Our Spotlight Politics team on Donald Trump's Chicago visit. And a push to merge public transit agencies.  

Roughly 252,000 ballots have been cast Tuesday, Gabe Sterling of the Georgia secretary of state’s office said on X. “Spectacular turnout. We are running out of adjectives for this.” The previous first day record was 136,000 in 2020.

The Harris-Walz plan includes a focus on improving rural health care, such as plans to recruit 10,000 new health care professionals in rural and tribal areas through scholarships, loan forgiveness and new grant programs, as well as economic and agricultural policy priorities. 

Most mainstream economists say Trump’s policy proposals wouldn’t vanquish inflation. They’d make it worse. They warn that his plans to impose huge tariffs on imported goods, deport millions of migrant workers and demand a voice in the Federal Reserve’s interest rate policies would likely send prices surging.

Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, was pressed on his communication with the Russian president during a wide-ranging — and sometimes contentious — interview with Bloomberg editor-in-chief John Micklethwait at the Economic Club of Chicago.

The Illinois Senate’s Transportation Committee has been meeting since July to grapple with the thorny issue of funding for the Chicago area’s transit system and whether to replace the CTA, Metra, Pace and Regional Transportation Authority with a single agency that will oversee bus, train and paratransit services. The proposal also calls for $1.5 billion in new funding. 

Each Wednesday, WTTW News presents must-see shows from indie rock to jazz, country, hip-hop and more. 

The Harlem Globetrotters may have a New York name, but they’re a Chicago team.  The players and founder Abe Saperstein disrupted the game of basketball and gave it a whole new look when they were founded in the 1920s.  A new book reveals the history and legacy of the storied team. 

A movement of expression with origins in Mexican American and Chicano communities, lowriding is an aspect of Latino history in the U.S. in which people show their pride, honor family and uplift culture. But misrepresentation of the culture in entertainment and media has often associated the lowriding’s “low and slow” motto with gang culture.

The company said Tuesday that about 500 stores will close in the current fiscal year and should immediately support earnings and free cash flow. Walgreens didn’t say where the store closings would take place.

According to Chicago Police Department figures, there were 34 people shot in 29 separate shootings between Friday and Monday evenings. 

Stateville had robust higher educational programs, partnering with five Chicago-area universities. After the transfers, some students have been split from their classmates and are now hundreds of miles away from each other. Those divisions and distances now make it difficult for educators to reach students.

Comet Tsuchinshan–ATLAS is one of the brightest in years. We've got tips on how to view this visitor from the outer solar system, even in Chicago.

Preckwinkle’s $9.9 billion plan calls for investments in opioid addiction remediation, community violence intervention, firming up how generative artificial intelligence can be used, adding employees at the assessor’s office to help with property valuations and adding solar panels to county properties.  

Voters are casting their ballots for the city's Board of Education — what you should know. And we break down Cook County's nearly $10 billion budget proposal.