Stories by Paul Caine

President-elect Donald Trump prepares for a second term. Meanwhile, Democrats are left to digest and come to terms with a crushing defeat.

Ald. Michelle Harris (8th Ward) said the new system would be more equitable and end the perception among residents that city officials offered migrants more assistance than longtime Chicagoans living on the city’s streets.

An Illinois judge on Friday issued a permanent injunction against the state’s so-called assault weapons ban, calling it an “unconstitutional affront to the Second Amendment.”

According to an exit poll conducted by NBC, 46% of Latinos voted for Trump in 10 key states, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas and Wisconsin. Historically, Trump surpassed former Presidents Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush, which in turn resulted in the worst showing among Latinos for a Democratic presidential candidate in 20 years.

Therese Boyle and Che “Rhymefest” Smith won their races for the Chicago Board of Education, according to the Associated Press.

Take your jack-o’-lanterns to one of the dozens of pumpkin smash events happening Saturday in Chicago and the suburbs.

City Council members push back on the mayor’s property tax hike proposal. We unpack the swing of Latino support that helped fuel Donald Trump’s reelection. And congressional reaction to the new president-elect.

If plays were read as commonly as books, “Rhinoceros” would have been banned long ago in those countries that ban books. Imagine such places! First staged in 1959, it was written by the Romanian playwright Eugène Ionesco and has become a classic of the theater of the absurd.

Illinois residents are preparing for President-elect Donald Trump to make good on his campaign promises and dramatically reshape what the demographic landscape looks like in a state that is home to more than 400,000 undocumented immigrants.

Mayor Brandon Johnson’s spending plan for 2025 earmarks nearly $700 million for the Chicago Department of Public Health, which is charged with fighting the spread of communicable diseases, providing mental health care and ensuring the safety of food at restaurants and festivals.

The CPD on Thursday published a trio of photos they say depict the person responsible for the shooting deaths of Lamont Johnson, 51, and Peter Jennings, 47, who were both killed in a nonpublic area of the popular tourist spot Tuesday afternoon.

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker in a news conference on Thursday signaled that Democratic leaders are discussing what, if any, actions the state may take to gird itself against the future Trump administration.

Jurors in Madigan’s ongoing racketeering and corruption trial on Thursday heard testimony from former ComEd exec turned government mole Fidel Marquez about how the company would set aside internship slots each summer as a gift to the former Illinois House speaker.

The Police Board voted 5-3 in June 2023 to terminate Sgt. Alex Wolinski, finding that he committed multiple rule violations and a “failure of leadership … so serious as to be incompatible with continued service.”

The decisive defeat leaves Democrats to pick up the pieces and figure out a path forward for their party after notching across the board defeats in the expected swing states. Both Republicans and Democrats in Chicago on Wednesday analyzed the results of the election and what it might say about the future of the country. 

Kamala Harris concedes the race for president. We have local reaction to Donald Trump’s victory, plus two area congressmen on what his reelection means for Capitol Hill and Illinois.

Former President Donald Trump ran a campaign with messages on mass deportation, higher tariffs and anti-transgender rhetoric that drew in swaths of voters from the coveted swing states needed to secure the win.

Chief Financial Officer Jill Jaworski told members of the City Council’s Budget and Government Operations Committee on Wednesday that the $17.3 billion spending plan “prioritizes the city’s long-term fiscal stability.”

For the first time, a convicted felon is set to occupy the White House. There’s no constitutional prohibition against someone with a felony record running for or serving as president of the United States. But in Illinois, anyone with a felony conviction is barred from holding local elected office.

“House Music: A Cultural Revolution” is celebrating the innovative and catchy dance music that still inspires prominent artists today.

With Vice President Kamala Harris conceding the race for the White House, Illinois Democrats who’d served as surrogates for her on the campaign trail weighed in for the first time on her loss.

“We will work to defend and expand the rights of immigrants at the state and local levels even when the federal government attempts to take those rights away including DACA, health care expansion and more,” said Dulce Ortiz, executive director of Mano a Mano Family Resource Center.

Vice President Kamala Harris delivered her remarks at Howard University, her alma mater and one of the country’s most prominent historically Black schools, in the same spot where she hoped to give a victory speech.

Darion McMillian, 23, of Harvey, faces felony counts of first-degree murder of a police officer, attempted murder of a police officer, burglary, possession of a machine gun and possession of a gun as a felon.

School districts currently work with processing companies to offer cashless payment systems for families. But the companies can charge “processing fees” for each transaction.

The former president and now president-elect often skipped over details but through more than a year of policy pronouncements and written statements outlined a wide-ranging agenda. It would scale back federal government efforts on civil rights and expand presidential powers.