786.5 million in one-time revenues. The search for new revenue sources has been punted to a Council subcommittee.

New rules ban profane, vulgar, threatening, abusive or disruptive language at Chicago City Council meetings. Also out: banners, signs, large bags and sharp objects.

The policy was approved Monday by a civilian-led oversight panel after CPD investigated but took little action against cops with connections to far-right groups, including the Proud Boys, Oath Keepers and Three Percenters.

Cost-of-living increases of 3% will be granted to all retired Chicago police officers, regardless of whether they were born before or after Jan. 1, 1966. Gov. J.B. Pritzker in 2021 signed into law a similar measure for retired firefighters.

Dr. Olusimbo “Simbo” Ige, managing director of programs at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, becomes the first Black woman to serve as Chicago’s public health commissioner.

Many care centers aren’t reachable by public transit, wait times are too long, and many couldn’t be reached by telephone, an analysis by proponents of reopening public health clinics shows.