Stories by Heather Cherone

The proposed non-binding ballot question violates Illinois’ election law, which requires advisory questions to “be confined to one topic and should not contain alternative or bifurcated questions,” the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners unanimously ruled.

Illinois is one of 23 states and Washington, D.C., that are being sued by the Trump administration for access to their unredacted voter rolls. The U.S. Department of Justice filed the Illinois case Dec. 18 following months of efforts to obtain the information directly from the Illinois State Board of Elections.

Experts warn that the number of people who have signed up for plans may still drop even further, as enrollees get their first bill in January and some choose to cancel.

Anne Pramaggiore, who was convicted along with three other former ComEd officials in 2023, has begun serving her sentence at the federal correctional institution in Marianna, Florida, according to federal records.

In a reversal from previous years’ pollution reductions, the United States spewed 2.4% more heat-trapping gases from the burning of fossil fuels in 2025 than in the year before, researchers calculated in a study released Tuesday.

The chain, with U.S. operations based outside of Chicago, went on an expansion tear soon after inflation began to spike in 2021 and opened a record number of new stores last year.

Chicago Public Schools students will return to their classrooms to kick off the 2026-27 academic year on Aug. 24, according to the district’s newly proposed annual calendar.

Illinois lawmakers are back in Springfield for the spring legislative session. They’re facing some tough realities: a budget gap in the billions, growing pressure to deliver affordability relief, and a widening financial rift with Washington, D.C.

Illinois is suing the Trump administration over its immigration enforcement tactics. And state lawmakers are returning to Springfield — what’s on their to-do list.

Mayda Alexandra del Valle will serve a two-year term and receive $70,000 to commission new works and create public programming. As Chicago’s second poet laureate, del Valle will serve as an ambassador for the city’s literary and creative communities.

Albeiro Ropero Remolina and his wife were taken into custody in Chicago on Dec. 29. While his wife was released, he remains detained. Ropero Remolina needs to take medication twice daily for a severe seizure disorder, his wife said.

The ex-husband of an Ohio woman charged this weekend with the murders of her and her husband waived his right to an extradition hearing Monday in Illinois.

Pedro Villarreal was ordered detained at Cook County Jail pending trial after he was charged Monday with first-degree murder, aggravated battery and other felony charges stemming from the Dec. 23 shooting.

The lawsuit claims the ongoing “assault” on the state’s sovereignty amid the administration’s “Operation Midway Blitz” immigration enforcement violates the Tenth Amendment and the Administrative Procedure Act.

Officials at Get Covered Illinois announced Monday they would extend the open enrollment deadline by 16 days. For coverage beginning Feb. 1, 2026, consumers must enroll by Jan. 31.

So far, Chicago taxpayers have paid approximately $11.9 million to settle and defend lawsuits sparked by the conduct of CPD officers during protests that swept the city in 2020 and erupted into unrest, according to court records.

Reporters found the 60-year-old governor did roughly 100 one-on-one media interviews in 2025, his most of any year in his tenure as governor. Of those, 81% were with national media outlets, podcasters, social media influencers or television entertainment hosts — a major uptick from early in his tenure.

The City Council’s Finance Committee on Wednesday is set to consider the proposed settlement, which calls for taxpayers to pay $20 million and the city’s insurance company to pay $2 million. A final vote of the City Council could come Jan. 21.

The Civilian Office of Police Accountability determined police were not justified in stopping the man’s car and should not have searched him or his car after handcuffing him in Chicago’s River North neighborhood on March 18, 2024.

National outrage after an ICE agent fatally shoots a woman in Minneapolis. And Illinois sues after the Trump administration moves to freeze $10 billion for low-income families.

Consumer advocates expressed outrage with the move, calling on state regulators to reject the request, which comes only days after Peoples Gas filed for a $202 million rate hike on Monday.

Video captured by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Jonathan Ross gives a raw, up-close perspective of the pivotal moments surrounding his fatal shooting of Renee Good in Minneapolis.

Chicago Blackhawks forward Connor Bedard is back after missing 12 games with a right shoulder injury.

Policing experts say some of the choices the officer made in that moment defy practices nearly every law enforcement agency have followed for decades.

Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul on Thursday announced the state had joined on to a lawsuit that seeks to halt what plaintiffs claim is the Trump administration’s unconstitutional freeze of funding that allows families to access food, safe housing and child care.

Chicago’s FBI Field Office on Friday said it is offering up to $10,000 for information, weeks after a 49-year-old guard was shot and wounded outside a Chase Bank branch in the 4300 block of South Archer Avenue.