Prosecutors paint picture of Mike McClain’s extreme loyalty to ex-Illinois House speaker Michael Madigan as the trial wraps up for the week.

Chicago is set to overhaul its migrant shelter system by the end of this year, capping guaranteed beds at 3,800 for asylum seekers who have been in the city for less than 30 days. This shift is part of the new One System Initiative, designed to streamline services for both migrants and long-term unhoused residents.

The City Council will also weigh paying $325,000 to resolve a separate lawsuit filed by a man who was shot and wounded by a Chicago Police officer in March 2018 while suffering a mental health crisis.

In all, Chicago taxpayers spent $201.8 million to resolve 43 lawsuits brought by more than three dozen people wrongfully convicted based on evidence gathered by the Chicago Police Department since 2019, according to an analysis of city data by WTTW News.

A letter sent to police officials from COPA on March 27, six days after Reed’s death, shows that the agency had evidence that officers were routinely engaging in misconduct that violated Chicago Police Department rules and put Chicagoans at risk of a violent encounter with officers for at least a year. 

An impending fiscal cliff has led to calls from some lawmakers and transit advocates for reform — perhaps as drastic as merging CTA, Metra, Pace, and RTA into a new regional agency. That’s an idea the current transit agencies say is the wrong move.

“People are realizing Election Day is now right around the corner and now taking advantage of these early voting options to get their civic duty out of the way,” said Max Bever, director of public information at Chicago Board of Elections.

Selling alcohol has been banned in a section of the ninth precinct of the 47th Ward — between Montrose, Damen, Lincoln and Sunnyside avenues — since 1907.

Chicago’s default speed limit could drop to 25 miles per hour from its current baseline of 30 after a panel of alderpeople on Monday backed the measure aimed at getting drivers to slow down.

ProPublica has traced these mass-mailed newspapers to a “pink slime” network known for misinformation and its financial ties to right-wing super PACs and billionaires.

Democratic U.S. Rep. Eric Sorensen faces a challenge this year from Republican Judge Joe McGraw in what analysts say is the only "competitive" congressional race in Illinois. Sorensen narrowly won the seat in 2022 after the district was heavily redrawn, but he enjoys a big fundraising advantage over McGraw.

The presidential race in North Carolina is playing out in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene and alongside a governor's race in which the Trump-endorsed GOP nominee, Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, has seen his campaign collapse amid multiple controversies, potentially splintering GOP unity.

Voters in Chicago and suburban Cook County can look up their voter information online, where voters can verify their voter registration, locate their polling place, view a sample ballot and check the status of a vote-by-mail ballot.

The designated “landing zone” for buses from Texas at Polk and Desplaines streets in the West Loop will only operate from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. starting Tuesday and close by the end of the year, officials announced.

The city of Chicago has spent more than $4 million paying outside attorneys to fight a lawsuit that slams the city for failing to make its affordable housing program accessible. In addition to the legal costs, the case could also jeopardize the city’s chance at millions of dollars in grant money. 

Demolishing the record set in each of the past three years, $1.3 billion poured into the city’s 127 TIF funds in 2022, according to a report from Cook County Clerk Karen Yarbrough.