Free Republic

Chicago’s 9th Ward Alderman Anthony Beale is fed up with City Hall handing out freebies to illegal aliens and says that the large amount of welfare border crossers are allotted is serving as an advertisement for even more to come here. During a recent address made on the floor of the Chicago city council, Beale said that illegals are being paid more than $9,000 a month in free childcare, housing vouchers, food, clothing, education, legal help, and other services.

On Thursday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “America Reports,” Chicago Alderman Brian Hopkins acknowledged that city leaders did send a message that anyone could come by being a sanctuary city — although he doesn’t agree with sending that message — but nobody “had any idea that it would lead to this today” when the city became a sanctuary city in the 1980s and the current situation “was completely unpredicted and it’s completely unprecedented and nobody thought a sanctuary city would mean what it means.” Co-host Sandra Smith asked, [relevant exchange begins around 3:30] “[D]idn’t leadership in your city say,...

A Southwest Side alderman accidentally shot himself Monday afternoon in the Ashburn neighborhood, the Sun-Times has learned. Ald. Derrick Curtis (18th) suffered a gunshot wound to his wrist around noon while cleaning his gun in the 8200 block of South Christiana Avenue, according to a Chicago police alert.

Top officials at a U.S. federal cybersecurity agency are urging a judge not to authorize at this time the release of a report that analyzes Dominion Voting Systems equipment in Georgia, arguing doing so could assist hackers trying to “undermine election security.” The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) was recently provided an unredacted copy of the report, which was prepared by J. Alex Halderman, director of the University of Michigan Center for Computer Security and Society. The report discusses “potential vulnerabilities in Dominion ImageCast X ballot marking devices,” or electronic voting devices, according to the government. While CISA supports...

On Thursday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “The Story,” Chicago Alderman Raymond Lopez (D) said that Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s (D) policies have “put the entire city under siege” and that “the Democratic Party on so many levels seems to be enamored with the mentality of being enablers to criminality.” Lopez said, “The only thing that is equitable about what the mayor’s policies have been is to put the entire city under siege and to spread fear and violence into every neighborhood, so much so that it’s now commonplace and doesn’t even raise an eye nationally.

A proposal to use $30 million from the city’s share of the latest COVID-19 relief package to fund cash assistance payments to Chicagoans struggling to stay afloat during the pandemic is set to be introduced to the Chicago City Council on Wednesday. The proposal authored by Ald. Gilbert Villegas (36th Ward) would send 5,000 families $500 per month for a year as part of an effort to study whether a universal basic income could help Chicagoans recover from the economic catastrophe of the coronavirus pandemic and fight poverty.

CHICAGO (CBS) — Is Chicago’s Magnificent Mile at risk for massive store closures? Just two months ago it was the epicenter of unrest. Then this week there was a murder on Oak Street and Michigan Avenue. All of that is on top of a pandemic that has taken a toll on everyone. The Mag Mile businesses aren’t unique, but Ald. Brian Hopkins (2nd) said it is the recent violence and spike in burglaries that is causing real concern now. A Chicago icon, the Magnificent Mile’s 13 blocks are known across the world. It’s a draw for tourists and a serious...

CHICAGO — Federal agents raided the ward office of another Chicago alderman Wednesday. The FBI confirmed they were "conducting court-authorized law enforcement activities" in the area of 34th Ward Ald. Carrie Austin's campaign office, which is located on West 111th Street. It is unknown what the agents were looking for and no charges have been filed.

CHICAGO (AP) — Police have arrested a Chicago alderman on charges alleging that he lied when he reported his car had been stolen in January. Police say a news release that Alderman Proco "Joe" Moreno was arrested Tuesday night on felony charges of insurance fraud and obstruction of justice. He's scheduled to appear in court on Wednesday. Moreno reported on Jan. 4 that his car was missing.

CHICAGO (CBS) — Questions surround a Northwest Side alderman after his car disappeared for months and a woman was charged in connection with the disappearance.

CHICAGO (CBS) — He’s been a staunch supporter of gun control measures for decades, but in a surprising twist, federal prosecutors revealed Thursday that nearly two dozen firearms were discovered in Ald. Ed Burke’s offices during their raids in November. It’s still not known if the guns that were found in November were discovered at Burke’s ward office or at City Hall, but it’s hard to miss the irony of a staunch gun control advocate having to turn over 23 guns as a condition of his bond. From outlawing cell phone cases shaped like guns to bans on concealed weapons...

