Emanuel on NATO Summit: It’s going to be historic — ‘The Chicago Accords’

Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Tuesday offered Chicago area residents a new and compelling reason to welcome a NATO Summit many are dreading as a giant inconvenience: a place in world history. “NATO will be now deciding how to de-emphasize its involvement, its footprint in Afghanistan and how to wind down its presence. It will be known as the ‘Chicago Accords,’ basically,” the mayor said.

Courthouse weddings off

Hoping to get hitched in front of a judge downtown this Saturday? Well, it won’t happen this weekend, thanks to the NATO Summit. The Marriage and Civil Union Court at 119 W. Randolph will be closed Saturday, Cook County Chief Judge Timothy C. Evans announced …

County OKs $600,000 settlement in police torture case

Cook County taxpayers will fork over $600,000 to close one chapter of an ongoing police torture lawsuit that will put former Mayor Richard M. Daley on the hotseat later this summer.

This week, Cook County commissioners signed off on the $600,000 settlement with Michael Tillman, …

Forget getting married by a judge downtown this weekend

Hoping to get hitched in front of a judge downtown this Saturday?

Well, it won’t happen this weekend, thanks to the NATO Summit.

The Marriage and Civil Union Court at 119 W. Randolph Street will be closed Saturday, Cook County Chief Judge Timothy C. Evans …

Top cop: Neighborhoods also will have more police during NATO

Despite extraordinary police resources devoted to the NATO Summit, Chicago neighborhoods will get a 15 percent increase in police protection this weekend, thanks to 12-hour shifts and the decision to cancel days off, Police Supt. Garry McCarthy said Tuesday.

City allows stage, sound system at protest spot near McCormick Place

NATO protest organizers on Tuesday announced they’d locked down the last piece of their protest puzzle — permission from the city to set up a stage and sound system three blocks from McCormick Place, which as close to the summit as they’ll be allowed gather.

Emanuel outlines ‘wraparound’ strategy to fight crime

Under fire for a 52 percent surge in homicides in Chicago, Mayor Rahm Emanuel unveiled a “wraparound strategy” designed to maintain control of crime-ridden streets after police reclaim them from drug-dealing street gangs.

Cops from as far as Philly, Carolina to help with NATO

Police officers from Philadelphia, Milwaukee and Charlotte-Mecklenburg, N.C.; will assist the Chicago Police Department in handling thousands of protesters expected to descend on Chicago for this weekend’s NATO summit.

The out-of-state officers will join as many as 700 troopers from the Illinois State Police and …

Emanuel says new O’Hare cargo center will create thousands of jobs

Military land at O’Hare Airport acquired by the city in 1996 for private development that never happened will finally get the international cargo center that former Mayor Richard M. Daley envisioned when he made that $104 million investment.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Monday delivered on …

City to give $2 million to companies that hire City Colleges grads

In a commencement address to 3,300 graduates of the City Colleges of Chicago Saturday, Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced a $2 million stipend to be paid to companies that hire those grads. The money covers their pay for the first month of work.

Emanuel’s favorite teacher remembers young Rahm: ‘He was smart, he was curious’

A self-proclaimed history buff, Mayor Rahm Emanuel credits his interest in history to his favorite teacher of all time — New Trier West High School history teacher Larry Grote.

“He taught me the beginning part of, kinda, critical thinking,’’ Emanuel says on a Teaching Channel …

Suburban mayors also urge state to pass pension reform

Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Thursday enlisted reinforcements in his battle for pension reform: 30 suburban mayors who warned of suburban bankruptcies without a comprehensive solution to the pension crisis. “In California, they’ve literally had towns on the verge of bankruptcy for the very same reasons …

Rahm’s plan to cut business licenses wins OK; now on to inspections

Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s plan to dramatically reduce the number of business licenses by 60 percent sailed through the City Council Wednesday with a promise that redundant city inspections — another pet peeve of businesses — would be next.

Mayor takes pension reform case to rank-and-file workers

One day after infuriating union leaders, Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Wednesday took his case for pension reform directly to rank-and-file members whose contributions he wants to raise and whose retirement benefits he’s proposing to cut.

The mayor sent a letter to city employees to soften …

Rahm Emanuel defends decision to yank nurses’ NATO protest permit

Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Wednesday defended the city’s decision to yank the permit for the first protest march of the NATO summit — then acknowledged that expressway, road and museum closures tied to the summit will be more than minor inconveniences.

The latest NATO protest …