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The city’s watchdog on Chicago cops who lied while on the job. Toxic lead paint threatening kids’ health in suburban Cook County. And closing loopholes in property tax sales.

An audit by Inspector General Deborah Witzburg reveals the Chicago Police Department has allowed more than 100 officers who filed false reports to stay on the job. Some were even promoted after being found to have lied.

Backers of a new state budget say they've passed a balanced plan crafted in cooperation. Many Republicans, however, say the measure largely ignores their input and sets the state up for obligations it won’t be able to meet.

Toxic lead-based paint was banned in 1978, but the threat of poisoning persists. In suburban Cook County, officials say as many as half a million homes have lead paint hazards that present enormous health threats for young children.

Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas called the legislation “the most significant property tax reform legislation the General Assembly has approved in decades.”

A newly announced $21 million gift will help the Chicago Botanic Garden further its conservation and research projects, like the development of a studbook for plants.

The Chicago Police Department said 53 people were shot in 42 separate incidents between 6 p.m. Friday and 11:59 p.m. Monday. One person was also fatally stabbed during the holiday weekend.

“This was one of the silver linings to come out of the pandemic,” Ald. Matt Martin (47th Ward) said.

A recent Chicago Symphony Orchestra program juxtaposed works by three masterful yet radically different composers of classical music: Wolfgang Mozart, William Kraft and Ottorino Respighi.

President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy have been working the phones in an intense push to sell Congress on the 99-page bill that would suspend the nation's debt limit through 2025 to avoid a federal default while limiting government spending.

Illinois’ legislative session is wrapping up in earnest, and Gov. J.B. Pritzker will soon face the task of deciding whether to crystalize legislators’ ideas by signing them into law. 

Restaurants, bars and cafes would be allowed to serve customers outdoors permanently under a plan backed by Mayor Brandon Johnson. The plan would make the rules designed to help restaurants stay afloat amid the COVID-19 pandemic an enduring part of Chicago’s food scene.

Helping veterans address mental health challenges. The professor who literally wrote the book on the country’s trillion-dollar fraud industry. And bringing basketball back to city parks.

Helping U.S. military veterans who’ve been deported. Pushback against a plan to expand I-55. And inside the big tent at Circus Vazquez.

Five brothers started Circus Vazquez in Mexico City in 1969. The family-run circus has made the Chicago area one of its stops for more than 20 years.

In “Fool Me Once: Scams, Stories, and Secrets from the Trillion-Dollar Fraud Industry,” DePaul University forensic accounting professor Kelly Richmond Pope explores the many forms fraud can take and the sometimes surprising stories of the people who perpetrate it.

Kids in mentorship programs might not yet appreciate how their mentors have helped keep them on a successful path. But Hector Perez of the Union League Boys & Girls Clubs says these programs are critical to shaping productive futures.

My Block My Hood My City founder Jahmal Cole says bringing back basketball to our parks will lead to a safer city. Cole is leading the Save Street Ball campaign to replace and restore rims and nets across city parks.

The kitchen at Chesa’s Bistro & Bar is entirely gluten-free, meaning customers with severe allergies can dine without worrying about cross-contamination.

The Department of Veterans Affairs found Black veterans may be more likely to develop post-traumatic stress disorder than their White counterparts. However, an internal VA report shows Black veterans were more often denied benefits for PTSD.

Service in the U.S. military can be a speedier route for people hoping to get citizenship, but it’s not a guarantee. Non-citizen veterans are subject to deportation for crimes committed after the military service, and application of those rules can be inconsistent across states.

Officials try to clamp down on holiday weekend crime. Mayor Brandon Johnson passes first City Council test. State lawmakers have a budget — we think. And a damning report on sexual abuse in the Catholic Church.

For a bunch of hardened urbanites, Chicagoans sure do have a soft spot when it comes to animals.

“At best, the cardinal’s claims of being blindsided are misleading,” Attorney General Kwame Raoul said. “At worst, they are more of the same, a continuation of the church’s decades-long pattern of turning a blind eye and covering up allegations of child sex abuse to the detriment of survivors.”

Millions worldwide have had long COVID, with dozens of widely varying symptoms including fatigue and brain fog. Scientists still don’t know what causes it, why it only strikes some people, how to treat it -– or even how to best diagnose it.

Memorial Day is supposed to be about mourning the nation’s fallen service members, but it’s come to anchor the unofficial start of summer and a long weekend of discounts on anything from mattresses to lawn mowers.