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Mayor Lori Lightfoot is praising U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush for that gift of a video that helps her kick the Chicago police union in the teeth. I don’t think she’ll ever forgive Rush for that despicable slur during her 2019 mayoral campaign. Anyone voting for Lightfoot, Rush said, would have on their hands “the blood of the next young black man or black woman who is killed by the police.” She wants police officers to be licensed. If she gets that, it might make things easier for City Hall to get rid of cops it doesn’t like. This could give...

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot was recorded during a heated and expletive-ridden exchange with a city alderman while addressing protests that turned violent after George Floyd’s death. During a May 31 conference call with 50 aldermen, Alderman Raymond Lopez told Lightfoot that the city was unprepared for the demonstrations, according to a recording of the call obtained by a CBS affiliate in the city. “When downtown is in lockdown, our neighborhoods are next, and our failure to fully get ready for what’s going on in the neighborhoods, we’re seeing this destruction, and we’re thinking that it’s going to somehow end tonight....

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said the city will not tolerate vigilantism after groups of mostly white men patrolled the streets of the Bridgeport neighborhood on Wednesday night in response to a nearby city protest. Multiple streets were blocked in the Bridgeport neighborhood Wednesday night as nearby protests dispersed. Near West Pershing Road, water gushed from an open fire hydrant as small groups gathered on corners. Some of the men held bats. One wore a shirt that said “All Lives Matter,” one sipped a beer and another waved at an officer as he drove by. Additional groups of people, some armed...

Mayor Lightfoot said she’s hopeful major retailers will reopen the Chicago stores that were looted or otherwise damaged during protests surrounding George Floyd’s killing by police in Minnesota. But, she’s unsure of one of the biggest. Mayor Lightfoot said she was on a conference call with Walmart and other major retailers that had stores looted or heavily damaged during the unrest in Chicago. She said she pleaded with them to not abandon Chicago. "I think in the case of Walmart, what they were focused on was assessing the damage. They are doing an effort to donate fresh produce, to the...

Mayor Lightfoot said she’s hopeful major retailers will reopen the Chicago stores that were looted or otherwise damaged during protests surrounding George Floyd’s killing by police in Minnesota. But, she’s unsure of one of the biggest. Mayor Lightfoot said she was on a conference call with Walmart and other major retailers that had stores looted or heavily damaged during the unrest in Chicago. She said she pleaded with them to not abandon Chicago.

Democratic governors and mayors have been mugged by reality. They’re suffering from shock, as violence and looting rage on. Their hands bitten to the bone by the hard political left they once thought they could use and tame. Police have been shot by rioters. Lawyers in New York were arrested after allegedly attempting to firebomb a police car with officers inside. Food stores in urban food deserts have been destroyed, as have the downtowns of many of the great cities, Chicago among them, which suspended canceled its school meal program for hungry children, most of them minorities. The looters roll...

Chicago needs 3,000 National Guardsmen. Aldermen arguing that the deployment of 375 National Guard troops to seal off the downtown had left South and West Side unprotected. During Sunday calls between the mayor and aldermen, Lopez asked Lightfoot directly what her plan was to protect the neighborhoods after sealing off a downtown devastated by looting, vandalism and arson on Saturday. According to Lopez, the mayor responded that she had a plan for every neighborhood. By Sunday night, neighborhoods were in chaos, warnings about a “coordinated attempt to destabilize our city” turned out to be right. On a second conference call...

After the riots in Chicago, what you noticed was all that broken glass from all the windows of all the looted stores and looted restaurants. Each crunching step was the sound of the city’s breaking heart. Some residents came out early Sunday to help, trying to sweep up the pieces on the ground. “This started out to be about George Floyd,” said a man on Clark Street. “But it turned into something else, about what they could grab and take and ruin. Look at it.” The mayor and the governor finally called out the Illinois National Guard on Sunday to...

Mayor Lori Lightfoot's decision to shift police resources to conducting raids on churches that hold services in defiance of her edict that this not be permitted has led to questions regarding her priorities. As is well-known, there are dozens of shootings in the City every week and a lengthy list of unsolved murders. This past Sunday, though, five police cars loaded with officers descended on Chicago Cornerstone Baptist Church to break-up Pastor Courtney Lewis' sermon and disperse the parishioners. Lightfoot justified the raid saying that "the City's residents have learned to live with the constant murders, but COVID-19 is a...

Democratic Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot lashed out at President Donald Trump, delivering an obscenity in “code” during remarks Friday. Lightfoot accused the president of encouraging violence in the wake of protests in Minneapolis, sparked by the death of George Floyd in police custody Monday. Floyd’s death was captured on a viral video that showed police officer Derek Chauvin holding him down, knee to the man’s neck, as Floyd complained that he was unable to breathe. Chauvin has since been fired, arrested and charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter. After three days of protests that devolved into riots, vandalism and...