30 Chicago Alderman Sign Letter to Impeach Trump – While City Records 236th Homicide and Suffers Near Junk Bond Rating Jim Hoft Jun 1st, 2017 1:38 pm 30 Comments You just can’t make this stuff up. On Wednesday, 30 Chicago alderman signed a resolution to have Trump impeached. This is both amusing and concerning. These aldermen were elected in order to work on issues that are impacting the city. They need to worry about about what is going on in our back yard instead of the Fake News media conspiracy theories.. Here are the most recent Chicago stats: 1. 236...

An alderman indicted on corruption charges while he sat in a City Council meeting is merely the latest in a rogues’ gallery of elected officials to face such allegations in Chicago, a city that over the years became saddled with a national reputation for corruption. Willie Cochran — who pleaded not guilty Friday to bribery, extortion and wire fraud charges — received word of his indictment last week while he sat in the City Hall chamber, fellow aldermen stopping by for hushed conversations. According to Illinois corruption researchers Dick Simpson and Thomas Gradel, more than 30 Chicago aldermen have been...

Most aldermen, most politicians are hos," corrupt Chicago Ald. Arenda Troutman said, rather famously, on federal tape. She wasn't speaking about gardening tools, was she? Troutman was talking about the politics of Chicago, which is, if you've forgotten, the political corruption capital of the United States. Troutman represented the South Side's 20th Ward. At her 2009 sentencing, she squirted a few tears, sobbed, prayed, begged and then got four years in federal prison anyway. And on Wednesday her replacement, Ald. Willie Cochran, a former Chicago police officer who campaigned as something of a corruption buster, was himself indicted on federal...

Chicago Alderman Anthony Beale gave new meaning to constituent advocacy yesterday when he told Metra’s executive director “people are going to get hurt” in the dispute over how many minorities they decide to hire for a railroad bridge project, the “Englewood Flyer.” The Chicago Sun-Times reports Beale did not specify who would “get hurt” or who would do the hurting. No matter the victims or perpetrators, this is a rather alarming prediction for a locally elected official to make. Beal warned, “I’m trying to help you help yourself. When I say that, problems could arise.

Chicago has not always had 50 wards. From 1901 to the 1920s, the council had 70 aldermen representing 35 wards, with two aldermen per ward. The two aldermen served alternating terms, with one of them up for re-election each year. Since 1920, aldermen have been chosen in elections with a run-off when no candidate gets a majority of the vote in the first round. In 1923 the City was divided into 50 wards, instead of 35, and each of those got their own alderman. Since 1935 Aldermen have served four-year terms.

I just hate cannibalism like this when one bottom feeder eats another. West side Alderman Walter Burnett (27th Ward) joined the Fox News Chicago team to eat some Asian carp per his ridiculous suggestion early last week that "the poor" could eat the Asian carp and cure the problem that Lake Michigan faces over the invasive species. For those unaware of the trouble with the bony Asian carp, the fish has been rapidly invading Illinois waterways and is headed straight for Lake Michigan. The Asian carp has no natural predators here and scientists think that the fish will wildly over...

A federal judge Monday said the Congress Plaza Hotel has a right to a sidewalk cafe, ruling that -- at least in this instance -- the U.S. Constitution trumps a Chicago alderman's clout. Judge Ronald Guzman enjoined the City of Chicago and Ald. Robert Fioretti, 2nd, from denying the hotel a cafe due to a long strike by hotel employees. Guzman wrote that "the only reasonable conclusion" was that the alderman refused to sign off on the hotel's application because he's a strong backer of the striking union. In its suit, the hotel claimed that the alderman's actions violated the...

Three years ago, City Hall approved giving $5.3 million in taxpayer funding to a labor organization so it could buy land from a client of Ald. Edward M. Burke's law firm. Burke (14th) was among 49 aldermen who approved the deal that allowed the Chicago Construction and General Laborers' Council to buy the 24-acre site from since-indicted Chicago developer Calvin Boender. Boender made a 37 percent profit on the land, which he had owned for about six years, city records show. Now, a federal investigation has the deal in the spotlight.

The chairman of the Chicago City Council's police and fire committee pleaded not guilty Monday to charges that he accepted home repairs worth $40,000 plus campaign money and sports tickets in exchange for fixing a zoning case. Alderman Isaac Carothers, 29th Ward, appeared briefly before U.S. Magistrate Judge Morton Denlow on Monday and was ordered freed on a $4,500 unsecured bond. Authorities allege that developer Calvin Boender paid the bribes. He's also pleaded not guilty and was freed on a $3 million bond secured by real estate. Carothers was indicted May 28. At the center of the indictment is Galewood...