In a surprise move, Ald. Michael Scott Jr. (24th), Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s hand-picked Education Committee chairman, is resigning his City Council seat to join Cinespace Studios.

The departure gives Mayor Lori Lightfoot the ability to appoint her second alderperson. The first was 11th Ward Ald. Nicole Lee, who replaced Patrick Daley Thompson.

Sun-Times City Hall reporter Fran Spielman is joined by Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas to discuss whether Mayor Lightfoot’s curfew rollback will have an impact and what other challenges lie ahead for Chicago.

Last week we welcomed Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd) and Ald. Brian Hopkins (2nd) to discuss their frustrations with the casino location process. This week we have the Sun-Times' very own casino and gambling reporter Mitch Armentrout and business reporter and columnist David Roeder to give their analysis on the upcoming Bally's project.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s 11th-hour “switcheroo” to the landmark Medinah Temple as the site for Bally’s temporary casino will make an alarming spike in River North crime infinitely worse, the local alderperson said Friday.

One day after Lightfoot chose Bally’s River West bid as the site for a permanent Chicago casino, Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd) accused the mayor of dictating a disastrous choice as the site of a temporary gambling den until at least the first quarter of 2026.

Stacy Escamilla’s husband, Paul, was a Chicago Police officer who suffered in stoic silence before taking his own life.

Julie Troglia is the widow of Jeff, who “de-briefed” his wife about the daily horrors he endured, only occasionally before descending into the hopelessness that culminated in suicide.

On Friday, both women shared their emotional stories with the Chicago Sun-Times in hope that it might embolden their colleagues to seek help before they reach the breaking point.

Chicago’s new inspector general said Thursday she has no intention of “staying in her lane” and complained that the process that culminated in her appointment took way too long and needs to be accelerated.

Now locked into a four-year term, Deborah Witzburg has the freedom to speak her mind—and she took it during a wide-ranging interview with the Chicago Sun-Times on the day after the unanimous City Council vote confirming her appointment.

Bill Conway, the billionaire’s son who finished second in the Democratic primary for state’s attorney, said Thursday he’s being urged to run for mayor by business and trade union leaders fed up with Lori Lightfoot and he just might take them up on it.

In Round One of the 2019 mayoral sweepstakes, former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas finished with 5.43 percent of the vote behind. This time, Vallas believes the outcome will be dramatically different because Chicago is a city “in crisis” that is “looking for a mayor who knows what to do, how to do it and has the courage to do it.”

After decades of broken promises, newly-appointed Ald. Nicole Lee (11th) said Thursday her goal is to deliver the Near South Side high school desperately needed to keep middle-class families from fleeing to the suburbs. Lee cemented her place in Chicago political history in March as the City Council’s first-ever Chinese-American member after sailing through her confirmation hearing and being sworn into office less than an hour later.

Millionaire businessman Willie Wilson said Tuesday he will announce April 11 whether or not to reprise his 2019 mayoral campaign against Lori Lightfoot, but his $1.2 million gas giveaway was not a vote-buying prelude to it. Listen to the full conversation here on The Fran Spielman Show.