The first big storm of 2025 has swerved around Chicago. Defense testimony got underway again today in the federal corruption trial of former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan and co-defendant Michael McClain. The Chicago-set series The Bear was the most nominated TV show at last night's Golden Globes, but it brought home just one award.
Illinois lawmakers debate a bill aimed at making it easier for people to change their legal names. People with student debt have two alternatives to a generous relief plan that’s held up in court. Over a dozen Chicago teens took part in a film shoot at a West Loop pizza parlor this weekend.
Illinois State Trooper Clay Carns was laid to rest Friday; he was clearing debris on I-55 when a driver hit him. Derrick Rose is teaming up with Chicago Bulls Charities and the City of Chicago to unveil “The Rose Garden” Friday on the city's South Side. Health officials say opioid overdoses remain the greatest cause of unnatural deaths in Cook County.
Leaders of the Chicago Teachers Union say negotiations for a new teacher’s contract are at a standstill. People who install new rooftop solar panels will see fewer savings beginning this year. Chicago broke heat records last year.
A Chicago alderperson is calling for street festivals to have more security protections in the wake of deadly attacks in New Orleans and Germany. State officials will start working on a plan this year to give residents the option to use a digital copy of their driver's licenses and IDs on their cell phones. There’s a new Illinois law on the books addressing student discipline in non-public schools.
A Chicago alderperson wants the city to safeguard its resources ahead of a Trump presidency. A new Illinois law requires high school students to learn about the dangers of fentanyl. Holy Cross Hospital in Chicago is expanding access to outpatient mental health care for children to help fill a big gap in services.
In 2024, reporters at WBEZ sought out average Chicagoans to talk about their love for the city and its people as people crowded into the Democratic National Convention. We heard from a chef, an alderman and from Alex Thomas , an Indian American who relates to the city because of his middle-child status. “We strive to impress, but also we keep it real,” said Thomas. The doctor, musician and cartoonist also said Chicago allows you to do and be many things all at once. In this episode, WBEZ reporte...
House music was born in Chicago 40 years ago and the city has been celebrating all year. Darlene Jackson – also known as DJ Lady D, who the Chicago Reader recently named “Best House Music DJ in Chicago” – was the perfect person to talk about the genre earlier this year. “The roots of House come from disco,” she said on the Rundown podcast. “Frankie Knuckles actually popularized that statement, that House music is disco’s revenge.” Jackson talked to host Erin Allen about the attempted “demolition...
Even when you’re right outside the building housing Guarneri Hall , it’s not clear how to find it. To get to the small, tucked-away performance and recording venue in the Loop, enter from Adams Street between State and Wabash, pass the security desk, take the elevator up to the third floor, wend your way through office hallways and walk through a nondescript door. With its central location and unique acoustics, the hall provides the local classical community with a convenient space for music-mak...
Lamont Jones wanted to give his daughter a book about bid whist, his favorite card game, but couldn't find one. So he wrote it himself, with the goal of saving a pastime popular in the Black community from generational indifference. "Bid whist is the ultimate card game," Jones said on the Rundown podcast, "and I believe that if you've not yet experienced bid whist, the world's greatest card game awaits you." In this episode from earlier this year, Jones talks about his book, "The Gist of Bid Whi...
The Joffrey Ballet danced along a fine line for several decades: The company could either take big artistic risks or die trying. On more than one occasion, death almost won. But, as any Chicagoan who looks skyward on State Street knows, the Joffrey lives on. Today, the Joffrey is Chicago’s preeminent classical ballet company. But nearly 70 years ago, it was a nascent group that co-founders Robert Joffrey and Gerald Arpino were trying to get off the ground in New York, with six dancers and a stat...
Last year, we spent some time on Chicago’s South Side. Jahmal Cole was there, asking a question to a crowd of volunteers assembled in a church parking lot in the Chatham neighborhood. “How come there ain't no holiday lights on the South Side of Chicago?” he said into the microphone. “I've seen it in Edgewater. I've seen it in Greek Town. How come there ain't no holiday lights on the South Side of Chicago?” Cole is the founder of the community organization My Block My Hood City. For almost a deca...
Some state agencies are issuing guidance about a large event of waterfowl deaths across Illinois. Chicago’s murder count dropped again this year, but the lethality of shootings increased. The Greater Chicago Food Depository says the need is greater and donations are down.
A doctor from Illinois is among the people whose death sentences were commuted to life in prison today by President Joe Biden. Chicago is finishing its third consecutive year with a drop in murders. The National Weather Service is reporting mild temperatures and rain this holiday week, meaning we won’t get a “white Christmas.”
