Stories by Paris Schutz

Ald. Ed Burke on Wednesday tried to throw new Mayor Lori Lightfoot a curveball and badly missed the strike zone in advance of Lightfoot’s first major legislative test. 

We trail Mayor Lori Lightfoot as she outlines her safety plan for the holiday weekend and addresses the controversy over her security detail.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot issued a stern warning to City Council members in her inaugural address. Our politics team tackles that story and other headlines in our weekly roundtable.

The little-known story of Lori Lightfoot’s grandfather who was murdered in the Jim Crow South nearly 100 years ago.

Mayor-elect Lori Lightfoot releases her picks for committee chairmanships, proposing that Ald. Scott Waguespack (32nd) lead the Finance Committee that was led for decades by Ald. Ed Burke (14th).

Mayor-elect Lori Lightfoot and some Chicago aldermen are already in a stare down over aldermanic power. Our politics team tackles that story and other headlines in our weekly roundtable.

Lori Lightfoot campaigned on forcing change in the City Council, and now she is looking to take away the unilateral power aldermen have to influence decisions in their wards. 

To his supporters, Rahm Emanuel was the brash, bright, big-city mayor who unapologetically raised Chicago’s profile as a global city. To his critics, he was a heavy-handed, top-down leader. On Monday evening, the outgoing mayor joins us in discussion.

The Nation of Islam leader who was recently banned from Facebook spoke Thursday in a wide-ranging sermon that hit upon some of the anti-Semitic and black nationalist themes he has come to be known for.

A new wrinkle on the age-old tale of Illinois’ pension mess. Our politics team digests the top stories of the week.

Amara Enyia received big donations from some music superstars during her bid for mayor. But state election officials are now looking into exactly how that money is accounted for.

Federal prosecutors allege a Chicago developer steered business to 14th Ward Ald. Ed Burke in exchange for Burke’s help getting a City Hall permit.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel gets a warm send-off from his colleagues at his final City Council meeting. Our politics team tackles that and some of the behind-the-scenes maneuvering over Lincoln Yards.

After months of debate, the controversial $1 billion public subsidy for Lincoln Yards is now law. City Council approved the measure hours after Mayor-elect Lori Lightfoot softened her opposition to the project.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Mayor-elect Lori Lightfoot cut a deal on Lincoln Yards, confusing aldermen who were set to make a key vote Monday.

Ald. Ed Burke, arguably City Council’s most powerful member for much of his 50-year reign, had various ways of dishing out perks and favors to colleagues. One of those, apparently, was to help some aldermen pay their bills.

Mayor-elect Lori Lightfoot wasted no time getting ready for her new job. Just hours after her historic victory, Lighftoot met with city leaders and talked about plans for a transition of power.

Lori Lightfoot has become the first African-American woman elected mayor of Chicago, defeating her opponent, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, in a landslide.

Chicago’s historic 2019 election will soon be over, ushering in big changes to city government. 

Many people were surprised by the abrupt dismissal of charges against “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett. Among them, Gloria Schmidt, the former attorney for the brothers whose testimony was key to the case.

From humble beginnings in Massillon, Ohio, to a high-powered federal prosecutor. We bring you an in-depth profile of mayoral candidate Lori Lightfoot.

Political fallout over the report’s findings is just beginning. Former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti joins us with legal analysis of the document.

The back-and-forth over political donations during Thursday’s forum was the latest in a series of contentious public appearances between Chicago mayoral candidates Lori Lightfoot and Toni Preckwinkle.

The former chair of the City Council Committee on Finance is no stranger to scrutiny. But now, Ald. Ed Burke’s practice of loaning out employees to work for aldermen is coming under fire.

For years, Ald. Ed Burke ran what amounts to an employee loan-out program from his perch as head of City Council’s powerful Finance Committee. “It’s a way of exercising control,” said one City Hall staffer.

Two major projects – both of them controversial – got the full City Council vote Wednesday in Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s second-to-last meeting.