All of Carter’s living successors were in attendance, with President Joe Biden, the first sitting senator to endorse his 1976 run for the White House, delivering a eulogy. Biden and others took turns praising Carter’s record and extolling his character.

Convicted in 2006, Ben Baker spent 10 years in prison before he was released in 2016, three years after former Chicago Police Sgt. Ronald Watts was convicted of taking bribes.

In all, Chicago taxpayers spent more than $73 million from January 2019 to August 2024 to resolve two dozen lawsuits filed by Chicagoans injured during police pursuits, according to an analysis of city data by WTTW News.

The Chicago City Council’s Finance Committee is set on Monday to consider the proposed settlement, which would add to the toll of Jon Burge’s legacy of torture and misconduct more than 30 years after he was fired. A final vote of the City Council could come Wednesday.

If approved, it would be the seventh lawsuit filed by Chicagoans who said they were the victims of Reynaldo Guevara’s misconduct to be resolved, at a cost of $78 million to Chicago taxpayers.

Treasure Hendrix, 35, died after ingesting a toxic cocktail of cocaine, methamphetamine, fentanyl and ecstasy, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office. Her death was the result of an accidental overdose, according to her autopsy.

One of Chicago’s largest developers will invoke a little-known and untested provision of city law in an attempt to win approval for a 615-unit apartment complex in Lincoln Park.

Illinois’ new legislative session begins. Making it easier for kids in foster care to live with relatives. And connecting pregnant patients with free doula services in Cook County.

The Kindship in Demand Act, or KIND Act, puts an obligation on the Department of Children and Family Services to use a “kin-first approach” when placing children in foster care settings.

Illinois’ new batch of lawmakers will face a number of challenges in 2025. Chief among them is a projected $3.2 billion budget deficit.

“Doulas are really the experts at being able to support people emotionally and physically through this process of being pregnant, of labor and delivery and the initial postpartum period,” said Dr. Mary Tate of Cook County Health.

More than 300 license plate requests in Illinois were denied last year for profanity, offensive language or illegibility, according to the Illinois Secretary of State’s Office.

As Michael Madigan returned to the witness stand for his second day of testimony Wednesday in his ongoing corruption trial, he told jurors outright that he “would not be involved in a quid pro quo.“

Three major blazes were burning in the metropolitan area, from the Pacific Coast inland to Pasadena, home of the famed Rose Parade. With thousands of firefighters already attacking the flames, the Los Angeles Fire Department put out a plea for off-duty firefighters to help.

The outgoing Democratic president also told USA Today in the interview published Wednesday that he tried during his Oval Office meeting with President-elect Donald Trump to discourage the Republican from going after his political opponents, as he has said he would.