Get the latest news from around Illinois.
Chicago Tribune: Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Ald. Matt O’Shea clash over public safety spending as City Council prepares to vote on 2023 budget
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot criticized Southwest Side Ald. Matt O’Shea for not supporting her budget, saying that the alderman should vote for her spending plan to prove his support for the police.
O’Shea responded, meanwhile, that he can’t vote for a budget that he believes “fails to address our police hiring crisis.”
Chicago Sun-Times: New Illinois law gives cops choice not to jail people for small amounts of drugs — a follow-up to our ‘Costly toll of dead-end drug arrests’ investigation
Tucked into the new and much-debated 764-page law that does away with Illinois’ cash-bail system is a single paragraph that could have a big impact.
WTTW: Will Evanston Become the First Illinois Community to Implement Ranked Choice Voting?
Next Tuesday, Evanston voters won’t only be deciding who to vote for in races for governor, Secretary of State and U.S. Senate, they’ll also be deciding how they’ll vote in the future as the northern suburb seeks to become the first community in Illinois to use ranked choice voting for future municipal elections.
Ranked choice voting calls for just that: Voters pick whoever they want to win. They also have the option to mark a second and third choice, through however many candidates are on the ballot.