In Illinois, an estimated 3.3 million people have criminal records, which can include everything from an arrest to years spent in prison. But even once their criminal case has run its course, the punishment continues. Those who know the system best are working to make change for those looking to rebuild their lives.

The first installment of our new series, Permanent Punishment, about life with a criminal record. The mayor’s election year budget address. Boiling down recycling in Chicago. And the Supreme Court’s next term.

Chicago has long had a tortured relationship with recycling. City leaders have scrapped old programs and replaced them with new ones, but the result is the same  recycling rates in the single digits. 

A record can include everything from an arrest— not necessarily even a conviction — to years spent in prison. But even once that criminal case has run its course in the legal system, oftentimes the punishment continues.

Chicago bills itself as a world-class city, but when it comes to recycling, its performance has been less than first-rate. 

Tony La Russa, a three-time World Series champion who turns 78 on Tuesday, missed the final 34 games with the underachieving White Sox. He left the team on Aug. 30 and doctors ultimately told him to stay out of the dugout.

John Brennan, a real estate investor and civic leader who was an active WTTW and WFMT trustee for the last 18 years, died suddenly on Monday. He was 60 years old.

According to Chicago Police Department data, 34 people were shot in 28 separate shooting incidents between 6 p.m. Friday and 11:59 p.m. Sunday night.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s plan to close a projected $170.6 million budget gap in 2023 relies on booming tax revenues that she said proves Chicago’s budget has fully recovered from the economic catastrophe caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

A list of resources for formally incarcarated people and the organizations working to support them. 

Chanting “Housing is a human right! Lightfoot will not stop our fight!” and “Lo-ri! We’re calling on you!” anti-homelessness activists staged a tent city at City Hall to demand a dedicated funding stream for subsidized housing, just as Mayor Lori Lightfoot delivered her yearly budget address.

Monday’s session also is the first time new Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, the court’s first Black female justice, will participate in arguments. And the public is back for the first time since the court closed in March 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Nominations for the city's official Christmas tree are being accepted through Friday.

Florida, with nearly four dozen reported dead, was hit hardest by the Category 4 hurricane, one of the strongest to make landfall in the United States. Flooded roadways and washed-out bridges to barrier islands left many people isolated amid limited cellphone service and a lack of basic amenities such as water, electricity and the internet.

When the COVID-19 lockdown hit in March 2020, Chicago’s artistic productions were abruptly placed on hold. Now more than two years later, theater companies are evaluating a path forward with an audience that has new expectations.