Stories by Nick Blumberg

With CTA, Metra and Pace expected to have a combined $730 million budget deficit starting in 2026, state lawmakers passed a measure charging the regional planning agency CMAP to think big and come up with a plan.

If 30 members of the Chicago City Council vote Wednesday to reject the changes to the police discipline system, a judge will likely decide whether Chicago officers facing a suspension of at least a year or termination have the right to have their cases decided by an arbitrator rather than by the Chicago Police Board.

Architect Warren Johnson took the witness stand Thursday afternoon, more than a month after trial proceedings got underway in former Ald. Ed Burke’s landmark corruption case.

A magic show, menorah lighting and Pocket Con usher in the weekend. Here are five things to do in Chicago.

The proposed settlement is set to be considered Monday by the City Council’s Finance Committee. A final vote of the City Council could come on Wednesday.

In a highly unusual move, Mayor Brandon Johnson will ask members of the Workforce Committee to reject a key part of the proposed contract extension, which would give some Chicago officers the right to have their discipline cases decided by an arbitrator rather than by the Chicago Police Board.

An effort to streamline federal financial aid. How a three-time MLB All-Star is giving back to local kids. And restorative practices instead of suspensions — a look at the impact on students.

A study from the University of Chicago Education Lab showed using restorative practices led to an 18% reduction in suspensions, along with 35% fewer arrests at school and a 15% decrease in out-of-school arrests.

The Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, form is undergoing its first major overhaul since the Reagan era.

Former TriCity Foods official Jeff MacDonald told the jury a meeting with former Ald. Ed Burke “felt like a shakedown” because Burke made it clear “we were not going to get this permit until there was some neighborhood or philanthropic effort. Something to be involved with the city and the community.”

Arnold Randall has announced he will step down at the end of the year as general superintendent of the Forest Preserve District of Cook County, a position he's held since 2010.

Eugene McLaurin, 31, pleaded guilty to three counts of assaulting a federal officer and two counts of using a firearm during a crime of violence, more than two years after he opened fire on an unmarked vehicle in Chicago’s Morgan Park.

The Chicago Board of Education is expected to renew the campus agreement for Urban Prep charter schools located in Bronzeville and Englewood after a judge ruled that CPS violated its moratorium on school closures by attempting to take control of the schools.

Ahead of a day-long event for investors, the Chicago burger giant said Wednesday that it aims to have 50,000 restaurants in operation worldwide by the end of 2027. McDonald’s had 40,275 restaurants at the start of this year.

A liberal activist with an eye for mainstream entertainment, Norman Lear fashioned bold and controversial comedies that were embraced by viewers who had to watch the evening news to find out what was going on in the world. His shows helped define prime time comedy in the 1970s.

Johnson reacts to the state pulling funding for a migrant camp in Brighton Park. Old-school video game arcade culture is getting an extra life. And building modular homes in Roseland.

In modular home construction, large segments of a house are built elsewhere and then assembled at a site in just a day.

A restaurant group official said he was “taken aback” when Ald. Ed Burke brought up possible work for his property tax law firm as the pair discussed driveway permits for a Burger King undergoing a remodel in Burke’s 14th Ward in 2017.

WTTW News theater critic Hedy Weiss reviews recent performances from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Lyric Opera and Staatskapelle Berlin.

From the beckoning screens to the bleeping chiptunes, the sounds and sights of a video game arcade are unlike anything else. Those who crave that in-person experience need look no further than Brookfield’s Galloping Ghost Arcade.

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Tuesday rejected using state funds to continue building a migrant base camp in Brighton Park, citing environmental concerns.

After eight years as executive director of Friends of the Parks, Juanita Irizarry is stepping down at the end of the year, telling WTTW News, “I’m looking forward to radical rest.”

New data from the Chicago Police Department on Tuesday shows that through the end of November, the number of homicides has dropped by 11% while shootings dropped nearly 13% compared to the same time in 2022.

A complaint filed with the agency shows that on Oct. 23, the inflator on a 2014 X3 exploded, shooting a large gold-colored metal disc that a surgeon had to remove from the driver’s lung.

Demolishing the record set in each of the past three years, $1.3 billion poured into the city’s 127 TIF funds in 2022, according to a report from Cook County Clerk Karen Yarbrough.

“Any animal that walks through our door can be a candidate for euthanasia due to the population and everything that we go through here,” said acting executive director of the city of Chicago Department of Animal Care and Control Susan Cappello.