“I’d like to think it will serve as a deterrent,” Elmhurst University professor Constance Mixon said. “But none of the other 37 convictions served as a deterrent. It ought to make people think twice. But I don’t know. I’d like to be optimistic.”

President Biden on the campaign trail — but it’s not just any campaign speech. And Chicago’s suburbs seek to block buses of migrants.

The court will be considering for the first time the meaning and reach of a provision of the 14th Amendment barring some people who “engaged in insurrection” from holding public office. The amendment was adopted in 1868, following the Civil War.

Chicago’s 60-day shelter-stay limit has asylum seekers looking to find permanent housing in the area. A new privately funded apartment-style living arrangement has been in the works since October and could offer a solution.

The tally, which includes all invoices paid through Dec. 15, defies predictions released by city officials in mid-October that the cost of the migrant crisis to taxpayers would top $361 million by the end of 2023.

The Chicago City Council passed an ordinance allowing officials to impound buses bringing migrants to the city outside official hours and landing zones. It’s led multiple suburbs to follow in Chicago’s footsteps by passing similar emergency policies.

A group of five voters filed a joint objection to former President Donald Trump’s candidacy, arguing that he should be disqualified under the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits anyone who took part in an insurrection against the U.S. from holding federal office.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Wednesday announced that he’ll appoint Heidi Mueller, the current head of Illinois’ Juvenile Justice Department, to head the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) starting in February.

As the 60th anniversary of the war on poverty approaches, the Shriver Center on Poverty Law is hosting a one-day poverty summit, bringing together a diverse group of academic, community and government leaders.

Former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan appeared in court in person for the first time Wednesday, as a judge pushed back his upcoming federal racketeering and bribery charges to October.

Eleven small cities in Illinois and Iowa are the only municipalities so far to have signed agreements with the U.S. Census Bureau for a second count of their residents in 2024 and 2025, in a repeat of what happened during the 2020 census. The first year in which the special censuses can be conducted is 2024.

Former President Donald Trump has been kicked off the ballot in both Maine and Colorado. At issue is whether Trump is disqualified from making another presidential run under the 14th Amendment due to engaging in insurrection.

Nervous officials in suburbs and outlying cities near Chicago and New York are giving migrants arriving from the southern border a cold shoulder amid attempts to circumvent restrictions on buses in those two cities, opening a new front in response to efforts led by Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott.

Hundreds – actually 320 – of new laws took effect in Illinois when the disco ball dropped on 2023. WTTW News has rounded up some of the laws most likely to impact your day-to-day life.

The last year was filled with plenty of big news. As a new year begins, here’s a look at the stories that will continue into 2024.

Mayor Brandon Johnson’s first budget, which took effect Monday, includes no new taxes, fees or service cuts. Johnson now must make good on his promise to use the city’s $16.7 billion spending plan as a down payment on investments in working-class Chicagoans.