Mayor's Office

Sources told the Chicago Sun-Times that Mayor Rahm Emanuel is expected to unveil plans for a new $300 million arena for DePaul University at McCormick Place; DePaul will commit $100 million toward the project, the state would contribute $100 million and a sponsor would cover the remaining $100 million in costs in exchange for naming rights

Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Choose Chicago on Monday announced that Chicago’s hotel occupancy rate during the month of April was 78.8 percent, a record for the city; Rate represents a 3.1 percent increase from the 76.4 percent Chicago hotel occupancy rate during April of last year

Tribune/WGN-TV poll of 800 voting-age Chicagoans found almost two-thirds of respondents were unsatisfied with Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s economic development performance, compared to 28 percent who approved of Emanuel’s performance on those issues

Mayor Rahm Emanuel will give the commencement address at the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service’s graduation ceremony on Saturday at the Statehouse Convention Center in downtown Little Rock

45 percent of respondents to a Tribune/WGN-TV poll of 800 voting-age Chicagoans said they approved of Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s performance on handling crime – the same percentage as last year – while 47 percent of respondents disapprove of his performance on crime, up from 34 percent last year; About 60 percent of respondents said police Supt. Garry McCarthy is handling crime well

Mayor Rahm Emanuel introduced an ordinance to the City Council on Wednesday that would allow the Chicago Cubs to play as many as 46 night games per season at Wrigley Field beginning next year; Measure would also allow the Cubs to host four concerts at the venue each year

Terms of a revised contract with Chicago Parking Meters LLC that Mayor Rahm Emanuel introduced in an ordinance to the City Council on Wednesday could make the parking meter operator an additional $2 million per year through convenience fees generated by customers who pay for parking by phone; City would collect additional revenues generated by the fees once the $2 million mark is met

Tribune/WGN-TV poll of 800 voting-age Chicagoans found about 50 percent of the 800 respondents approve of Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s performance while about that 40 percent disapprove of the mayor; Approval rating is roughly the same as last year, while the disapproval rating is an increase from 29 percent a year ago

Mayor Rahm Emanuel said he appreciates the recommendations of independent hearing officers who said that Chicago Public Schools should keep open 13 of the 54 school programs it has proposed for closure, but added, “The [school] board will take what they’ve said [and] work through it, but do what we need to do as a city because this … has been deferred through the years”