Cannabis and LSD trip up April City Council

In a discussion by journalists Dave Glowacz and Ben Joravsky, Dave and Ben assessed several April 2021 meetings of the Chicago City Council.

In the standard version of the episode, Dave played audio—from the council's full meeting—of aldermen wrangling over a vote on the expansion of a cannabis dispensary in the North Side's 45th Ward. Dave explained a reported slow-walking urged by the council's Black Caucus, and Ben recalled how the 1st Ward alderman used to guide the votes of his peers.

In the premium version of the episode, Dave played an altercation between Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez (25) over police accountability—which Ben compared to the City Council behavior of Mayor Richard J. Daley. From there, Dave and Ben considered Chicagoans' "mixed signals" on civilian control of police.

Also in the premium version, Dave presented audio of a committee hearing on a proposed public database of complaints against police officers—which exposed wildly different cost estimates by the city's inspector general and the mayor.

And in the episode's premium version, Dave and Ben listened to—and analyzed—Mayor Lightfoot telling reporters, post-council meeting, that they "roll around in the depths of cesspools" of mayoral rumor.

Finally, in the premium version, Dave and Ben parsed a profanity-laden debate over a proposal to rename outer Lake Shore Drive to Jean Baptiste Point du Sable Drive.

Length 8.4 minutes standard, 54.3 minutes premium.

Music: "Baconizer" by Andreas Woll

Standard audio:

Premium audio:

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