Stories by Paul Caine

In a major departure from past policy, the Chicago Board of Education has announced it intends to move away from a system built on school choice.

Closing arguments are wrapping up in the corruption trial of former Ald. Ed Burke. And the Chicago Public School board votes on a move away from charters and selective enrollment schools.

Gov. Pritzker and Mayor Johnson at odds over migrant camp in Brighton Park. Ed Burke trial focuses on alleged Burger King shakedown. And the Bears are reportedly looking at land near Soldier Field for a potential stadium.

The Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, form is undergoing its first major overhaul since the Reagan era.

Jurors hear secret recordings in former Ald. Ed Burke’s corruption trial. And construction is underway for a new controversial migrant base camp.

Black people comprise about two-thirds of all reported missing persons cases in Chicago over the past two decades.

An exclusive one-on-one with U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel. We talk with Chicago’s former mayor about his new role, the conflict in Gaza and much more.

Chicago gets more money from the state to care for migrants. City Council rubber-stamps Johnson’s $16.6 billion budget. And former Ald. Ed Burke’s trial resumes after a COVID-19 delay.

The $800 million proposal to revamp Ryan Field has been controversial from the very beginning. The plans call for a new state-of-the-art stadium that will be smaller in size than the nearly century-old structure it would replace, moving from a capacity of 47,000 to 35,000 for football games.

In an interview with WTTW News, former Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko gave an assessment of the challenges Ukraine faces as the war with Russia continues. 

Kateryna Yushchenko, the daughter of Ukrainian immigrants, was born in Chicago and lived much of her early life in Humboldt Park before moving to Mount Prospect. After earning an MBA in international economics from the University of Chicago, Yushchenko had an impressive career in public service.

The mayor’s pick for police superintendent meets the public. CPS employees ousted over charges of loan fraud. City officials eye new housing for migrants. And Bally’s gears up to open its temporary casino.

Local officials call for federal aid one year after asylum seekers first arrived in Chicago. Renewed calls for ethics reform. And still no answers on the shooting at Sox Park.

Nearly 4,800 pilots are being investigated by the Federal Aviation Authority for potentially concealing major health issues that could have them grounded. The FAA has already ordered 60 pilots who “posed a clear danger to aviation safety” to stop flying immediately.

In Illinois, the chamber estimates more than $2 billion worth of goods were stolen from retailers in 2021, but it says the cost to Illinois businesses was more than double that when other factors are taken into account.

Robberies targeting mail carriers increased 78% in 2022, according to the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.

Pending City Council approval, Larry Snelling faces leading the Chicago Police Department at a time when residents are demanding answers to the city’s perennial problem of violent crime. He will also have to lead the department through the transformational change demanded by a court-ordered consent decree.

For the first time since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Medicaid recipients are being asked to provide proof of their eligibility.

According to Walgreens, which announced last year it was entering the clinical trials business, only about 5% of people in the U.S. participate in clinical trials and almost three-quarters of those participants are White.

Chicago Public Schools students return to class in less than three weeks. The school district said it currently has only about half the bus drivers it needs to transport the more than 17,000 students who are eligible to be bused to school.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Northern District of Illinois has scored some significant recent successes as part of its anti-gang efforts.

“Oppenheimer,” the much-anticipated blockbuster from Batman director Christopher Nolan, hits movie theaters this week. The story has deep connections to Chicago and the Manhattan Project that led to the development of the first atomic bomb.

The three finalists for the city’s top cop were selected from a total of 54 applicants by the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability (CCPSA) after unprecedented community and police input. Here’s how they did it.

June is expected to go down as one of the 10 driest months in the state’s history. Farmers are already seeing an impact on their crops and consumers are likely to see an impact soon.

John Hewko, a Ukrainian-American, recently returned from a trip to Ukraine.  As a lawyer working in Ukraine in the early 1990s, he helped the working group drafting the country’s first post-Soviet constitution.

The search for a new police superintendent hits a snag as Chicago suffers a violent holiday weekend. NASCAR racecourse taking shape with the race one week away. And new ethics questions dog the U.S. Supreme Court.