The Latest Breaking News from City Council

Residents in both wards want stronger public safety and more community investment. And each race features some political newcomers with last names that might ring a bell with some residents.

Ald. Jim Gardiner did not respond to the Sun-Times’ requests for an interview about his runoff campaign. Challenger Megan Mathias said many residents complained to her about Gardiner’s inaccessibility but hesitated to donate to her campaign because they “feared retaliation.”

TAMPA, Fla. — Two Florida state representatives have sent a letter to the city of St. Petersburg threatening to cut off all of its state funding until council members drop a plan to allocate $50,000 to the Tampa Bay Abortion Fund.

"It is breaking my heart as a mother because it has been over ten months and Nottingham City Council has not done anything"

The Better Government Association and the League of Women Voters say the newly elected City Council, which should be seated in a couple of months, should take on the task.

CHICAGO — In a particularly heated forum, Chicago mayoral candidates Paul Vallas and Brandon Johnson repeatedly clashed over economic policy, school closings and street violence.

PHILADELPHIA — Three years ago, then-City Councilmember Cherelle Parker drafted a resolution asking voters to ban illegal use of the policing tactic known as stop-and-frisk, a largely ceremonial gesture she marked by issuing a news release saying there was “no correlation between the elimination of stops and frisks and an…

Today’s update is about an eight-minute read that will brief you on the day’s biggest stories.

Paul Vallas touted endorsements from the Chicago Fire Fighters Union Local 2, former Illinois Senate President Emil Jones Jr. and five City Council members.

Former Inspector General Joe Ferguson had pushed for a more independent Council, but slammed this approach as a “pre-emptive power move of the status quo wrapped in a package that includes meaningful reforms.”

Under state law, local governments can prohibit video gambling machines from operating at restaurants or bars within their city limits. But both mayoral candidates favor lifting Chicago’s longstanding ban on the machines.