Lightfoot said Trump's response to protests in Minneapolis was a "profoundly dangerous" effort to stoke racial tensions and throw "red meat" to his base while endangering the lives of Black Americans and other protesters.

New York is getting lapped on restaurant reopenings by a city that can’t even do pizza right. Chicago has released a 13-page list of guidelines for how its eateries can safely resume on-premises service amid the coronavirus pandemic, while Big Apple Mayor Bill de Blasio remains short on answers. The Windy City issued the pointers on Tuesday, according to Eater, painting a picture of what a night out in the city could soon look like. Tables will be placed at least six feet apart, or have a permanent barrier, such as Plexiglass, installed between them, while parties at one table...

The entire state of Illinois is preparing to move into Phase 3 of reopening next week — but things will look different in Chicago than they do elsewhere. Lightfoot has said the city won’t be able to have outdoor dining for restaurants, though that could come later in June. And the lakefront and other popular trails, including The 606 and the Riverwalk, will remain closed for now. “There’s no vaccine. There’s no cure,” Lightfoot said. “We’re still at risk. COVID’s still here. It’s still getting people sick and people are still dying. So no matter what phase we move into,...

(CHICAGO) People heading to Philadelphia Romanian Church in Ravenswood on Sunday might have a hard time finding a parking spot. Ald. Matt Martin (47th) said no-parking signs have been put up for several surrounding blocks near the church at 1713 W. Sunnyside Ave. The signs have been mounted on Sunnyside Avenue between Greenview and Ravenswood avenues, and Paulina Street between Lawrence and Berteau avenues. The parking ban is in effect from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday. Martin said the signs were put up at the direction of the Mayor’s office, in response to plans by the church to hold...

The vast majority of Americans can return to their favorite local golf course. That includes Illinois residents — except those who want to play in Chicago. Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s office has ordered the closing of the three Cook County Forest Preserve courses within city limits — Indian Boundary, Billy Caldwell and Edgebrook. A visit to the ForestPreserveGolf.com website yields an interesting mix: The eight courses outside the city limits, such as River Oaks and Joe Louis, are taking tee times. But a click on the other three yields the message: “Temporarily closed — Per City of Chicago Department of Health...

As the bailout-seeking billionaire Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker resists lawsuits saying his lockdown order extension exceeds his authority and is unconstitutional, his wife jets to their estate in opened-up Florida to enjoy life without being arrested for leaving the house. Meanwhile Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot keeps barbershops and hair salons closed under penalty of imprisonment as she visits her own hair stylist on the grounds she is “the public face of Illinois” and must look her best. Both deem themselves more important than the people they represent. Laws are for the little people. It’s good to be king and queen...

CHICAGO (WLS) -- The Chicago City Council approved Mayor Lori Lightfoot's request for emergency powers during a virtual meeting Friday. Mayor Lightfoot asked for emergency powers to make decisions about COVID-19-related spending at their discretion without council approval. Aldermen passed her request 29-21 Friday. The measure only needed a majority, 26 votes, to pass. The council first took up the mayor's request on Wednesday during a virtual session that turned heated. A small group of aldermen objected to giving Lightfoot such sweeping authority and they pushed any decision to Friday. "I think it is important that we work in collaboration...

Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Tuesday she expects Gov. J.B. Pritzker to extend the statewide stay-at-home order designed to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus. April 30 is “no longer a viable date” for that order to be lifted, Lightfoot said. “I would expect an extension of the stay at home order … through sometime in May,” Lightfoot said. The order could also be extended into June, Lightfoot said.

Grumpy. Gruff. Stern. Steely. Unrelenting. All these adjectives aptly describe Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot. She may not be someone you’d invite for a drink, Like her predecessor, Lightfoot brings a tough, take-no-prisoners style. Unlike her predecessor, she doesn’t pretend to be soft and fuzzy even in these lonely pandemic times. That’s a very good thing. She is pushing her citywide order with a stern, steely, unrelenting message: “Stay home. Save lives.”

Mayor Lori Lightfoot speaks at City Hall on April 8, 2020, during the coronavirus pandemic.(Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune) Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s stay-at-home order will extend into May, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot predicted Monday. Lightfoot was asked at an unrelated news conference whether April 30 looks like the last day of the stay-at-home order in Chicago. “I think that’s going to be difficult for us to say, April 30, everything comes up, I don’t expect that to happen,” Lightfoot said. “I think it will extend beyond that.