Politics
Political news, including Chicago City Hall, Cook County government, Chicago and county elections, the latest from Washington and Springfield and more.
The Diverse Learners Recovery Fund, launched through a partnership with the city and Ada S. McKinley Community Services, will provide up to 8,000 families with one-time grants of $500.
The continuing bloody war in Gaza — the 33,000 Palestinians killed and the unknown fate of Israeli hostages — casts a pall over Passover celebrations.
A Chicago couple has invested at least $4.2 million into building a home on a lot once owned by the wife of convicted political fixer Tony Rezko.
Preckwinkle said she expects the Democratic Party will be united behind President Joe Biden as he seeks reelection.
On Monday afternoon, Welch raises money for the People for Emanuel ‘Chris’ Welch committee, with the ask ranging from $1,000 for a ticket to $68,500 from a political action committee.
Led by Fridays For Future, hundreds of environmental activists took to the streets to urge President Joe Biden to declare a climate emergency and call for environmental investments, according to youth speakers.
The statewide voter turnout of 19.07% is the lowest for a presidential primary election since at least 1960, according to Illinois State Board of Elections figures.
“There’s all kinds of dangers that can happen,” said Itai Segre, a teacher who lives in Roscoe Village with family in Jerusalem.
Mayor Brandon Johnson, whose popularity has plummeted with his Statehouse influence, ought to take this as a warning not to follow the CTU’s example.
With interest, the plan could cost the city $2.4 billion over 37 years, officials have said. Johnson’s team says that money will be more than recouped by property tax revenue flowing back to the city’s coffers from expiring TIF districts.
By a 30-18 vote, the Council approved the latest round of funding for a crisis that has highlighted racial divisions in the city.
William Dukes Jr. was acquitted of the 1993 killings of a Cicero woman and her granddaughter after a second trial in 2019. In 2022, he was arrested in an unrelated sexual assault case in Chicago.
Five event production companies, nearly all based in Chicago, will be throwing the official parties for the Democratic National Convention in August.
The Catholic church’s transparency on accusations of sexual abuse by clergy members, including the Rev. Mark Santo, remains inconsistent and lacking across the United States, clouding the extent of the crisis more than 20 years after it exploded into view.
About 14% of those in the apprenticeship program found permanent full-time employment with the transit agency, a Sun-Times investigation found. Others, some strung along for years, remained in low-paying roles with no benefits.
It’s unclear why the Rev. Frederick Haynes III, a Texas megachurch pastor, suddenly resigned Tuesday as president of the South Side social justice organization. But longtime observers say an out-of-towner was doomed from the start.
Democrats are deeply focused on Wisconsin and Michigan to help bolster President Joe Biden’s re-election chances — and officials, in town for meetings hosted by the Democratic National Convention Committee, say they plan on showing voters a deep party contrast.
Having former CTU organizer Brandon Johnson in the mayor’s office won’t keep the union from walking out if needed, CTU President Stacy Davis Gates told the Sun-Times, adding that, “We’re a labor union that understands the power of solidarity and the power of work stoppage.”
Noah Bookbinder, president of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said in a letter to the FBI and Justice Department that it’s possible the loan, connected to the development of the Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago, may be “nonexistent.”
Commissioners widely supported sending cash to the city, but raised concerns about making sure the city uses the money for its intended use.
Before sentencing Helen G. Caldwell, U.S. District Judge Matthew Kennelly said, “The only difference between Ms. Caldwell and a bank robber is that she didn’t have a mask and a gun.”
The proposed legislation is the latest and most significant backlash to a December declaration by the Board of Education that it would no longer prioritize selective schools, refocusing resources to neighborhood schools burdened by years of cuts and underfunding.
The board says it doesn’t have the authority to enforce an executive order barring lobbyists from contributing to a mayor’s political committee.
Chicago fire communications operator Amanda Garr and retired Chicago firefighter George Ma’Ayteh met for the first time Wednesday morning, months after Garr instructed 911 caller Paula Anast how to save Ma’Ayteh’s life through CPR.
Votes on $70 million to help migrants and the bond issue to fund housing and economic development now are set for Friday. The Council was, however, poised to approve a slew of other measures.
If Daniel Boland’s petition drive collects 56,464 valid signatures by Aug. 5, the question could go on the November ballot. But that would just give Chicago voters the power to remove a mayor via recall, which they don’t now have.
The ruling Tuesday in favor of Rudisill, who’s now an FBI agent, also could help other long-serving vets tap college educational benefits for themselves and their families that they earned under more than one version of the GI Bill.
Ukrainian Prime Minster Denys Shmyhal joined Gov. J.B. Pritzker and President Joe Biden’s special representative Penny Pritzker to tout the importance of American investment in Ukraine.
The case before the nation’s high court Monday was actually the corruption case against James Snyder, a former mayor of Portage, Indiana. The justices acknowledged their decision in the case will have implications for prosecutions across the country.