Larry Snelling takes the reins as top cop amid a surge in robberies. Some City Council members call for more state help with migrants. The federal government careens toward shutdown. And the Bears flat out stink.

Migrants are sleeping in tents outside Chicago police stations. (WTTW News)

Ald. Pat Dowell called on Mayor Brandon Johnson to center the need of Black Chicagoans and warned that every bus that arrives “is eating away at the goodwill of the people of the city of Chicago.”

(Matheus Ferrero / Pexels)

Illinois is the only state in the country that has a driving test requirement for people over a certain age. Illinois also requires more frequent driver’s license renewals for people over age 80, something only 23 states require.

The Senate Judiciary Committee's ranking member Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. returns on Capitol Hill in Washington, March 22, 2017, to hear testimony from Supreme Court Justice nominee Neil Gorsuch. Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California has died. She was 90. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)

Feinstein died on Thursday night at her home in Washington, D.C., her office said on Friday. Opening the Senate floor, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced that “earlier this morning, we lost a giant in the Senate.”

Protesters gather outside the Ogden (10th) Police District headquarters on July 7, 2023. (Marc Vitali / WTTW News)
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There is no evidence that any Chicago police officer had sexual contact with any of the migrants forced to sleep on the floor of the stations after arriving in Chicago from the southern border, the head of the agency charged with investigating police misconduct announced Friday.

United Auto Workers union members strike for improved compensation outside of the Stellantis Toledo Assembly Complex on Thursday, Sept. 28, 2023 in Toledo, Ohio. (Phillip L. Kaplan /The Blade via AP)
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The United Auto Workers union says its two-week strike against Detroit automakers will spread to 7,000 more workers at a Ford plant in Chicago and a General Motors assembly factory near Lansing, Michigan.

FILE - A sign reading “Because of the Federal Government SHUTDOWN All National Parks are Closed” is posted on a barricade in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, Oct. 1, 2013. (Carolyn Kaster / AP Photo, File)

The federal government is just days away from a shutdown that will disrupt many services, squeeze workers and roil politics as Republicans in the House, fueled by hard-right demands, force a confrontation over federal spending.

Migrants outside a Chicago police station. (WTTW News)

The cost of caring for the migrants through the end of the year is now estimated to reach $345 million, according to updated financial projections shared by Cristina Pacione Zayas, the mayor’s first deputy chief of staff. Three weeks ago, those costs were pegged at $302 million, according to city data.

Jim Gardiner appears on “Chicago Tonight” on Feb. 27, 2019, a day after ousting two-term incumbent Ald. John Arena (45th Ward) in the municipal election. (WTTW News)
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Benjamin George, a construction worker, said his life was upended on Aug. 19, 2019, when he stopped at a 7-Eleven store in Jefferson Park and mistakenly picked up a cell phone left on the checkout counter that did not belong to him.

Larry Snelling is sworn in as the Chicago Police Department’s new superintendent on Sept. 27, 2023 (Credit: Chicago Police Department)
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Mayor Brandon Johnson picked Larry Snelling to implement Johnson’s pledge to fight crime in Chicago with a holistic approach that focuses on the root causes of violence.

House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch, D-Hillside, is pictured with Senate President Don Harmon (left), D-Oak Park. (Jerry Nowicki / Capitol News Illinois)

The bill comes in response to a monthslong effort by Democratic staff in House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch’s office to unionize and negotiate wages, hours and other working conditions.

Democratic U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey arrives to the federal courthouse in New York, Wednesday, Sept. 27, 2023. Menendez is due in court to answer to federal charges alleging he used his powerful post to secretly advance Egyptian interests and carry out favors for local businessmen in exchange for bribes of cash and gold bars. (AP Photo/Jeenah Moon)

Illinois Sens. Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth this week have added their voices to the growing number of calls seeking the ouster of New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez, who’s now facing federal charges in a wide-ranging corruption case.

President Joe Biden joins striking United Auto Workers on the picket line, Tuesday, Sept. 26, 2023, in Van Buren Township, Mich. United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain stands at left. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Experts in presidential and U.S. labor history say they cannot recall an instance when a sitting president has joined an ongoing strike, even during the tenures of the more ardent pro-union presidents such as Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Harry Truman.

(WTTW News)
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The measure, introduced by Mayor Brandon Johnson and Health Committee Chair Ald. Rossana Rodriguez Sanchez, is set for a final vote by the full City Council on Oct. 4.

Chicago voters line up at a polling place on Feb. 28, 2023. (WTTW News)

Before the next presidential primary elections in Illinois, county clerks and other local election authorities are asking for the public’s help in stopping misinformation campaigns before they get started.

Neighbors, preservationists and park advocates are calling for the demolition of an unauthorized annex to the landmarked Receptory Building and Stable in Humboldt Park. The building is leased by the National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture, which began construction of an adjacent archive facility without permits. (Top photo: Patty Wetli / WTTW News; Bottom photo: Change.org)
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More than a year after the National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture began construction on a non-permitted facility in historic Humboldt Park, a community meeting has been scheduled to discuss the project's status and explore future possibilities for the structure.