Stories by Emily Soto

The ballot measure would give Chicago City Council the power to hike the Real Estate Transfer Tax on property sales over $1 million to help fight homelessness. The close race could point to some disagreement among Chicagoans over how to support the city’s unhoused.

“No one said it was going to be easy,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said. “I’m very much committed. The fight still goes on. We’re going to keep organizing.”

At least two sitting members of the Illinois state legislature – including the longest-serving member of the General Assembly – won’t be returning to Springfield next year after losing their primary races Tuesday.

Mayor Brandon Johnson nominated Marlene Hopkins to permanently replace former Buildings Commissioner Matthew Beaudet, whom Johnson fired last month. Hopkins’ nomination must be confirmed by the Chicago City Council.

About 5,000 Illinoisans live with sickle cell disease, a gene defect most common in Black people that causes red blood cells to be misshapen and die off early, resulting in chronic fatigue and pain. 

The new standards will avoid more than 7 billion tons of planet-warming carbon emissions over the next three decades and provide nearly $100 billion in annual net benefits, the EPA said.

Researchers found about 75% of residential city blocks in Chicago had lead-contaminated water. And more than two-thirds children under the age of 6 in Chicago live on these blocks and may be exposed to lead-contaminated water.

The cost to taxpayers of the settlements approved without debate by the City Council on Wednesday is equivalent to more than a third of the city’s annual $82 million budget to cover the cost of police misconduct lawsuits.

The polls are closed, and a number of Illinois primary races have been called. Our Spotlight Politics team analyzes the day’s biggest contests.

The last time Chicago voters passed a binding referendum that applied to the entire city was 1885, when they voted to create the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners, according to city records.

Retired judge Eileen O’Neill Burke is facing off against lobbyist and former prosecutor Clayton Harris as they each vie to become state’s attorney for the nation’s second-largest prosecutor’s office.

Justice Joy Cunningham was appointed by the court to fill the seat ahead of Justice Anne Burke’s 2022 retirement. Cunningham’s opponent in Tuesday’s race, Appellate Judge Jesse Reyes, was striving to be the first Latino on the state’s high court.

With polls across Illinois officially closed, several longtime incumbent House representatives will soon learn if they’ll retain their Congressional seats or if their challengers will emerge victorious.

The initial turnout tally was at just 20.2% of the nearly 1.7 million registered voters — including early voting and vote-by-mail ballots.

While the office of circuit court clerk might not be as well-known as other county offices up for grabs Tuesday, it is a powerful perch. The clerk controls more than 1,400 jobs and handles everything from evictions to traffic tickets to child support.

Joe Biden and Donald Trump won their party's primaries in Illinois on Tuesday, notching more delegates as they continue their march to a rematch in this November's presidential election.

It’s Election Day in Illinois. We break down what voter turnout looks like and its impact on races. Our Spotlight Politics team analyzes the day’s biggest contests.

Live and updating results from the 2024 Illinois primary election. 

Glock should be banned from selling those guns to Chicagoans and forced to pay for the harm the pistols have caused, according to a new lawsuit filed by the city's lawyers that will test a new state law.

Lollapalooza has announced its headliners for the four-day music fest with Sza, Tyler, The Creator, Blink-182 and The Killers among the headlining acts.

Trump is expected to easily win GOP primaries in Arizona, Florida, Illinois, Kansas and Ohio. Biden is expected to do the same in all those states except Florida, where Democrats canceled their primary and opted to award all 224 of their delegates to Biden. That’s not an unusual move for a party with an incumbent in the White House seeking reelection.

Attorney Jennifer Bonjean, seeking to reverse his 2021 convictions or to win him a new trial, tried to persuade three judges on the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan that prosecutors improperly used a racketeering statute written to shut down organized crime to go after the singer.

The question asks Chicago voters to decide if they support an increase of the real estate transfer tax on property sales over $1 million. The additional revenue would be used on programs to fight homelessness. 

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a health alert to doctors on Monday to increase awareness of the international spread of measles, and urged them to vaccinate infants a few months ahead of the typical schedule if families are planning to go abroad.

For years, researchers say there was very little advancement in the field. But in recent decades, prosthetic limbs have come a long way. And at the multidisciplinary Shirley Ryan AbilityLab in downtown Chicago, the next generation of bionic prosthetics are being developed.

The law passed last year came in response to the large number of constitutional challenges that were filed in multiple jurisdictions challenging Pritzker’s COVID-19 mitigation orders, as well as a law ending cash bail in Illinois and the state’s 2021 assault weapons ban.