Every time I put together a "big stories of the year" list, I think of that R.E.M. song "It's the End of the World as We Know It" for its rapid-fire distillation of all the strange, weird chaos taking us to the brink. So, I've decided against simply offering the stock list of big political headlines to ponder what it all means. Today we'll look at what happened in the world of city politics and Friday we'll examine the state and beyond. |
 Two big events bookended Mayor Rahm Emanuel's September announcement that he wouldn't run again. In August the city saw one of its most violent weekends on record when at least 75 people were shot, 13 of them killed. And the same September week he announced he wouldn't run again, Chicago police Officer Jason Van Dyke went on trial for the shooting death of teenager Laquan McDonald. The city put a brick on the release of police video showing the killing. McDonald, armed with a folding knife, was shot 16 times with many of the shots fired as McDonald lay mortally wounded on the ground. Emanuel, who is adept at political messaging, hasn't said how or if those events played into his decision. He did say family considerations were in play. "It's literally this: We're still young enough to write another chapter on this journey. … Marriage is not a destination. It's a journey, and I have asked a lot of her," Emanuel, 58, said of spouse Amy Rule at the time. What it means for 2019, beyond: Emanuel's pending departure leaves many questions about the future of the city and who will lead it. There are 21 candidates lined up to compete for his spot. Whoever wins won't have a walk in the park. The next mayor will have to deal with federal court oversight of police reform and a staggering pension mess that needs fixing. Will the next mayor be a product of the Democratic machine? A fresh face? We'll know next year, but conventional wisdom says that with such a crowded field a runoff election is likely to extend the race into April. |   |
 Veteran Chicago Ald. Ed Burke's City Hall and ward offices were raided by the FBI in recent weeks, a bold move by the feds. (Catch up here.) The raids have sparked a political parlor game with people predicting when — or if — charges were coming. We'll see, as eagle-eyed Tribune reporter Jason Meisner offered via Twitter right after the first raid in late November: "Just a friendly reminder: Last month marked the three-year anniversary of the FBI seizing Dorothy Brown's cellphone. Not only has she not been charged — she's running for mayor." What it means for 2019, beyond: The 74-year-old vowed to run again for his 14th Ward seat, which he's occupied for 50 years. But between a federal investigation and a new mayor, it's reasonable to wonder whether he'll continue as chairman of the City Council's powerful Finance Committee, which offers first-round approval on spending for big projects but also oversees the $100 million workers' compensation program for city works, not including police and firefighters injured on the job. | |
 Emanuel joined forces with outgoing Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan to introduce a proposal to reform the Police Department following a U.S. Justice Department finding of widespread civil rights violations, particularly in the city's African-American and Latino communities. (Read about it here.) Initially reluctant to have a federal judge enforce reforms, Emanuel caved last year after Madigan sued the city over the issue; pointing to other cities, experts say federal court oversight is necessary for reform to have a chance. It's the latest turn in the ongoing fallout from the McDonald shooting and the subsequent push for reform. Van Dyke, the officer who killed McDonald in October 2014, was convicted of second-degree murder and 16 counts of aggravated battery. What it means beyond this year: As written but not yet enacted, it would call for judicially enforceable changes across a wide spectrum of police practices, including recruitment, training, supervision and discipline. The provisions range from the general to specific. For example, the consent decree would mandate that the Police Department ban officers from using electric shock devices on people who are simply running away. Read Tribune reporter Dan Hinkel's explainer here. | |
