>> Good evening and thanks for joining us on the week in review.

I'm Nick Blumberg.

Mayor Brandon Johnson makes an emotional plea for a budget proposal stuck in a stalemate.

>> If you've ever hungry would what I have heard If you've never opened up your refrigerator.

If there's nothing in it.

>> Johnson swats away a counter proposal from a group of older people opposed to his corporate head tax saying they're playing games with the working people of the city's.

It's not my preference.

If somebody is a danger, I do not want come on electronic monitoring.

The Cook County State's attorney says the system needs to be reexamined after a Chicago man released on electronic monitoring allegedly set a woman on fire on the CTA.

>> Our federal partners.

>> Took these concerns seriously.

Acted decisively and delivered a first step toward accountability.

The Trump administration is using its funding as a cudgel to it force Northwestern to that enact their policy preferences.

Northwestern controversial deal with the Trump administration to end a federal investigation and restore millions in funding.

>> Meanwhile, some Chicago elders do agree on a hemp and passing it out of a key committee despite push-back from business owners.

Attorneys moved to drop a use-of-force case over immigration agents roughing up protesters and press.

But the Trump administration faces a new suit demanding all the footage of the raid on a South Shore apartment building.

>> And now to our week in review panel.

Joining us are Michael let it rot of block club.

Chicago very own Heather.

Sure around.

80 Quigg of the Chicago Tribune and Alden Lowry of WBEZ.

Thank you all for being here.

Let's get right to it.

So Heather, we saw a group of alderman release a rival spending plan that closes the city's budget gap.

They say without that controversial head tax, what they propose.

Well, they proposed raising garbage fees and moving a whole bunch of things around.

It's a very complicated proposal, but it essentially would nearly double what Chicagoans pay every month to have their trash and recyclables hauled away.

>> And that would make it possible for them to sort of pay more towards the city's pensions, reduce sort of a reduction in efforts to use property taxes for blight renewal and get rid of that corporate head tax, which they say will stifle growth and make it impossible for Chicago companies to hire new employees?

Well, you know, we as we heard that, you know, the mayor really is pushing back against that plan, not just sort of on the moral terms here, but his administration says this rival plan relies on bad numbers.

Yeah.

So this plan relies basically being able to collect 150 million more in debt than the city anticipates.

And it says that the mayor's revenue proposals are to conservatives and that the city can count on getting another 31 million dollars from various taxes.

Now, the city's top finance officials say that this is would be extremely dangerous for the city and could put the city in a very risky financial position.

And they say you can't build the budget on, actually got build a budget on numbers.

But that's really the problem here, right?

Right.

Because nobody on what the numbers are.

>> And one side doesn't trust the other to be accurate and fair with wellness caucus in particular was trying to do things that they said would avoid a credit downgrade, right?

And then the answer in return from the mayor's office is now what you want to do would also lead to a credit downgrade.

So some things they want to cut.

>> The mayor had planned to basically reduce in advance pension payment.

That was huge credit positive to city and several other things.

They're like we can't keep doing these gigantic surpluses.

It's just not sustainable.

We need more structural solutions, but we are not at the middle.

I don't even know.

Well, the next couple weeks is gonna look like, well, you know, all into the idea that this head tax that the mayor saying this is sort of a moral stand here, that we can't budget on the backs of working people that that the rich, these corporations need to step up and pay more.

>> What you think that message isn't resonating even with some alders who are typically allied with the mayor?

Well, I mean, we've.

>> I long established, I think politically that the head tax was a bad idea.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel essentially kind got the council support that back in 2012 to phase that out, I think by 2014.

And I don't know if we've heard any mention of the head tax until recently.

And I think maybe even more so out of necessity of major revenue source than anything else.

I think the appetite politically for has really died.

The mayor, though, this does speak to his principles.

You know, he pushed back on this notion doubling the garbage tax because, you know, hey, this is gonna hurt working.

Families were heard some of it in the open it was much more than he said.

And he's a very passionate speech about this.

He thinks people who have higher incomes need to contribute more in the head taxes.

