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Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, once an advocate for Defund the Police, has a secret group of cops protecting her alongside her bodyguard, it's been revealed The unit of 65 officers, five sergeants and a lieutenant are providing protection for the city’s mayor together with her bodyguard detail of about 20 officers The revelation comes after Lightfoot proposed slashing $80 million from the Chicago Police Department budget in 2020 during Defund the Police protests The proposal was later scaled back and $59 million of the budget was cut She has since denounced the movement and pleaded with the AG to send...

South Side Ald. Roderick Sawyer, whose father was mayor in the 1980s, will run for City Hall’s top job, he said Thursday. Sawyer’s declaration marks an extraordinary break with Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who selected him to be part of her City Council leadership team as chairman of the health and human services committee. In an interview with the Tribune, Sawyer criticized Lightfoot’s combative leadership style and said her contempt for aldermen makes it difficult for the City Council to get things done. “I don’t think I would treat my colleagues as nemesis or an opposing party. We’re all partners in...

The year-to-date homicide total in Chicago has already topped 200, but the city’s Amphibian-American mayor isn’t worried about that. In an average week, 11 people are murdered in Chicago. You might think reducing this deadly violence would be a top priority for Mayor Lori Lightfoot, a task that would absorb all of her attention. Nevertheless, she manages to find time to spend on Twitter, warning her “community” about the real danger — the United States Supreme Court. In the aftermath of the city’s deadliest year since 1996, how does a “call to arms” against the Supreme Court fit on Lightfoot’s...

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel (D) is pursuing legal sanctions against lawyers who questioned the outcome of the November election. Nessel, who has defended Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) and Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson (D), said this week she is going to go after the attorneys who filed lawsuits alleging vote fraud and that votes were manipulated by Dominion Voting Systems. “You know if you will have your name attached to it, and you have made intentional misrepresentations of facts to the court, I absolutely believe that you ought to be held accountable,” Nessel said, Michigan Radio reported. Nessel said...

A federal judge in Chicago issued a nationwide halt Monday to President Trump’s attempt to make more immigrants have to prove self-sufficiency in order to win a path to citizenship. Judge Gary Feinerman ruled the government cut too many procedural corners in issuing what was known as the “public charge” rule. Homeland Security had asked him to confine his ruling to a limited geography and to delay its effectiveness while it was appealed. The Obama appointee rejected both requests, announcing a nationwide policy.

The time-frame January 1, 2020, through October 31, 2020, saw murders surge 51 percent in Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s (D) Chicago compared to the same calendar period in 2019. The Chicago Sun-Times reports, “There have been 655 murders this year through Oct. 31, while the city had 431 during the same period in 2019 — a 51% increase.”

Between the civil unrest, the corona virus pandemic and a divisive election Tuesday, business owners are weighing the prospect of further unrest in a way they haven’t during past elections. Shoppers may see more stores doing business behind boarded-up windows or closing early Tuesday as businesses take extra safety precautions. “I’ve got four more jobs after this one,” Joe Daniels, an employee of Midlothian-based Cook County Board-Up, said as he wrapped up a job on Clybourn. “We’re headed to the Gold Coast next,” he said. “They’re all worried about the election.” Retailers are used to responding to emergencies like severe...

A virtual rally in support of a proposed constitutional amendment to change Illinois' income tax system to a graduated-rate tax was sidetracked by Cook County President Toni Preckwinkle delivering a lengthy pitch for State’s Attorney Kim Foxx’s reelection. The rally of high-profile Democrats, hosted by the proposed amendment’s chief supporter, Gov. J.B. Pritzker, also featured Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton alleging amendment opponents were billionaires fighting against “communities of color and women and working-class families all across the state.” But pro-amendment discussion, dubbed the “fair tax” by supporters, gave way when Preckwinkle, the Cook County Democratic Party chair and a strong...

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot is considering a $94 million property tax increase, layoffs for more than 300 city workers and a gas tax hike as part of her plan to close a $1.2 billion budget deficit, sources told the Tribune. Lightfoot also is considering about $500 million in refinancing city debt to help close the deficit, sources said.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration is using electronic billboards on city property to honor Breonna Taylor following protests in Chicago this week in response to her fatal shooting by police in Louisville, saying the campaign on signs alongside local expressways is not politically motivated despite some aldermanic criticism.(snip) n a statement, the mayor’s office likened the Taylor messages to public service announcements the city posts on the digital billboards. “This week, the city’s social media channels and electronic billboards are honoring the life of Breonna Taylor and countless other victims of systemic injustice with the display #SayHerName,” the statement reads in...

