The commission of lawmakers meant to collaborate with Gov. J.B. Pritzker on how to restore Illinois amid the COVID-19 pandemic dissolves by law at the end of the month.

Some want it to continue. Others think traditional legislative hearings may be the better approach.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s “painful” new 2021 budget banks on property tax hikes and various regressive taxes and fines, such as gas taxes and speed-camera fines. She’s refinancing and restructuring debt, crossing her fingers that lower interest rates will let her win that gamble.

Yet, it’s all far from enough to stabilize the city’s precarious financial situation. The mayor knows it—she described the city’s pension systems as “unsustainable” in her budget address last year.

Too many investigations into police misconduct are dropped because the accusers haven’t sworn out and signed an affidavit, Chicago’s inspector general says, echoing findings by the U.S. Justice Department.

Two-thirds of police misconduct cases were closed for lack of these sworn statements, according to a new report from City Hall Inspector General Joe Ferguson.

As prosecutors seek to obtain a report that probed the actions of Illinois Department of Children and Family Services employees in charge of 5-year-old AJ Freund’s case, the agency that generated the report is taking steps to derail their efforts.

The McHenry County State’s Attorney’s office is seeking the report, generated as part of an investigation by the department’s Office of Inspector General, which looked into Freund’s former DCFS caseworker Carlos Acosta, 54, and his supervisor Andrew Polovin, 48.

Heather Ferris still has big plans for The General Store, the only retailer within the borders of McHenry County’s least populous village, Greenwood, which is home to about 250 people.

By the end of next year or in early 2022, Ferris wants to have a bar installed and a license to serve alcohol obtained, and not just for at-home consumption like it does now. She is also working to make upgrades to the building, components of which are a part of the original 1894 structure.

City Hall lawyers made the rare move of apologetically withdrawing a request for sanctions against a lawyer in federal court Friday, following the public release of video of a botched police raid that roiled the city this week.

Faith leaders are expected to further address the issue during a news conference later Friday afternoon.

Bars and restaurants in unincorporated McHenry County still will be able to serve food and alcohol outdoors after the McHenry County Board on Tuesday extended its moratorium on the enforcement of some of its ordinances.

County Board Chairman Mike Buehler, who serves as the county’s liquor commissioner, decided to waive renewal fees for businesses with Class A liquor licenses if they meet certain conditions.

On a recent weekday morning at Chicago’s Jefferson Park Blue Line station, Bobby Patel manned a magazine stand from behind a plastic screen. A sign at the door reads, “one customer at a time.”

On an average weekday before the pandemic, thousands of commuters would pass through the Jefferson Park Transit Center on the city’s Northwest Side. It’s home to the Blue Line, 9 CTA buses, several suburban PACE buses and a METRA commuter rail stop.