Stories by Patty Wetli

The Chicago Park District has shot down a social media rumor that it had received any information about ICE agents targeting Sunday’s upcoming Chicago Marathon for enforcement activities.

One on one with Mayor Brandon Johnson on National Guard troops in Illinois, immigration enforcement and more.

“We’re not going to be intimidated in Chicago,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said. “It’s my responsibility to stand up to tyranny and to make sure that we are defending the people of this city.”

President Donald Trump plans to deploy 400 members of the Texas National Guard and 300 members of the Illinois National Guard to the area any day. Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson have asked a federal judge to block that move.

Before this year, U.S. health officials — following recommendations by infectious disease experts — recommended annual COVID-19 boosters for all Americans ages 6 months and older.

Prosecutors in Chicago on Monday filed a murder-for-hire charge against 37-year-old Juan Espinoza Martinez, whom they claim is a “ranking member” of the Latin Kings gang.

Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling rejected claims his officers failed to respond to a pair of incidents involving federal agents in the city over the weekend, saying more than two dozen officers were affected by chemical gas deployed by the agents.

The lawsuit filed by Illinois and Chicago officials calls the looming deployment of both Texas and Illinois National Guard troops a politically motivated and unconstitutional federal overreach.

Former NFL quarterback Mark Sanchez is now facing a felony charge of battery involving serious bodily injury in addition to the misdemeanor charges stemming from a weekend incident in Indianapolis that led to his arrest.

Broadview Mayor Katrina Thompson has signed an executive order setting fixed protest hours outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s suburban processing facility.

The work by Mary E. Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell and Dr. Shimon Sakaguchi uncovered a key pathway the body uses to keep the immune system in check, called peripheral immune tolerance. Experts called the findings critical to understanding autoimmune diseases such as Type 1 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis and lupus.

The campaign is part of ICE’s $30 billion initiative to hire 10,000 more deportation officers by the end of the year to supercharge deportations.

The return of normal express lanes operations comes as all Kennedy outbound local lanes open, the Illinois Department of Transportation announced Sunday. Work continues on several outbound ramps through late October, with construction on pace to finish before Thanksgiving, according to IDOT.

The Chicago Headline Club, Chicago Newspaper Guild Local 34071, Block Club Chicago and other media groups filed the suit alongside protesters in federal court alleging their First Amendment rights have been violated.

Marimar Martinez, 30, and Anthony Ian Santos Ruiz, 21, are facing felony charges of “forcibly assaulting, impeding, and interfering with a federal law enforcement officer,” federal prosecutors announced Sunday.

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker said military officials called Saturday morning and “gave me an ultimatum: call up your troops, or we will. It is absolutely outrageous and un-American to demand a Governor send military troops within our own borders and against our will.”

Another week of aggressive immigration raids — including patrols on peaceful downtown streets. And the Trump administration wants to pause $2.1 billion in infrastructure funding for Chicago.

Gov. JB Pritzker, who is running for a third term as governor and considering a run for president in 2028, said he was “appalled by the reports of excessive use of force against children as well as the many innocent bystanders who were punished simply for residing in that building.”

Even though Chicago’s 2025 budget included $500,000 for the program, the effort will not move forward after the City Council’s Pedestrian and Traffic Safety Committee, meeting in a joint session with the Transportation Committee, rejected officials’ plan to plow sidewalks in two small parts of the city.

There are a number of local fall forecast resources that will point you in the direction of peak color.

While it may not feel like fall yet, pumpkin spice season has arrived. Get your fall-themed beverage fix at these local businesses.

Chicago Ald. Jessie Fuentes was detained by federal agents inside Humboldt Park Health, as tensions continue to rise between local residents and officials and immigration agents conducting enforcement operations in the city.

The pause affects a long-awaited plan to extend the city’s Red Line train. The money was “put on hold to ensure funding is not flowing via race-based contracting,” budget director Russ Vought wrote on social media.

Citing financial issues, the Board of Directors overseeing Chicago’s only public arts high school informed the school district earlier this week that it would not submit a renewal application.

Illinois and Cook County law enforcement have constructed designated areas for protesters to “safely exercise their rights” outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in suburban Broadview.

The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday denied Madigan’s request to remain out on bond, meaning the longtime speaker must report to federal prison Oct. 13.