While Puerto Ricans cannot vote in general elections despite being U.S. citizens, they can exert a powerful influence with relatives on the mainland. Phones across the island of 3.2 million people were ringing minutes after the speaker derided the U.S. territory Sunday night, and they still buzzed Monday.

Voters will consider a non-binding referendum that seeks to impose a 3% tax on income over $1 million to fund property tax rebates for homeowners. It’s different from the contentious 2020 graduated income tax amendment that sparked an expensive campaign battle.

Between March 2021 and June 2024, Chicago spent more than $238.8 million on a host of programs including affordable housing, mental health, violence prevention, youth job programs and help for unhoused Chicagoans, according to the most recent reports filed with the U.S. Department of the Treasury as required by federal law.

Inside the courtroom where former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan is on trial. And Chicago gets an entirely new school board.

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.