Chicago Mayor Gets Judge to Temporarily Silence Police Union Boss Catanzara from Telling Officers to Refuse Vaccine Mandate – Catanzara Responds by Announcing he is Running for Mayor of Chicago
The battle between Chicago Police and Mayor Lori Lightfoot continued today as the City of Chicago filed a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) against Chicago Police Union boss, John Catanzara, to silence him from speaking publicly and encouraging officers to not comply with the city's mandate to file their COVID-19 vaccination status online through a portal they have setup. However, in a temporary victory for the police, it was announced that the city would not be sending anyone home due to their failure to report their vaccination status, and that all police officers working this weekend would be paid. This averted a situation where Catanzara stated that less than 50% of the force would be on the streets this weekend if the department sent home the officers without pay for defying the Mayor. Catanzara stated that the judge would hear the whole motion on Monday, but a local CBS News report stated that this hearing is now pushed back until October 25th, reportedly because "there is no public safety emergency right now," which means the City has agreed to let the officers work with pay without yet declaring their vaccination status. So the City may have silenced Catanzara for now, but it appears that Round 1 goes to the Chicago Police, who get to still work with pay without having to declare their vaccination status, at least until October 25th.