One way to do is it special that I said people me to contribute to it but also the question of the U.S.

to see a Chicago have the levers to make such assertions when it comes businesses leaving and thinking about as far as particularly post pandemic.

Right.

With so many businesses not use an office space is leaving the city as a whole.

>> Is that a gamble?

4?

Is that the gunman, Ali?

All right.

Now, I want see any talk about the next couple weeks Look like I'm really just to see how the mayor plays this.

And he's spoken to his his passion.

>> But I come out to see what going to politically.

He's got a little a little bit of leverage here a little because he can be tolling alternative plan and the count 2034 votes to overturn it.

He only needs 26 votes in anything that he proposes to past.

So how does he will line up the votes to get to that lower number and to keep the council from getting to that higher number.

I don't know, but but I think that's where he's his energy.

Why?

Well, you know, it's interesting to that 0, 80, you know, all the people on multiple sides of this debate, we've been hearing a similar refrain that like.

>> Okay, we need the mayor's folks to come to the table.

You know, we saw this in an issue with that messy budget debate last year where these not lessons learned about compromise?

No, I mean, and from the beginning of the budget process, even back to the summer, we heard alderman say over and over, I just don't trust this administration Heather heard this, too.

I'm Even the revenue estimates for things a lot of people, even doubtful about y y and 100 million dollars, even for the corporate tax like they couldn't even trust the revenue estimates.

>> What is complicating I think is also a lot of the pressure that the Chicago teachers union is putting a lot of alderman.

We saw Lori Lightfoot kind of try to do this during her budget.

She set up a Web site that was like here, the alderman who are opposed to and it backfired it like she lost some support from Adam.

And I think I've spoken about a man who feel like see to tactics are making it harder to reach a consensus.

Yeah, and it's interesting to, you it's this idea of why we're so polarized in this country.

We're not operating on the same set of facts if they're not operating on the same budget numbers.

>> That puts a lot of pressure on folks.

You know, Heather, some of the savings in this rival plan also require labor unions to agree to reduction in benefits for their members who make up about 90% of the folks who work for the city.

Do you really see any scenario where union make those kinds of significant concessions?

Certainly not in time for an agreement that could go into place on January first.

And there's this report that the Johnson Administration Commission, it cost the city 3.5 million dollars.

It was done by Ernst and young and a lot of older people were hoping that this >> report was going to give them a roadmap to be able to eliminate the head tax and sort cuts at that would not impact city services are that people would not see that reduction.

There were no magic beans in that report, unfortunately.

And there is no painful, a painless way to sort of find an extra 100 million dollars.

And I think extra billion or yeah.

Why not?

Just one just make up money and doesn't on yeah.

So you know, when that didn't materialize when that Ernst and young consultant didn't come to the city council say yes, the Johnson administration has ignored all of these really easy proposals to avoid this corporate ahead.

Tax that you all hate.

I think everybody was sort of left.

What what do we now?

And that's really where we've been for the last several weeks, area.

So what now?

Kind of moment for well?

And I think it's really important that people understand that the city cannot operate like the state does.

We in Illinois have gotten very used to the state missing the budget deadline and just continuing to operate until they get their stuff together.

If the city does not have a budget by the end of the year, please stop getting paid trash stops, getting picked up.

The city grinds to a halt and that I know am so tired of this word is unprecedented and nobody will know what happens after that.

Can I hope for something president it to happen, to step When we think about said the prospect of a city government shutdown.

>> It's definitely something you never heard of.

And it's going to be something years.

looking back when it comes to that pivotal campaign promise from Johnson of not raising property taxes and how big of an influence that women have on this term that promise not raise property taxes and standing by that promise in the middle of all this.

>> Well, turning to some other news because there are things going on other than the city budget.

Believe it or don't I know.

I know you do.

We've got a new chief judge here in Cook County and Charles Beach, as well as states attorney Eileen O'Neill.

Burke marking her first year in office.

They're both looking at changes to electronic monitoring, especially after that horrific attack on the CEA.

There's going to be CTA.

There's this task force that's been put together.

But, you know, 80 lots of blue ribbon task forces come and go.

