Stories by UIS Public Affairs Reporting

The network monitors disease outbreaks across the globe and prepares countries to respond to those outbreaks.

Illinois weighs joining a new school voucher program. And we’re one on one with CPD raid survivor Anjanette Young.

A new Chicago Police Department policy that does not ban officers from serving no-knock warrants or from pointing guns at children during raids is now final.

The last bill still to be worked out covers the Department of Homeland Security where Democrats are demanding more restrictions on enforcement operations.

According to Chicago Police Department data, there were 29 homicides recorded in January. That’s the second lowest total for that month over the past decade and marks a 29% decrease over January 2025 (41 homicides).

After nearly a month spent in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody, a Chicago father of three with epilepsy has been reunited with his family.

The seven-member Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability oversees the Civilian Office of Police Accountability and the Chicago Police Board and has the power to set policy for the Chicago Police Department.

Democrats are refusing to provide the votes House Speaker Mike Johnson needs to push the package forward as they try to rein in the Trump administration’s deportation operations after the shooting deaths of two Americans in Minneapolis.

A partial government shutdown is underway — what that means and how soon it could end. And a new effort lays the groundwork to prosecute federal immigration agents.

The Chicago City Council will vote Feb. 18 on a proposal that would allow the Civilian Office of Police Accountability to investigate whether CPD officers have violated city law by helping federal immigration agents.

January 2026 was notable for two significant departures from temperature norms in Chicago — in opposite directions.

After doing the same in Chicago, the boys are trailing agents in Minneapolis, following the epicenter of immigration enforcement in the U.S. as it’s shifted north to the Twin Cities.

Punxsutawney Phil and Woodstock Willie have issued competing prognostications.

“Abolish ICE” is one of 25 finalists that Chicagoans can vote on between Sunday and Feb. 14, with the top six vote-getters winning the honor of renaming one snowplow in each of Chicago’s six snow districts.

“If the federal government will not hold these rogue actors accountable, then Chicago will do everything in our power to bring these agents to justice,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said.

Another government shutdown looms as Democrats demand an immigration enforcement cool-down. And changes are coming to SNAP, affecting hundreds of thousands of Illinois residents.

For the first time in five years, certain forms of student loan forgiveness will be taxable following a change in federal tax policy this year.

U.S District Court Judge John Tharp said that he reconsidered his decision to allow lawyers for Ebony Tate, her mother, Cynthia Eason, and four children to call former Mayor Rahm Emanuel after lawyers for the city once again vigorously objected.

In celebration of Black History Month, Chicago filmmakers will be showing their short films at Music Box Theater and Facets.

Forecasters are anticipating two rounds of lake effect snow to dump anywhere from 3 to 6 inches of snow on portions of northeast Illinois and northwest Indiana, between Friday morning and Saturday evening.

Eight notable Italian Americans are finalists in a little-advertised contest.

Illinois law hasn’t kept pace with the introduction of high-speed e-bikes, e-scooters and other “micromobility” devices. Officials are trying to catch up.

The Canadian-born O’Hara died at her home in Los Angeles “following a brief illness,” according to a statement from her agency, Creative Artists Agency. Further details were not immediately available.

Journalist Don Lemon and three other people were arrested Friday in connection with an anti-immigration enforcement protest that disrupted a service at a Minnesota church and increased tensions between residents and federal officials.

“For too long, Gregory Bovino and his rogue federal agents have terrorized communities in Illinois and across the country, violated our people’s constitutional rights and unleashed violence at every turn,” Gov. JB Pritzker said.

The Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability voted unanimously to select LaKenya White, a 26-year veteran of Chicago’s police accountability system, to lead the agency known as COPA.