CPS leaders want the Illinois State Board of Education to make sure the district is following best practices with its special ed programming, admitting “fundamental changes” are necessary.

Many Illinois residents are unaware of a 1990 state law making it illegal to mix lawn waste with household garbage. WBEZ reporter Monica Eng has the dirt on Chicago’s yard waste disposal program.

Former IPRA and COPA chief Sharon Fairley officially tosses her hat into the race for attorney general. The latest on who she could face.

(Marc Chase / nwi.com)

WBEZ’s Northwest Indiana reporter Michael Puente joins to discuss the start of the new school year in Gary.

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Gov. Bruce Rauner called on Democrats to send him Senate Bill 1, while Illinois Senate President John Cullerton says he’ll wait till Monday to send the bill to the governor.

(Courtroom sketch by Thomas Gianni)

The disgraced former U.S. House speaker, sentenced last year to 15 months in prison, returns to Chicago to serve the remainder of his sentence.

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How to reduce shootings in Chicago? One possible answer: jobs. But how much would that cost? WBEZ reporter Chip Mitchell crunched the numbers.

New details on the Russian cyberattack before the 2016 election, and how Illinois was affected. 

Demolition of Cabrini-Green homes (Joe M500 / Wikimedia Commons)

Seventeen years after Mayor Daley launched his plan to transform the Chicago Housing Authority, WBEZ examines promises kept – and broken.

WBEZ data reporter Chris Hagan

Cook County is shrinking again – and the 2016 drop in population is the biggest of any county in the entire country. Is this just a statistical blip or the beginning of an alarming trend?

A West Side police commander has an unusually high number of complaints filed against him. We talk to the reporter who broke the story.

(Courtesy of Michael Puente / WBEZ)

WBEZ reporter Michael Puente joins us to discuss funding problems surrounding the public school system in Gary, Indiana.

Kanari Gentry Bowers (left) and Takiya Holmes were shot in separate incidents on Saturday (Courtesy Gentry Bowers family and Holmes family)
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In another disturbing chapter of Chicago’s gun violence epidemic, two young girls were shot in the head within 30 minutes of each other Saturday night on the South Side.

The statistics are stark: 762 people were killed in Chicago last year, a 58-percent increase from 2015. The University of Chicago’s Crime Lab studied the data behind the violence. We discuss the findings of its new report with WBEZ reporter Patrick Smith.

(Andrew Gill / WBEZ)

WBEZ reporter discusses the year she spent inside a fourth-grade classroom in North Lawndale

WBEZ reporter Linda Lutton spent the 2014-15 school year examining the impacts of poverty on a fourth-grade class in North Lawndale for a new story published this week. She spoke with Chicago Tonight to discuss that process.

WBEZ reporter Dan Weissmann
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The city plans to go to the debt markets for almost $1.2 billion, including more so-called “scoop and toss” borrowing.