Wall Street’s losses mounted for the second straight day Tuesday as momentum slows on worries about rising virus counts and Washington’s inability to deliver more aid to the economy. 

Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s plan to close a projected $1.2 billion budget gap by hiking property taxes and laying off employees got a cool reception Monday from aldermen, who pleaded for other options amid a raging pandemic.

A year after the fanfare-filled launch, city officials said the program had begun to show results — with $70 million in public funds attracting $300 million in private investments.

As Chicago grapples with a second wave of the pandemic, a Wall Street ratings agency fired a shot across the bow as aldermen prepared to start a month of hearings on Mayor Lightfoot’s spending plan.

Located 14 miles from the Loop, the middle-class Ashburn community has been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic and civil unrest this summer.

“There are points in time when scoop and toss is appropriate” and that is now the case since Chicago is facing a $1.2 billion budget gap, Chief Financial Officer Jennie Huang Bennett said.

Towns and cities can’t access COVID-19 relief funding allocated to them by the federal government because the state is holding onto it instead, the Illinois Municipal League said Wednesday as it called on Pritzker’s administration to release the money.

The mayor’s budget plan, the next coronavirus wave and the final presidential debate. Our politics team takes on those stories and more in this week’s roundtable. 

Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s plan to close a projected $1.2 billion budget gap in 2021 would hike sales and property taxes by $76.4 million, eliminate 1,921 city jobs and dip into the city’s rainy-day fund.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot will face the biggest test of her time in office on Wednesday when she details her plan to fill the massive budget shortfall caused in part by the coronavirus pandemic.

How to educate students during a pandemic is far from the only issue elected officials — and Illinois residents — have to grapple with. And it seems unlikely the federal government will agree to another stimulus package before the election.

The coronavirus has had a disparate impact on Black and Brown communities. What would an equitable recovery look like? Dr. Helene Gayle tells us about a new initiative for equitable economic recovery.

Meet Elizabeth Morales, a 29-year-old teacher and community service organizer who is working to support local families and individuals struggling with food and housing insecurity during the coronavirus pandemic.

An update to our profile of Claudio Velez, the longtime food vendor affectionately known as the “Tamale Guy” who contracted COVID-19 just weeks after opening his new restaurant. Velez returned home earlier this month.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced on Friday that Illinois’ ban on evictions would be extended until Nov. 16, as state officials continue to send grants to Illinois residents struggling to make ends meet.

West suburban Wheaton, home to historic Wheaton College, hasn’t been spared the health and economic hit caused by the coronavirus pandemic.