Does it feel like there's a real sense of urgency around getting something done or is this more folks saying, well, we need to demonstrate that work here, both Charles Beach and Burke of said there are probable changes that we can make to the Pretrial Fairness Act now that it's been in place for a bit.

>> What that looks like.

I have no idea.

But obviously and attack like this is a very good catalyst for things like that.

I think there's going to be a lot of reviews as to how he was let out on electronic monitoring and are having so many charges previously.

Of course, this will take a lot of negotiating with state legislators to get something done.

>> Well, you know, you have to ask the question to, you know, how much was this sort an outlier attack versus indicative of major problems in the system?

Yeah, I mean, I think there have been some criticisms off electronic monitoring for wound at one time that was signed questions around how?

>> Accurate?

The actual monitors, right?

was one story about a gentleman who supposedly.

Away from home when, in fact, it will recorded himself being at home and are still I think tinge of the sense of electronic monitoring is kind of like this crash that perhaps the system may fall back on when they're stuck in the situation of we'd like to taint somebody were not detained.

Somebody in the era no cash bail.

So I so there's a possibility even with this horrific thing and maybe now I have and maybe there's this is a moment for us to kind of step back and say is there a way that we can make the system work better definitely something that we think about Charles speech coming into chief judge the president that you said as far as >> that home that he saw his time when he is now managing electronic monitoring dark.

It's like, have fun.

>> All right.

Well Heather is our resident Wildcat.

I have to ask this.

>> 75 million dollar deal with the Trump administration investigations over allegations of Anti-Semitism, which many students and faculty dispute.

We surprised to see in northwestern strike this this deal will it's clear that the university was under an immense amount of pressure and the real issue was money, right?

They it had nearly 800 million dollars in federal grants and research shut down.

And I think that >> the you know, the university president said, look, if we can spend 75 million dollars over the next 3 year to free App, 800 million dollars.

That's the right thing to do for the university.

They will face a lot of hard questions many alum and students about whether this agreement essentially sacrifices the rights of trans students to sort of get to.

That's because there are parts of this agreement that require the university to take steps to essentially say we're going to ensure that there are same dorms and same sports and that there will be a lot of questions about how that is implemented and whether people on campus suffer because of it.

And that, you know, we heard, you know, sort of people say this is what the Trump administration wants.

They're using their sort of power of purse to do that.

And does it set a precedent for other universities?

I think will be a big question.

Yeah, especially because, you know, major universities like Northwestern, they rely on this massive federal research funding.

It doesn't feel like there's.

>> Another apparatus coming forward.

There are only so many, you know, Bill Gates is that are willing to fund the sort of Endeavour's.

So you have to ask yourself, where does it go from You know, Michael, the D C based legal group called Democracy forward, they're suing the federal government over this raid on the South Shore apartment complex.

You know, essentially saying this was just designed for propaganda videos.

We want to see the full footage.

Government won't release Despite a FOIA request based on the reporting we've heard so far on this rate.

How how damning could these full videos be to sort of the immigration enforcement efforts?

>> It can show a lot as far as the tactics and how the Trump administration has manipulated footage to make it seem like there was the potential for anything coming out of that South Shore complex and even now where we're seeing signs and notices on people's apartments for him to now leave the complex just a lot thinking about the position that these tenants for putting and the fact that you have people who were ripped out of their homes put on the street and families that were just manhandle in that way.

For the sake of appearances to broader operation, Midway Blitz, so much done.

Jess performance of to position Trump administration to be able to say, look, we were getting the worst of the worst when it comes to illegal immigrants.

And the reality is going to come out that these were largely black and brown children and families that were being targeted and no true precedent for the rate.

>> You know, all done WBEZ in the sometimes lived an extensive coverage of the use of force tactics by immigration agents.

Many of them quite risky.

really surprised given all that it to see the coalition suing over the use of force.

On Preston, demonstrators move to drop their case for now.

Or is this sort of the smart legal move here?

>> I think the sense is the case itself, the imminent danger, that was that was relevant here was no longer command of the Vino and his his forces largely left the area.

There's still some some ice enforcement that's happening but not nearly to the degree that that was some.

But it's more legal move was, hey, you know, we don't really have a case at this point.

