Stories by

Illinois Democrats have the ranks to pass a new state budget, but an inability to agree on spending figures means they blew past Friday’s deadline and will return to the capitol next week in another attempt to get the job done.

The Biden administration is racing to strike a deal with Republicans as the nation careens toward a potentially catastrophic debt default if the government fails to increase the borrowing limit, now at $31 trillion, to keep paying the nation’s bills.

State legislators are responsible for drawing the 20 districts that will comprise Chicago’s elected school board. Advocates were dissatisfied with the General Assembly’s first attempt and say a revised draft made public Wednesday isn’t much of an improvement.

Dennis James Guider Jr., 29, of the Chicago area, was sentenced last week to up to five years in prison after pleading guilty to a felony count of serious injury by vehicle.

As Mayor Brandon Johnson closes out his first week in office, Chicagoans are watching closely. In the city’s Latino communities, public safety, the cost of living, job opportunities, schools and environmental justice are at the top of the long list of issues people are hoping to see the new mayor address.

The Great Lakes was named a global “Hope Spot,” joining the Galapagos Islands, the Great Barrier Reef and the Bering Sea as a place identified as critical to the health of the ocean.

A Pew Research Center survey found 43% of Latino adults in the U.S. identified as Catholic last year, which is a drop from 2010, when 67% of Latinos identified as Catholic. The survey also found that the share of Latinos who are religiously unaffiliated continues to grow.

An unstoppable runner with power, speed and endurance, Brown’s arrival sparked the game’s burgeoning popularity on television. As Black Americans fought for equality, Brown used his platform and voice to advance their cause.

Adam Avizius, 37, was arrested on a single charge of aggravated battery stemming from a shooting incident outside the library Tuesday evening.

RSV fills hospitals with wheezing babies each fall and winter, and the virus struck earlier than usual and especially hard in the U.S. this past year.

Smoke from raging wildfires in western Canada has reached Chicago, creating hazy skies and making for redder sunrises and sunsets.

Illinois lawmakers will miss their self-imposed Friday deadline to pass a budget, with no spending plan having surfaced by Thursday night. They are also working to pass an array of measures regulating everything from bathrooms to generic drug pricing and Native American studies.

More questions about a former gubernatorial candidate who’s also mayor of Aurora. Will state lawmakers meet the budget deadline? And efforts to restore a 100-year-old hotel in Pullman.

In 1881, Hotel Florence was a luxurious locale where fancy parties took place and celebrities from all over the world stayed. The hotel has been closed since 2000. But community members are hoping a state bill can bring the hotel back to life.

The star attraction is Vincent Van Gogh, and he has a stellar supporting cast — including the painters George Seurat, Paul Signac, Emile Bernard and Charles Angrand. The exhibit features landscapes from the suburbs of Paris in the 19th century.

Dubbed the ALL INside initiative, officials with the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, which is made up of 19 federal agencies, vowed to work for two years to get unsheltered people into homes by identifying new funding and bringing together philanthropic and nonprofit groups.

The owners of two Aurora companies — a furniture store and an office building — are in personal relationships with top city officials, WTTW News has found. An analysis of campaign finance records also uncovered that a majority of recent donations to Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin’s campaign fund are from people doing business with or getting incentives from the city.

The death of even one turtle can have ripple effects on the larger population, forest preserve officials said. If a female is killed in a hit and run, her future progeny, which could number in the hundreds, are lost as well. 

The 8-year-old girl and her family were being held in Harlingen, Texas, in the Rio Grande Valley, one of the busiest corridors for migrant crossings. The girl experienced “a medical emergency” and emergency medical services were called. 

The tax was supposed to discourage the use of plastic bags. Instead, it’s turned into a cash cow for the city. Activists say it’s time to rethink the policy.

A craft fair, block party and 10 world-premiere plays usher in the weekend. Here are five things to do in Chicago.

Thomas Duncan, a 39-year-old ex-supervisor at the Jesse Brown Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, and 52-year-old Daniel Dingle each pleaded guilty in federal court this week to single counts of wire fraud.

The woman accused of abducting her daughter from an Illinois suburb six years ago has turned herself in, days after the girl was found safe in North Carolina and then reunited with her custodial father, local authorities said.

Sam Zell, a Chicago real estate magnate who earned a multibillion-dollar fortune and a reputation as “the grave dancer” for his ability to revive moribund properties has died due to complications from a recent illness. He was 81.

One roadblock to the passage of a state budget this week has been a set of programs in which Illinois provides health care coverage to green-card holders and undocumented residents.

Family and friends remember slain Chicago police Officer Aréanah Preston. Spotlight Politics weighs in as the mayor’s allies roll out a $12 billion financial proposal. And an emerging artist committed to community.