Stories by Heather Cherone

The defeat of a constitutional amendment to overhaul how Illinois taxes income will mean painful cuts and will not avert tax increases, Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Wednesday.

Two years after challengers ousted long-serving suburban Chicago Republican congressmen, helping Democrats to seize control of the U.S. House of Representatives, Democrats are looking to cement those gains.

After months of anticipation, weeks of record early voting and vote-by-mail totals, Election Day is here, and in Chicago it has been “smooth and uneventful,” Chicago election officials said Tuesday.

Inspector General Joseph Ferguson told aldermen Monday that the Chicago Police Department has delayed his office’s probe of how it responded to the protests and unrest that swept Chicago this year.

The largest party shut down by inspectors took place at the Chicago Sports Complex in Brighton Park, where 600 people gathered, none of them wearing masks, city officials said.

With 24 hours to go before polls open on Election Day, Chicago voters have flooded election officials with early ballots and mail-in ballots, deluging records set in 2016 and promising a huge final turnout.

Aldermen urged city transportation officials on Friday to help them repave more Chicago streets, spotlighting a perennial gripe about potholes and rough rides during a budget season like no other.

The city is prepared to deploy garbage trucks, salt spreaders, snow plows and water trucks to protect the city’s commercial districts if the election triggers unrest and violence, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s $12.76 billion spending plan for 2021 fails to craft a “compassionate, bold” solution to the long-standing inequities that plague Chicago, according to the City Council’s Progressive Caucus.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker issued a grave warning on Thursday as Illinois officials reported 6,363 new confirmed cases of COVID-19, telling residents that the pandemic has entered the most dangerous phase since the spring.

Nine of the state’s 11 regions have triggered the state’s fail-safe metrics designed to stop the spread of the coronavirus, with the addition of much of West-Central Illinois, including Springfield and Quincy, on Thursday.

Restrictions ordered by Gov. J.B. Pritzker to stop the spread of COVID-19 take effect at midnight Friday. Mayor Lightfoot altered her plan to align with the restrictions laid out by the Illinois Department of Public Health.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s decision to eliminate library fines in order to coax patrons back to the Chicago Public Library has paid off in spades, aldermen heard Wednesday.

A second Wall Street ratings agency sounded the alarm over Chicago’s budget on Wednesday as aldermen continued weighing Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s $12.76 billion spending plan for 2021.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot says she spoke with Gov. J.B. Pritzker for about an hour on Wednesday, a day after the serious split between the officials leading the effort to stem the pandemic spilled into public view.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot pushed back late Tuesday on Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s order to suspend indoor dining and drinking in Chicago, the latest sign of a serious split between the officials leading the effort to stem the pandemic.

City officials added Florida to Chicago’s COVID-19 quarantine order as confirmed cases of the coronavirus continue to surge in Chicago, Illinois and throughout the nation.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s plan to close a projected $1.2 billion budget gap by hiking property taxes and laying off employees got a cool reception Monday from aldermen, who pleaded for other options amid a raging pandemic.

The latest television ad from the Republican challenger running for Cook County State’s Attorney uses a statement from Chicago police Superintendent David Brown to blast incumbent Kim Foxx.

A year after the fanfare-filled launch, city officials said the program had begun to show results — with $70 million in public funds attracting $300 million in private investments.

As Chicago grapples with a second wave of the pandemic, a Wall Street ratings agency fired a shot across the bow as aldermen prepared to start a month of hearings on Mayor Lightfoot’s spending plan.

Mayor Paul Braun said he and the Flossmoor Village Board were “extremely disappointed” that Gyata Kimmons resigned his seat.

“There are points in time when scoop and toss is appropriate” and that is now the case since Chicago is facing a $1.2 billion budget gap, Chief Financial Officer Jennie Huang Bennett said.

“We are taking these measures to avoid potential catastrophic impacts later,” Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Thursday announcing new restrictions in the wake of an increase coronavirus cases.

As officials scramble to cope with a significant increase in the number of confirmed cases of the coronavirus, Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Mayor Lori Lightfoot are at odds over the role that bars and restaurants are playing in fueling the spread.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s plan to close a projected $1.2 billion budget gap in 2021 would hike sales and property taxes by $76.4 million, eliminate 1,921 city jobs and dip into the city’s rainy-day fund.