You know, we want to believe we have relief because they've left the thing that I think that it's important, remember, is that?

You know, the promises that they're going turn return with more.

And so I think situation, at least is could be a forerunner for some potential legal action future.

Yeah, of course.

There's this argument ad from federal attorney saying, well, if you move to dismiss, we can ever bring this back.

The judge, though, appear fairly skeptical of that.

Yeah, I'm I'm a member of the newsguild.

the first e-mail we got was like we've was Thomas for now.

But we are ready to do it again if and when they do come back.

>> The thing I'm going to watching aside from whether there's another legal suit is do they come back in March around primary and what kind of impact does that have on people's?

Voting habits?

So they do feel like they're safe to go out and vote.

Whether families are safe to go out and vote folks.

I mean, we had so many reports easy.

Sometimes we did about just people being afraid to leave their homes generally.

So if they're back in March be very interesting to see how that intersects with primary, which Governor JB Pritzker has been warning us to expect.

So we will see if that comes true.

>> Another earlier legal matter, Heather, we learned this week the city's going to trial in the case of a man shot by CPD CTA, Red Line Station going to trial.

A bit of an unusual move for a case like Is it the officer who shot Ariel Roman in Twenty-twenty?

This was one of the first sort of, >> you know, pandemic areas, social media videos that went viral was actually criminally charged for her actions in connection with with this incident.

She was acquitted after a bench trial and you have a finding by the civilian Office of Police Accountability that the officers actions in this case violated the city's use-of-force rules.

the other officer involved was actually suspended for years.

This is not typically the kind of case that city lawyers like to ask a jury to decide it will be an interesting test of what we hear from many more conservative and moderate older people that the city should be taking more of these cases to trial and sort you know, fighting all the way.

I will note last time the city took a police misconduct, case to trial.

They ended up with 120 million dollar verdict.

That is now on appeal.

>> And I recall, the the largest of its kind in a 2 handed down.

So certainly not something that they're looking to get a repeat Michael, we did see some older people come together this week to pass out of committee, a ban on hemp, though its future is far from certain here.

It's also something that the feds are looking to ban in about a year.

So what you think there's this urgency to tackle it locally.

Now?

>> I think especially contact it comes to the federal ban.

The idea of getting ahead of it when it comes to coming down.

>> And also the question of how hemp is being politicized of the threat to children on anti him side versus it being a help for anxiety and chronic pain on the program side.

>> And the question of when it comes to a lot of restaurants who are seeing as much alcohol sales and a lot of with Irish Association really saying that some help providers may go out of business overnight.

If this ban passes, it's definitely something to is definitely lot that can be politicized with that when it comes to.

If this ban passes in these restaurants or him providers were to close overnight and federal ban is coming anyway.

With this really change much.

And the question of from a state level in the city level, what power Illinois Chicago have been contacts with the federal ban to begin with?

And I think a lot of people, especially medical professionals, recommend the kind of a compromise terms of people.

21 and over similar to alcohol, tobacco.

And it's not always an anxiety.

Sometimes just do enjoy the something of like an adult being able to use their own free will to decide taking him the same way someone can more traditional forms of weed.

>> Compared and children not being able have access to it and that sort of compromise versus an outright ban.

So there's a lot of politicize can be done and a middle ground be found.

But in context with bigger federal ban, it's the question of will either way if this man doesn't pass and a federal ban passes anyway when it matter a year from now, if the federal ban passes to begin it's going to be, going to regardless.

All right.

Something else that's very high right now.

Property I-80 that Cook County Board Review.

They've announced the exact details are reopening the appeal window.

>> For homeowners who saw huge hike in their property taxes not going to take effect immediately dove it.

But tell us about the details right.

So the board of review typically has like very narrow windows per township for folks to appeal their property assessments.

This is not appealing Bill.

This is appealing the assessment the the assessor initially gave you.

>> Because bills were so crazy, they wanted to do something to grant some relief that Windows open until the 12th.

You can kind of add to your case, present evidence like comps through the 22nd.

This might if it's granted, give you a break on your 2026 Bill.

And it's only for people have an appeal before.

