Stories by Amanda Vinicky

Starting in July, minimum wage employees of larger businesses will see their paychecks rise by 40 cents an hour to $15.40

In 2020, the murder rate with handguns was the highest in 25 years, with over 10,000 gun-related deaths of children and adults younger than 24. Firearm-related murders increased by 35% among children and young adults, from 2019 to 2020. And it has a significant impact on young people’s mental health.

Mayor Lightfoot announces she’ll seek another term. One-on-one with another entrant into the race. Previewing the Jan. 6. Congressional hearings. And combatting mental health issues in youth.

The state has awarded 48 cultivation licenses to craft cannabis growers, and 100% of the licenses are going to social equity winners — folks who were most impacted by the nation’s so-called war on drugs.  

The charges against members of the angry pro-Trump mob range from low-level misdemeanors for those who only entered the Capitol to felony seditious conspiracy charges against far-right extremists. It’s the largest prosecution in the history of the Justice Department.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s opening argument in her bid to be the first woman to be re-elected as Chicago mayor acknowledges that much of her term in office has been marked by bruising and at times deeply personal confrontations. “Change doesn’t happen without a fight,” Lightfoot said in the video.

Late last week, another candidate got into the race for mayor: 6th Ward Ald. Roderick Sawyer. Sawyer has a long history with City Hall; his father Eugene Sawyer – served the city of Chicago as mayor for a brief period after the death of Harold Washington. And in 2011, the younger Sawyer was elected to lead the ward where he was born and raised.

The new proposal, which is the first under CPS CEO Pedro Martinez, will increase school-level funding to $4.6 billion and add more than 1,600 new full-time positions across the city in the 2023 fiscal year.

The Hyde Park vote brings the total number of unionized Starbucks locations in the Chicago area to four. Bucktown Starbucks employees are currently voting by mail on unionizing, with results expected next Tuesday. 

Jerome Halsey, 27, has been charged with two counts of attempted first-degree murder, as well as individual counts of aggravated battery with a firearm and aggravated assault stemming from the Sunday shooting that left one officer injured.

Patrick Daley Thompson was convicted on seven charges in February, forcing his removal from the Chicago City Council. He is scheduled to be sentenced July 6 by U.S. District Court Judge Franklin Valderrama.

Ald. Ed Burke loses big in his attempt to throw out key evidence in his federal criminal trial. Plus, eroded shoreline along Lake Michigan, and Cook County is a top destination for those escaping climate change.

Chicago’s beaches are seeing fluctuating lake levels and worsening erosion. This, as Lake Michigan levels drop, following two years of record highs.

A legal brawl between Fifth Third Bank and federal regulators is underway; Walmart is hiring big time; and a new study says Cook County has earned itself a new title: climate change refuge. 

Once considered the heir to the political empire built by his grandfather, former Mayor Richard J. Daley, and his uncle, former Mayor Richard M. Daley, Daley Thompson’s conviction meant he was longer eligible to serve as a member of the Chicago City Council.

As Chicagoans prepare to head to the voting booth on June 28 for Illinois’ primary election, it’s emerged that scores of precincts across the city have been left without a polling place.

U.S. District Court Judge Robert Dow’s 194-page ruling paves the way for Burke and his co-defendants, longtime aide Peter Andrews and Portage Park businessman Charles Cui, to stand trial together in 2023, more than three years after they were indicted and pleaded not guilty.

As several dozen D-Day veterans — now all in their 90s — set foot on the sands that claimed so many colleagues, they are thankful for the gratitude and friendliness of the French toward those who landed here on June 6, 1944.

The new riot-related indictments against Proud Boys members are among the most serious filed so far, but they aren't the first of their kind. Eleven members or associates of the anti-government Oath Keepers militia group were indicted in January on seditious conspiracy charges in the Capitol attack.

Beginning Monday, Chicago residents and other organizations can start applying for various rebates on private security devices under the new Home and Business Protection Program.

Thirty-two people were shot in 24 separate shooting incidents between 6 p.m. Friday and 11:59 p.m. Sunday night, according to the Chicago Police Department.

The Forest Preserves of Cook County will take over Daley Plaza Tuesday to spread the word about all the county's 70,000 natural acres have to offer.

In a 63-page ruling, a federal judge rejected the former alderperson’s bid for a new trial or an outright acquittal. Ald. Patrick Daley Thompson is scheduled to be sentenced on July 6.

Many survivors of gun-related violence and supporters of the Wear Orange Campaign believe part of the solution to saving lives is stricter gun laws. Groups like Moms Demand Action say the recent shootings make their movement more urgent. 

A Chicago police officer was shot and wounded Sunday afternoon during a traffic stop in the Englewood neighborhood, according to police. That marks second officer from the same police district to be shot in the last week. 

We take aim at the debate over gun reform. Plus, the state revives a commission to combat hate crimes. And a “Shark Tank” deal for a Chicago entrepreneur.