Chicago’s deputy mayor for public safety says the city’s downward trend in murder numbers owes to collaboration between police and former gang members working the streets. Illinois Transportation leaders are reminding people to stay sober while driving around for the holidays. How holiday songs could help save lives.
Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez has threatened to file a lawsuit against the Board of Education and all seven of its members hours before they plan to fire him at a hastily called special meeting this evening. Mexico’s Secretary of Foreign Relations was in Chicago this week strategizing with local agencies about what he called “challenges the local Mexican community faces.” A dramatic influx of immigrants over the past year helped Illinois witness its highest single-year population gro...
One parent says she feels shut out of the debate about whether to keep the Chicago Public School chief in his job. Cook County might help more Chicagoans with guaranteed income now that the city has cut its own program. The Council on American Islamic Relations of Chicago, Sacramento and New Jersey announced a lawsuit against the U.S. State Department to demand it evacuates Palestinian-American citizens from Gaza.
A Cook County commissioner is calling for support for Amazon workers on strike. The Council on American Islamic Relations in Chicago is joining two other chapters to sue the U.S. State Department. The Chicago Cubs and Sammy Sosa are mending fences after years apart.
On the agenda for a special Chicago Board of Ed meeting Friday: the CEO's potential ouster. Cook County’s new top prosecutor drops charges against a cop recorded on video repeatedly punching an Arab American teenager. A news study found factors like gender, education and income are influencing one’s feeling of loneliness.
The prosecution is resting in the federal corruption trial of former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan and co-defendant Michael McClain. A church on Chicago’s North Side wants to help people dealing with grief and sadness during the holidays through a Blue Christmas service tonight. Demolition is underway on a building that housed the E2 nightclub.
The head of Chicago’s Film Office is out of a job. It’s the latest in an ongoing staff shakeup at the city’s cultural arts department. Officials at Columbia College Chicago say program cuts are necessary to the school’s future. How Chicago’s 2025 budget will affect your pocketbook.
Advocate Health Care is making a $1 billion investment on Chicago’s South Side. Food delivery app GrubHub will pay nearly $25 million to customers, drivers and restaurants nationwide thanks to a multi-year investigation from the Illinois Attorney General’s office and the Federal Trade Commission. Chicago’s police oversight commission is asking residents to share their experiences with traffic stops this evening.
Chicago’s new budget avoids a property tax increase that the mayor had initially proposed. Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson announces who will serve on the partly elected, partly appointed school board that takes over this January. A measure in Springfield would make sure insurance companies aren’t relying on artificial intelligence to deny claims.
A lobbyist aligned with former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan is testifying about the joke-worthy job expectations of a clout-heavy AT&T subcontractor. The Chicago Department of Public Health reports eight cases of mpox in the last three months. Illinois Democratic U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin is sounding an alarm over the incoming president’s immigration plans.
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson is offering a fourth version of his budget proposal to the City Council he hopes will end weeks of tense negotiations and delays. Chicago Department of Public Health officials are closely monitoring hospitalizations from repertory viruses. The ACLU of Illinois is raising concerns about free speech at two north suburban public library systems.
A vote on Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson's 2025 budget proposal has been pushed back to Monday. The State of Illinois has received $290 million in federal grant money for a railway improvement project on Chicago’s South Side. The Archdiocese of Chicago held its annual Posada today and prayed outside the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Center downtown.
Brandon Johnson is the latest in a line of Chicago mayors who’ve set aside funds for police vacancies they have no chance of filling. Chicago Public Schools looks poised to keep open five of seven charter schools slated for closure. A new report shows Illinois still owes a lot of money on pensions – but the gap is closing.
A new study has ideas for how to make Cook County’s complicated property tax system more fair. Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker says he’d be willing to speak with President-elect Donald Trump’s border czar, but questions Thomas Homan’s legal authority to carry out mass deportations. Activists want President Joe Biden to use the last days of his lame-duck term to grant protections to undocumented immigrants.
Family and fellow first responders will gather at a South Side church today to say goodbye to fallen Oak Park police detective Allan Reddins. Illinois restarts a program to offer down payment *and* student loan assistance. A bid to help a disgraced political worker is a new focus in the racketeering conspiracy trial of former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan.
City of Chicago Warming Centers are open as temperatures dip into the single digits tonight. A new quantum computing campus is coming to Chicago's South Side. A federal judge is setting aside concerns about a government witness’ competency in the corruption trial of former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan.
