Stories by Amanda Vinicky

Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Wednesday unveiled a $52.7 billion budget that he described as filled with “hard choices.” The plan builds on priorities like funding preschool, supporting Black residents, funding the neediest schools and caring for asylum seekers.

Highlights of the governor’s new budget plan. A crackdown on new dollar stores in Chicago. And rapper Vic Mensa on his effort to help asylum seekers.

Toomey & Co. Auctioneers will devote an entire sale to Chicago artwork from the past 100+ years. The auction is titled “Elevated: Art Via Chicago.” 

The first major overhaul of the FAFSA form since the Reagan era was supposed to make the process simpler and quicker. So far, that’s not been the case.

The new regulations ban new dollar stores — defined as stores offering an assortment of goods, most advertised at less than $5 — from opening within one mile of another dollar store owned by the same company.

The proposal, now in the hands of the Chicago City Council, would phase out the city’s decades-long reliance on tax-increment financing districts and reshape the way Chicago uses its financial resources to spur redevelopment and eradicate blight.

Joe Biden, who is in the midst of a three-day campaign swing through California, made the announcement as part of a new repayment plan that offers a faster path to forgiveness, putting the spotlight on his debt cancellation efforts in his reelection campaign.

Jennifer King became the first Black female in NFL history to serve as a primary position coach in 2021 with Washington.

The Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office announced Kashawn Perdue, 17, and a 14-year-old juvenile boy have both been charged with first-degree murder and two counts of attempted first-degree murder following the Jan. 31 killing of Daveon Gibson.

Biden’s campaign entered February with nearly $56 million cash reserves in his main campaign committee compared to a little more than $30 million in the coffers of Trump’s equivalent account.

Robert Crimo III had briefly been set to go to trial this week after he temporarily demanded to represent himself. But after he changed his mind, Judge Victoria Rossetti on Wednesday reset the initial Feb. 24, 2025 trial date.

Election officials face a long list of challenges this year, including potential cyberattacks waged by foreign governments, criminal ransomware gangs attacking computer systems and the persistence of election misinformation that has led to harassment of election officials and undermined public confidence.

Mayor Brandon Johnson announced the lawsuit, filed Tuesday in Cook County Circuit Court, against BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Exxon Mobil, Phillips 66, Shell and their largest trade association, the American Petroleum Institute.

Two alderpeople weigh in on canceling the ShotSpotter contract. A preview of Pritzker’s budget address and what it means for Chicago. And sitting down with civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump.

Mayor Brandon Johnson continues to push forward with the progressive policing strategies he promised during his campaign to prioritize. He announced the city will be phasing out its contract with ShotSpotter, the controversial gunshot detection technology.

The White Sox have played in Bridgeport for more than a century, but owner Jerry Reinsdorf and developer Related Midwest proposed building a new stadium in the South Loop as an anchor to a 62-acre site dubbed The 78.

Civil rights attorney Ben Crump is responsible for making household names out of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd and others.

All signs are pointing to another successful year of bald eagle mating in Will County.

Ahead of a major speech on Tuesday, Haley told The Associated Press that she’s staying in the race no matter what at least until after another 20 states vote through Super Tuesday on March 5. That’s even as Donald Trump’s MAGA movement is furious that she’s refusing to drop out. After all, she’s the last major candidate standing in his path to the nomination.

National Nurses United represents 2,800 nurses at UChicago Medicine. A strike authorization vote is part of standard procedure, where represented nurses give the union the authority to call a strike. 

The most famous ship in history is being remembered at the most famous shopping mall in Skokie. “Titanic: The Exhibition” just opened at Westfield Old Orchard.

A new resolution from the city’s Board of Education directs Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez to enact a new whole school safety policy, which “must make explicit that the use of SROs within District schools will end by the start of the 2024-2025 school year.”

If Illinois continues spending next fiscal year as it has been this year, the state will face an $891 million deficit. Gov. J.B. Pritzker is set to spell out exactly how he plans to address that on Wednesday, when he delivers an annual combined state of the state and budget address. 

According to Chicago Police Department data, 19 people were injured or killed in 16 separate shootings between 6 p.m. Friday and 11:59 p.m. Monday.

FIRSTHAND: Homeless — a WTTW News special. Voters weigh a plan to hike taxes on sales of million-dollar homes to help fight homelessness. And efforts to help people who shelter on the CTA. 

The Chicago Coalition for the Homeless estimates more than 68,000 people in Chicago are experiencing homelessness. That higher number includes people who are doubled up, or temporarily living in someone else’s home.