Bills for the first installment of Cook County property taxes are in the mail and due by March 1.

Payments received after March 1 will be assessed a late fee.

On Jan. 17, three days after Gov. J.B. Pritzker took office, he signed into law a controversial gun-control measure that subjects firearms dealers in Illinois to new state licensing rules and regulations in addition to already existing federal rules.

Since the new General Assembly took office Jan. 9, Pritzker’s action raised the question: How did the new Legislature manage to pass a law so fast that Pritzker could sign it?

A new plan to raise the state’s minimum wage to $15 an hour is expected to be introduced in the Illinois Senate as early as next week.

Sen. Kimberly Lightford, D-Maywood, said that while negotiations are continuing with business interests and others with a stake in the minimum wage, she expects to introduce something “early next week.”

After spending six years painting his chief political nemesis as the face of Illinois corruption, former Gov. Bruce Rauner on Wednesday — with a lot of laughter and a few expletives — called the revelation that Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan was secretly recorded during the FBI’s investigation of Ald. Danny Solis completely unsurprising and a long time coming.

“It certainly would have served Illinois if this had come out 20 years ago,” Rauner said of revelations contained in a federal affidavit. “This should have come out 20 or 30 years ago.”

A prominent Logan Square developer is suing Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa, alleging that at least $96,251 in unpaid rent is owed on his ward office.

Ramirez-Rosa, meanwhile, said the lawsuit is a politically motivated attack from a controversial developer who he has opposed amid a wave of gentrification in the Northwest Side ward.

The City Hall corruption scandal involving Ald. Daniel Solis wearing an undercover wire for the FBI is now bleeding into a court case over a proposed giant housing development that’s been a flashpoint in the fight over gentrification in Pilsen.

A developer that sued the city last year after Solis rezoned a property in Pilsen to block construction of a big mixed-use complex at the site is arguing that the alderman must be deposed soon in the case because the allegation that he’s wrapped up in a federal investigation puts his future availability in doubt. “Under the circumstances, it is unclear how long Alderman Solis will be available for deposition,” states the motion, which was filed last week in Cook County Circuit Court.

A bombshell federal court document laying out a potential corruption case against retiring Ald. Danny Solis (25th) not only depicts a politician badly in debt — but one whose campaign funds appear to have been used for blatantly personal expenses.

The 120-page affidavit obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times describes nearly $17,000 in personal expenses appearing on a credit card account for Solis’ 25th Ward Regular Democratic Organization for trips to a hair salon, toddler clothes and school tuition.

The new chairman of the City Council’s Zoning Committee demanded Wednesday that Sterling Bay dramatically increase the number of affordable housing units on the site of its $6 billion Lincoln Yards project and give area residents more time to digest its newly-revised plan.

Ald. James Cappleman (46th) is in the driver’s seat on one of the largest developments in Chicago history now that Ald. Danny Solis (25th) has resigned as Zoning Committee Chairman.

Chicago aldermen have broader control over municipal housekeeping than City Council reps in other major U.S. cities, proliferating corruption, fueling NIMBY politics and reinforcing racial segregation.

While council representatives in New York and Los Angeles also exert powerful influence over zoning changes and major development projects, Chicago stands apart for the breadth of routine decisions over which local politicians hold sway. Businesses that want to set up a sidewalk cafe, hang an awning or pave a driveway need an alderman’s sign-off.