Good afternoon! It’s lastly Friday, and temperatures are anticipated to be delicate once more this weekend. Right here’s what else you could know at the moment.
The mayor’s price range suggestion, now scheduled for a Metropolis Council vote subsequent Wednesday, contains 1,056 vacant sworn-officer positions, on prime of the 11,661 cops employed by CPD as of final month. Factoring within the normal tempo of retirements and resignations, truly filling all these positions would take a police hiring surge like few the town has ever seen, my colleague Chip Mitchell reviews for WBEZ.
CPD hiring has not considerably outpaced the division’s attrition for six years. Which means a lot of the funds put aside by Johnson for these extra police salaries are destined to be spent on different issues.
Some public well being advocates have pushed for these salaries to be shifted to public well being applications, youth jobs and a assured earnings pilot that’s on the chopping block.
The apply of budgeting for officers who won’t ever be employed isn’t new. Lori Lightfoot, mayor from 2019 to 2023, put aside funds for lots of of ghost cops in every of her 4 annual budgets. The 2022 model marked a excessive level for these funded vacancies: 1,566. Lots of of ghost cops appeared in all eight of former Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s metropolis budgets and in a lot of former Mayor Richard M. Daley’s too. [WBEZ]
2. Metropolis Council members are complaining about what Mayor Johnson’s price range proposal lacks
Some alderpersons say the price range ought to embody extra spending cuts relatively than will increase to property taxes, my WBEZ colleague Mariah Woelfel reviews.
The price range slated for a vote at the moment was the mayor’s third try at a proposal that might fulfill at the very least 26 council members. The primary sticking level has been a property tax enhance Johnson has mentioned is important to keep away from layoffs or cuts amid an almost $1 billion deficit. The present proposal features a $68.5 million hike — removed from the $300 million hike Johnson initially proposed.
Some council members need to slash vacant positions, and others want to prioritize chopping providers to keep away from tax will increase.
Opposition spans the political spectrum, together with from these in Johnson’s personal progressive wing. Ald. Maria Hadden, forty ninth Ward, a progressive who was going to vote “sure” on the price range, in the end blamed the delay on the truth that “the fifth ground can’t get relationships collectively.”
The delay pushes the town nearer to a Dec. 31 deadline to move the price range and heightens the danger of getting into the unchartered territory of a authorities shutdown. [WBEZ]
Chicago has emerged as one of many prime U.S. markets for the amenities, attracting the business’s largest gamers — however they require lots of electrical energy, my colleague Abby Miller reviews.
The facilities assist energy the tech behind every part from on-line procuring to scheduling dentist appointments.
Business specialists say Chicago and close by suburbs will proceed to be an business powerhouse, with 30 initiatives deliberate over the subsequent 5 years.
Utility infrastructure can even increase as firms look towards the suburbs to suit their land wants. But when giant firms like Microsoft, Meta or Oracle safe agreements for brand spanking new information facilities, it may eat up the area’s additional energy capabilities. [Chicago Sun-Times]
4. President Joe Biden commuted the sentences of two Illinois mega-fraudsters
Ex-Dixon comptroller Rita Crundwell, who stole $54 million from the northwest Illinois metropolis, and ex-Northbrook CEO Eric Bloom, who misplaced his traders greater than half a billion, noticed their federal sentences slashed, Mitchell Armentrout writes for the Chicago Solar-Instances.
Biden additionally pardoned 39 individuals, together with a clear slate for one Illinoisan: 51-year-old Diana Bazan Villanueva of La Grange, convicted of a nonviolent drug crime when she was in her 20s.
Pardons — an influence granted presidents and usually exercised late of their phrases — clear an individual’s prison document. Commutations cut back sentences however don’t exonerate individuals of crimes. [Chicago Sun-Times]
5. PAWS Chicago is in search of houses for 200 pets by the top of the yr
As a part of the hassle, the shelter is holding a vacation adopt-a-thon at the moment by Dec. 21, Block Membership Chicago reviews.
Appointments are beneficial for potential adopters, however walk-ins are welcome. All family members are required to be current when adopting.
“Once you undertake, you’re not solely saving a life, but additionally making room to avoid wasting much more pets in want,” Paula Fasseas, PAWS Chicago founder and govt chair, mentioned in a information launch. “Adopting a pet in the course of the holidays brings unconditional love and pleasure into your own home, creating lasting reminiscences for each you and your new companion.” [Block Club Chicago]
Right here’s what else is going on
- Former Home Speaker Nancy Pelosi was injured throughout a visit overseas. [NPR]
- An American launched from a Syrian jail was flown in another country, a U.S. official mentioned. [AP]
- Stanley recalled about 2.6 million journey mugs due to a problem with the lids. [NPR]
- Right here’s the right way to watch the Geminids meteor bathe this weekend. [Chicago Tribune]
Oh, and another factor …
Probability the Snapper, the alligator caught within the Humboldt Park Lagoon in 2019, has grown to 7 ft, 1 inch — and he’s serving to scientists examine most cancers, Block Membership Chicago reviews.
A nonprofit began by Frank Robb, who caught the alligator, has been collaborating with a lab on the College of Louisville to check how alligators keep away from chemical-induced most cancers.
Researchers have been utilizing Probability the Snapper’s measurements and blood samples as a part of a management group within the examine. [Block Club Chicago]
Inform me one thing good …
What encounters have you ever had with wild animals within the Chicago space?
Nora writes:
“One early morning this April I used to be startled awake round 2am to the sounds of screaming. I used to be completely terrified. I used to be fairly certain it was an animal (probably one dying) however I had by no means heard any sound prefer it earlier than. The scream would sound for a number of seconds, pause after which begin up once more — it sounded prefer it was coming from proper outdoors of my bed room window.
I glanced by my window blinds looking for the supply of the screams however didn’t see something. I then went to the entrance room and pulled again the curtains to see a fox on my entrance garden…screaming. The fox turned his head, made direct eye contact with me and opened his mouth to set free an extended scream! I stood there and stared at him screaming for a number of minutes earlier than he trotted into the road and, no lie, began to hop onto the roofs of parked vehicles, one after the other.
I watched laughing for bit after which tried to return to mattress. It was fairly laborious after being jarred awake by violent screaming solely minutes earlier than.
I had managed to go to sleep however when 4am got here round I used to be woken up once more to the sound of the fox screaming once more! I ran to the entrance window and there he was; screaming. He continued to scream for a bit after which, once more, went into the road and hopped onto parked vehicles.
Though I used to be barely sleep disadvantaged the subsequent day, I remained extraordinarily amused by what had occurred. Largely as a result of I had lastly discovered the reply to ‘What Does The Fox Say?’ ”
And Lindsay writes:
“Whereas biking the lakefront South of Foster, I noticed a falcon consuming a rabbit. It pulled an extended dangling strip of flesh or intestine from the poor factor, and stared at me with it hanging from its beak. I should have mentioned OMG a dozen occasions, it was so unsettling.”
Thanks for all of the responses this week! I’m sorry I couldn’t embody all of them, but it surely was enjoyable studying all of your tales.
