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Week in Review: City Council Approves Ethics Reforms; ‘Snap Curfew’ Veto Stands
| Shelby Hawkins
Layoffs and shakeups to immigration courts across the country — including here. And the City Council signs off on new ethics reforms after long negotiations.
Cook County Democrats Back Croke for Comptroller, No Endorsement for Senate Race
| Andrew Adams — Capitol News Illinois
At a union hall on Chicago’s South Side, a powerful Democratic Party organization decided who to endorse in the March 17 primary in one key statewide race.
NASCAR Chicago Street Race Will Not Return Next Year, Keeps Door Open for 2027
| Eunice Alpasan
The NASCAR Chicago Street Race, which is held downtown, originally agreed with the city to a three-year contract to host the racing event, with the option of an extension. However, the future of the event remains murky.
Study: Education Still Pays, But Barriers to Upward Mobility Persist in Illinois
| Peter Hancock — Capitol News Illinois
The study found students from lower-income families tend to earn less than those from wealthier families, even after they went on to earn similar credentials.
Scholarship Applications Open For Low-Income Chicago Students Attending College, Trade Schools
| Eunice Alpasan
Applicants must be Chicago residents, be enrolled as a full time student in the fall at any Illinois college, university or vocational training program, and meet income eligibility requirements. Scholarships range from $1,000 to $5,000.
Cutting and Pasting: The Art of Collage on Display at Beverly Arts Center
| Marc Vitali
Whether they work with the latest digital programs or cut up old magazines with scissors, artists can turn collage into a medium of beauty, darkness and humor.
The ‘Rosebud’ Sled From ‘Citizen Kane’ Sells for $14.75 Million
| CNN
“Rosebud,” the famed wooden sled at the heart of Orson Welles’ classic 1941 movie “Citizen Kane,” has sold at auction for $14.75 million.
‘I’ve Done What I Came to Do’: Inspector General Deborah Witzburg on Her Decision Not to Seek 2nd Term as Watchdog
| Heather Cherone
“Leading this office is not a sprint or a marathon,” Inspector General Deborah Witzburg told WTTW News. “It is a relay race, and it’s time to pass the baton.”
Trump Administration Seeks Release of Epstein Grand Jury Records but Not Justice Department Files
| Associated Press
Even if those records become public, it’s far from certain they will appease critics enraged over the administration’s unfulfilled promises of full transparency about evidence against the wealthy financier.
Trump ‘Declaring War’ on Public Broadcasting After Funding Reversed, Sen. Dick Durbin Says
| Matt Masterson
U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin on Friday said Donald Trump is “declaring war” on public broadcasting, hours after Congress approved more than $1 billion in cuts to radio and television stations across Illinois and the rest of the country.
Congress Gives Final Approval to Trump’s $9 Billion Cut to Public Broadcasting, Foreign Aid
| Associated Press
The vote marked the first time in decades that a president has successfully submitted such a rescissions request to Congress, and the White House suggested it won’t be the last. Some Republicans were uncomfortable with the cuts, yet supported them anyway.
July 17, 2025 - Full Show
| WTTW News
The Justice Department is firing immigration court judges — we hear from some of them. And the city’s top attorney on Chicago’s legal battles with the Trump administration.
Former Chicago Immigration Judges Discuss Trump Administration Firings
| Paul Caine
In the past week, 17 immigration court judges across the country have been abruptly fired by the Trump administration — including in Chicago.
Chicago’s Top Lawyer on Ethics Reform, the Cost of Police Misconduct Lawsuits
| Bridgette Adu-Wadier
After the convictions of former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan and former Ald. Ed Burke, Chicago politics are falling under renewed scrutiny by those pushing for reform.
Illinois Will Continue Providing LGBTQ+ Youth Support on 988 Suicide Prevention Hotline Amid Federal Cuts
| Eunice Alpasan
In Illinois, the 988 hotline’s LGBTQ+ youth specialized services program supports more than 1,600 calls and 600 chats or texts per month, according to a news release.