I keep seeing on Facebook that the economic carnage is not the fault of Lightfoot or Gov Fat Boy per libs because it was done in the name of "safety". That its the virus that did it. I do not understand that line of thinking nor willing to figure out where they think that is correct. Its insane. I argue back with no luck.

On June 11, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot held a news conference with new Chief of Police David Brown. She was livid. She announced that she had been contacted by the office of Congressman Bobby Rush and presented with videos recorded on a night of rioting following anti-police protests at the end of May over the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. The videos revealed thirteen policemen in Rush’s office, two dozing, others making coffee and preparing popcorn. Bobby Rush, indignant and upset, spoke as well. He castigated the officers for their having had “unmitigated gall” to make themselves coffee and...

By Monday morning ABC 7 reported the numbers had risen to 51 shot, 12 fatally. The Chicago Sun-Times reported 53 were shot, 11 fatally. ABC 7 notes four people were shot, one fatally, in Englewood just before 4 p.m. Sunday. The victims were sitting on a porch when a passing vehicle stopped and two people jumped out and began shooting. A 35-year-old man was shot in the head and killed, while a 26-year-old woman, 17-year-old boy, and 60-year-old man were all shot and wounded. An 86-year-old man was shot dead in West Pullman Sunday. His body was discovered about 6...

In Illinois Republican Party v. Pritzker, (7th Cir., Sept. 3, 2020), the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected arguments by the Illinois Republican Party that Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker's COVD-19 Order limiting gatherings (including political gatherings) to 50 people is unconstitutional because there is an exemption from the limit for religious services. The court, denying a preliminary injunction, said in part: A careful look at the Supreme Court’s Religion Clause cases, coupled with the fact that EO43 is designed to give greater leeway to the exercise of religion, convinces us that the speech that accompanies religious exercise has a...

More than 270 workers are set to lose their jobs at the award-winning chef's restaurants this month due to the coronavirus. CHICAGO, IL — Hundreds of workers at Iron Chef Stephanie Izard's restaurants in Chicago are set to lose their jobs later this month. The companies that operate Izard's Girl & The Goat, Duck Duck Goat and Little Goat Diner notified Illinois officials in July that each plan to lay off dozens of restaurant workers starting Sept. 20. According to notices filed with the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, 96 employees at Little Goat Diner face permanent layoffs,...

Chicago police on Tuesday released surveillance video asking for the public's help in identifying a group of people who broke in and ransacked a store on the city's West Side back in May. Video showed dozens of people swarming the West Chicago Avenue business, which sold electronics among other items, around 1:45 p.m. on May 31. Many were captured taking whatever merchandise they could find over a roughly 25-minute period. At least one person violently kicked and shattered a protective covering under a counter that housed additional items. The aftermath of the looting spree saw the store looking like a...

In the early hours of Aug. 10, caravans from across the city ransacked high-end stores in and around downtown after rumors circulated on social media that Chicago police had shot and killed a 15-year-old Black boy on the South Side. Police did shoot 20-year-old Latrell Allen, who is Black, the day before. Police allege Allen fired gunshots at them, but officers were not equipped with body-worn cameras, and no other footage of the incident has been made available. Allen is expected to recover. Images of people walking in and out of department stores with their hands full of products transfixed...

Six people were shot, including one who died at the scene, as they ate outside a restaurant in Chicago, according to the city Fire Department.

Chicago police have arrested and charged a man wanted or robbing and attacking an 85-year-old woman in a parking garage near the Magnificent Mile. Tony Davis, 45, of Chicago, is now facing felony charges of aggravated battery of a victim over 60 and robbery stemming from the attack Tuesday morning. Police say he grabbed the woman’s purse, threw her to the ground and dragged her a few feet before running off. The woman suffered a head injury as a result. Davis was arrested Friday when he was stopped for violating CTA rules. SNIP

It makes sense that not a word was spoken at the Democratic National Convention about the riots, looting, and mayhem that have ravaged some of our major cities. To denounce Antifa and Black Lives Matter would have been to denounce the Democrats’ own base. And while many a Democratic mayor is embracing the idea of defunding the police, they’ve had no hesitation calling the police to protect themselves. Citing the need for her and her family to live in peace and security, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot had the police cordon off her block to prevent protesters from coming anywhere near...