Fresh off a rare defeat in Springfield, Gov. JB Pritzker on Tuesday delivered some of his sharpest words yet against Mayor Brandon Johnson. At an unrelated news conference, the governor staunchly defended his support for a bill to strongly regulate hemp sales.

Mayor Brandon Johnson opened the Roseland Health Hub on Wednesday, a major step in his effort to expand Chicago’s bricks-and-mortar mental health system. Johnson cut the ribbon at the the long-shuttered clinic surrounded by many of the same activists who led the decade-long charge to reopen a dozen city-run mental health centers closed by past mayors.

"We hope that this will be more than a clinic," Mayor Brandon Johnson said Wednesday at the Roseland East 115th Street Health Hub, but "a gathering space that will foster health and wellness."

There was a ribbon cutting Wednesday morning to celebrate the reopening of the former Roseland Mental Health Clinic.

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson is downplaying recent conflicts with the city council and others. Mayor Johnson doesn’t deny that passing Chicago’s 2025 budget was a contentious battle with City Council members.

Mayor Brandon Johnson doesn’t seem to acknowledge any real differences with Governor JB Pritzker, despite a recent behind-the-scenes struggle over votes.

An already contentious relationship still can be salvaged if a mayor and governor who need each other to solve their respective budget troubles start communicating frequently and privately, instead of taking public shots at one another.