City Inspector General Deborah Witzburg to Leave Post After 1 Term
| Matt Masterson
Chicago’s top city watchdog Deborah Witzburg announced Thursday she will not be seeking another term.
Donald Trump Checked for Lower Leg Swelling and Diagnosed With Condition Common in Older Adults
| Associated Press
Press secretary Karoline Leavitt said tests by the White House medical unit showed that Trump has chronic venous insufficiency, which occurs when little valves inside the veins that normally help move blood against gravity gradually lose the ability to work properly.
Pritzker Seeks More Regulatory Authority Over Homeowners Insurance Business
| Peter Hancock — Capitol News Illinois
The Bloomington-based State Farm Fire and Casualty Company notified the Illinois Department of Insurance that it was raising premiums for residential property casualty insurance in Illinois by an average 27.2%.
Find Echoes of the Civil War and the Battle of Gettysburg at Chicago’s Rosehill Cemetery
| Marc Vitali
The 8th Illinois Cavalry Regiment engaged in the first action of the Battle of Gettysburg, defending Union positions and delaying the advance of waves of Confederate infantry. Chicago's Rosehill Cemetery has a connection to that history.
Lightfoot Joins Hundreds of Ex-DOJ Employees Condemning Trump Judicial Nominee Emil Bove
| Matt Masterson
“It is intolerable to us that anyone who disgraces the Justice Department would be promoted to one of the highest courts in the land,” the letter states, “as it should be intolerable to anyone committed to maintaining our ordered system of justice.”
Trump Administration Hands Over Medicaid Recipients’ Personal Data, Including Addresses, to ICE
| Associated Press
The extraordinary disclosure of millions of such personal health data to deportation officials is the latest escalation in the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, which has repeatedly tested legal boundaries in its effort to arrest 3,000 people daily.
Pritzker Joins Letter Demanding Release of Federal Education Funding, Including $240M for Illinois
| Eunice Alpasan
The nearly $6.8 billion in frozen federal funds includes more than $240 million in funds meant for Illinois schools, community colleges and adult education providers and students, according to the governor’s office.
Astronomers Detect Massive Black Hole Collision, With Both Larger Than a Hundred Suns
| CNN
A collision observed between two black holes, each more massive than a hundred suns, is the largest merger of its kind ever recorded, according to new research. Gravitational waves were predicted by Albert Einstein in 1915 as part of his theory of relativity, but he thought they were too weak to ever be discovered by human technology.
Number of Unhoused Chicagoans Dropped 60% But Remains at All-Time High, Survey Found
| Heather Cherone
In spite of that apparent progress, more people were unhoused in Chicago in January 2025 than at any point since officials began conducting this annual survey in 2005, city officials said.
Urban League Declares a ‘State of Emergency’ for Civil Rights in the US in Response to Donald Trump
| Associated Press
The National Urban League’s annual State of Black America report accuses the federal government of being “increasingly determined to sacrifice its founding principles” and “threatening to impose a uniform education system and a homogenous workforce that sidelines anyone who doesn’t fit a narrow, exclusionary mold,” according to a copy obtained by The Associated Press.
Trump’s Defunding of Public Media Will Be ‘Devastating’ for Rural PBS and NPR Stations, Leaders Say
| CNN
Public television stations will be “forced to make hard decisions in the weeks and months ahead,” PBS CEO Paula Kerger said Thursday, after the Senate voted in the middle of the night to approve a bill that cancels all the federal funding for the network and for NPR.
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Key City Panel Votes 13-7 to Legalize Coach Houses, Granny Flats Across Chicago
Number of Unhoused Chicagoans Dropped 60% But Remains at All-Time High, Survey Found
CPS Elementary Student Files Lawsuit Claiming Sexual Abuse and ‘Extreme’ Racial Bullying at Northwest Side School
The Median Time in Restrictive Housing in Illinois Prisons is 1 Week. But Some Assigned More Than 600 Days
City Inspector General Deborah Witzburg to Leave Post After 1 Term
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