The request is striking because such documents traditionally remain sealed during a pending investigation. But the Justice Department appeared to recognize that its silence since the search had created a vacuum for bitter verbal attacks by Trump and his allies.

The city’s current mayor touts a smaller budget deficit — as another candidate to unseat her joins the race. Spotlight Politics on that and more. The impact of cataclysmic rainfall. And stalled plans for a giant marina at Navy Pier.

Chicago residents aren’t used to having a lot of options when an incumbent mayor is running for re-election, but so far eight candidates have declared they’re running.

Some counties in south central Illinois have seen some of their highest July and August rain totals on record. Recently, Effingham recorded between 10 to 11 inches of rain in a single day.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot unveiled a property tax bump as the budget process gets underway. Our politics team weighs in on that story and more.

In 2016, Navy Pier officials asked City Council to approve an update to the pier’s planned development, authorizing, among other things, the construction of a transient marina on its north side, where boats could dock for the day. The project is now the subject of a lawsuit. 

With high gas prices and carjackings a growing job risk, gig workers from companies like Lyft, Uber and DoorDash are demanding more from their employers.

Chicago’s financial picture has been buoyed by the city’s red-hot real estate market and nearly $2 billion in federal aid designed to help the city withstand the ravages of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The latest on the raid of former President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago compound. A local Taiwanese official on the island’s conflict with China, contention brewing in the airline industry, and why pharmacy deserts exist across the city.

A recent wave of airline delays and cancellations has affected much of the country, including Chicago. After experiencing unprecedented airline delays and cancellations this summer, the recent wave is another indication of a rocky pandemic recovery for airlines.

In an interview with WTTW News, Johnson Chiang, director general of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Chicago, said that as China’s military and economic power has grown in recent decades, their behavior toward Taiwan has become more aggressive.

Ald. Pat Dowell (3rd Ward) said the plan would be a “bad deal” for residents of Bronzeville and set a bad precedent. The proposal from Lightfoot’s administration would create a new tax-increment financing district along the southern branch of the CTA Red Line to generate $950 million for the project. 

The FBI search of Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate marked an unprecedented escalation of the law enforcement scrutiny of the former president, but the operation is just one part of one investigation related to Trump and his time in office.