With the city’s spending on non-citizen migrants increasing, criticism of Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and his handling of the ongoing crisis also grows.

In the 11 months since Johnson took over at City Hall, data from the “New Arrivals Mission” website pegs such spending at nearly $300 million with more than 38,000 migrants having arrived in the city and around 9,700 still residing in city shelters.

Cook County Clerk Karen Yarbrough, a trailblazing Maywood Democrat who served in public office for more than two decades, has died. She was 73.

Ms. Yarbrough passed away Sunday afternoon surrounded by her family and husband, former Maywood Mayor Henderson Yarbrough, said Sally Daly, deputy clerk of communications for the county clerk’s office.

Former ComEd executive Fidel Marquez, a key witness in the upcoming racketeering trial of ex-House Speaker Michael Madigan, says he was just trying to buy a handgun last month to shoot rattlesnakes threatening his home in the Arizona desert when he inadvertently made false statements about his criminal status on federal paperwork.

While Marquez will not face any charges as a result of those falsehoods, a federal judge in Chicago on Friday bluntly told Marquez he’s essentially “given a really beautiful piece of ammunition to Madigan’s lawyers.”

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson on Friday announced his “Cut the Tape” report at an event Friday afternoon in downtown.

The Johnson Administration announced what it called bold new plans to streamline construction and affordable housing development approval processes.

The 2024 solar eclipse will bring an incredible spectacle to skies on Monday, marking a rare and historic moment in the U.S., but also in Illinois.

An eclipse like the one that will occur Monday, which will cover numerous populated areas and a wide swath of the United States, won’t take to the skies again any time soon, and Americans are urged to see the spectacle if they can.

A state lawmaker says the Illinois attorney general is “making an excuse” when it comes to government accountability.

State Rep. Amy Elik, R-Alton, said her office saw an increase in constituents reaching out to inquire about the time it takes to address either a Freedom of Information Act or Open Meetings Act violation allegation.

Members of the Dolton Village Board plan to hire former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, a onetime federal prosecutor, to investigate Dolton Mayor Tiffany Henyard, who has been accused of misusing public funds while the village is millions of dollars in debt.

Sources confirmed a group of village trustees was working on a resolution proposing to hire Lightfoot to investigate allegations regarding Henyard’s spending, including lavish personal spending, reportedly on the taxpayers’ dime.

In the last year before its demise, the state’s Invest in Kids tax credit scholarship program had a record number of scholarship recipients and substantial jumps in participating schools and contributions.

The program supported more than 15,000 students with scholarships in the 2023-24 academic year, a 56% increase from the previous year, according to Department of Revenue data obtained by the Tribune.

Three Arlington Heights-area school district superintendents say they’re being mischaracterized for potentially quashing the deal to bring the Bears to town, and questioned whether the team’s shift back to the Chicago lakefront is really about taxes in the suburbs.

They also believe the team’s previously-proposed redevelopment of Arlington Park is still a strong possibility.