 Earlier this year the mayor and the big airlines announced a nearly $9 billion plan to expand O'Hare International Airport. The eight-year plan involves tearing down Terminal 2 to build a new "Global Terminal" with wider concourses and gates for the larger aircraft used in international flights. Counted as the biggest and most expensive reconstruction project in the airport's 73-year history, the aim is to boost the number of international flights, create more room for domestic carriers, and reduce gridlock and delays. What it means in 2019 and beyond: The mayor has said he wants to line up an architect for the project before he leaves office in May. But that 2026 finish date? Stay tuned. Meanwhile, read Mary Wisniewski's breakdown of the project here. Getting there: The Emanuel administration tapped billionaire Tesla maker Elon Musk's company to provide high-speed transportation between downtown and the airport, which could offer a long-sought-after alternative to Chicago's traffic gridlock and slower "L" trains. Autonomous 16-passenger vehicles would zip back and forth at speeds exceeding 100 mph in tunnels between the Loop and O'Hare International Airport under the transit proposal. Take a refresher course on the project, courtesy of the Tribune's John Byrne and Bill Ruthhart, here. What it means beyond this year: It really feels like this Jetsons-meets-the-subway project is way off in some distant future. Emanuel and Musk have said it's too early to provide a timeline for the project's completion or its estimated cost, but they said Boring would pay for the entire project. That would include the construction of a new station at O'Hare and the completion of the mothballed superstation built at Block 37 under previous Mayor Richard M. Daley, who like Emanuel pushed for high-speed rail access to O'Hare. A contingent of Chicago aldermen went out to Los Angeles this week to get a look at a sample tunnel built. Read about it here. | |
 This week alone, two Chicago police officers were killed by a South Shore commuter train as they were searching the tracks for a reported gunman. Eduardo Marmolejo, 36, and Conrad Gary, 31, were relatively new to the force and had young children. On Nov. 19, Officer Samuel Jimenez, 28, was killed in a mass shooting at Mercy Hospital & Medical Center on the Near South Side. Two women, Dr. Tamara O'Neal, 38, and pharmacist Dayna Less, 24, also were killed before the gunman shot himself. On Feb. 13, Cmdr. Paul Bauer, 53, was fatally shot while chasing a suspect to a stairwell outside the Thompson Center in the Loop. | |
 With the City Council's blessing, Mayor Emanuel moved forward with his plan for a new, albeit controversial, $95 million police academy, a project he pitched as a tangible symbol of his commitment to reforming the troubled department and an anchor for the West Side, but which has since become a flashpoint in the fight over how to improve the fractured relationship between cops and residents, the Tribune's John Byrne has reported. Read here. | |
 Before Emanuel, there was Luis Gutierrez, who announced in 2017 he was stepping away from Congress to back pro-immigrant causes and help rebuild, post-hurricane, his ancestral homeland of Puerto Rico. In true Chicago political tradition, Gutierrez quickly moved to anoint a successor in Jesus "Chuy" Garcia. Fast-foward to the November 2018 election, when Garcia won the seat, representing a district that jumps from the Northwest Side of Chicago to the western suburbs and stretches of inner-ring southwest suburbs. Gutierrez and Garcia, both in their 60s, trace their political roots to the 1980s coalition that brought Harold Washington, Chicago's first black mayor, into office. What it means in 2019, beyond: Garcia has vowed to continue Gutierrez's fight for the rights of immigrants and so-called "Dreamers" in Washington. He has yet to be sworn in but the former Chicago alderman, Cook County commissioner and ex-state legislator traveled to New Mexico this week as part of a congressional delegation to talk with U.S. border officials about the death of a 7-year-old Guatemalan girl after she and family were taken into custody after they crossed into the U.S. along the Mexico border. Garcia says the trip highlighted that as the Central American refugees flee crime-ridden communities, they are crossing at more remote points where it may take longer to get medical and other services. | |
 If Amazon had chosen Chicago for HQ2, the project could have redefined the city's economy by bringing in a major new corporate player. Landing HQ2 also would have raised the status of the tech industry in Chicago, which often lags Silicon Valley, New York and Boston on lists of the best places for tech employment. Amazon did not say publicly why it passed on Chicago, but in announcing its decision, the company tipped its hat to the talent pool on the East Coast, the Tribune's business team reported. Read here. What it means in 2019, beyond: Local leaders must figure out on their own how to make Chicago a stronger magnet for technology talent. Last month, former U.S. Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker launched an initiative called P33 that brings together leaders from a variety of industries and universities in an effort to vault Chicago into the top tier of the tech world. | |
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