But again, I've never written so many things about property taxes in such a short amount and I'm sure you're thrilled why I am.

And that's an important and looks like it's colored the budget.

It's going to color these primaries.

It's just color in the way people are feeling about inflation and everything costing a time So I feel like everyone feels like they have to do something even if it doesn't kick in right away.

speaking of those primaries, we saw the very influential Chicago Federation of Labor and County Assessor, Fritz Katie's opponent Pat Hines.

Was that a surprise at all?

>> Yes, and CFL has not backed Keiki in the previous 2 elections.

This cycle generally has been kind of a surprise because the Cook County Democratic Party decided not to endorse KD It's going to be an interesting contest to see if the cfl's foot soldiers and money can go up against France.

Katie's personal fortune which has helped him in election after election and help U.S.

allies as well.

I have not seen the business community in a huge way come out yet.

But I think a lot of the stuff is going to heat up at the start of the new Year.

That's always when things get go, just want to get extra We're almost out of time.

But Heather, the last thing the mayor needs right now is another headache.

>> He's got one anyway and it is wrapped in a bow.

This is the city putting crowd restrictions on the christkindl market at Daley Plaza Point.

Guess what?

It has become incredibly popular destination for Chicagoans and tourists in the city said it was unsafe to allow that many people to try to cram into a very small part of daily Plaza.

So they limited the number of people who could come in and destroyed some of the business vendors.

>> And said, please, you know, list, those limits of the city said go ahead, will let more people in.

I think the limit now has 2500 people and still lower than during COVID for a new But if you've been recently at personally do not enjoy like And you really sort of can you know, it is very, very credit.

And we heard the mayor just this week that perhaps it is just grown Dealey Plaza and needs to be moved somewhere else where that somewhere else would be with similar access and foot traffic.

I think the devil is in the the devil is always in the details.

But it's You have put me all put me in the holiday spirit.

So thank you for being here.

But we are out of time.

So our thanks to Mike a Lyft ride, Heather.

Sharon, quick and Alden Lowry.

And we're back to wrap things up right after this.

>> Tonight's presentation of Week in review is made possible in part by an and rich com BNSF railway.

And Francine and Doctor Anthony Brown.

Chicago tonight is made possible in part why the Alexander and John Nichols fate.

The Pope Brothers Foundation, additional support is provided by.

>> Before we go tonight, we want to remember a friend and frequent guest on this program who died this week.

Former Chicago Tribune editor and publisher Bruce Dold, a Pulitzer Prize winner who made it from reporter to the top job over his 42 years at the paper when this program celebrated its 20th anniversary in 1998, he was number 3 in the show's Hall of Fame with a whopping 110 appearances and many more in the year since he was also here for our 40th anniversary where he expressed confidence in the future of reporting.

>> Young people that we have coming up are at least as dedicated to it as we were when we were young and coming up again, they know the challenges, the industry, then they're going to face things that they wouldn't face if they worked into an insurance office and work there.

So I give a lot of credit for sticking with it and still seeing the great value in journalism.

>> He was not just a Pulitzer winner.

He was also a consummate gentleman.

Bruce told died Wednesday.

He was 70 years old.

We also want to take a moment tonight to wish a speedy recovery to our trusted and talented colleagues.

Fletcher, Garrett, a mainstay of Wt tw Zahn Jun during department get healthy soon.

Fletcher, we miss you.

And that's our show for this Friday night.

Be sure to check out our website for the very latest from W T Tw News.

Now for the weekend of you, I'm Nick Lumber.

Thank you for watching.

Stay healthy, stay safe and stay informed.

Have a great weekend.

All right, Michael, you just put out a story this week.

That's a great change of pace from all the heavy news.

Tell us about bandwidth.

Chicago has been Chicago Friday before Thanksgiving.

They opened their new headquarters and performance and how wonderful park.

>> In around for about 13 years coming out of learned charter school and really they they provide after-school opportunities to get involved with the arts music and just really good stuff for the community.

They work mayor like Saint Vincent's.

And overall they're gonna start program February.

So be on the lookout.

I want to be involved a man with Chicago to some of their local classes drumming dancing, closed captioning made possible by Clifford.

And