Matthew Blake

The City Council Finance Committee approved on Tuesday an estimated $8.5 million in tax breaks over 12 years for Wrigley Field Holdings, LLC to offset some of the costs of the planned redevelopment of Wrigley Field.

Aldermen approved the tax break unanimously by voice vote and with no discussion, save an endorsement from Alderman Tom Tunney, whose 44th Ward includes the Cub’s baseball stadium. Tunney described the property tax relief as “another chapter” in the multi-layered and controversial plan to redo Wrigley Field and the immediate surrounding area.

Echoing Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s previous comments, Gabe Klein, commissioner of the Chicago Department of Transportation, voiced skepticism on Wednesday about Alderman Pat Dowell’s (3rd) idea to make cyclists register their bikes. But Klein also left open the possibility of a $25-a-bike registration fee that Dowell argued could help the city generate revenue.

City of Chicago Fire Department officials said on Monday that due to a series of legal issues, including race and gender discrimination lawsuits, the city’s Law Department recommended their department implement a hiring freeze over the last few years. That hiring freeze is over now, Fire Department officials said, but it has caused a major spike in department overtime pay.

City of Chicago Inspector General Joseph Ferguson said on Wednesday that the Legislative Inspector General’s Office, charged with investigating the City Council, is often in “no-man’s land in respect to what it does.”

Dr. Ram Raju, chief executive officer of the Cook County Health and Hospitals System, hopes to enroll “around 50,000 to 60,000 people” who just missed the threshold for Medicaid eligibility into CountyCare, if the state approves the hospital system’s application to make CountyCare an HMO and places it on the state’s health insurance exchange.