Some jurisdictions in Illinois ban trick-or-treaters over the age of 12.

In 2008, in the city of Belleville in southern Illinois, the city council passed an ordinance that set the age limit for trick-or-treaters at 12 years old and under. The law is still on the list of active Belleville city ordinances – but no one pays much attention to it.

The majority of Cook County homeowners will have bigger property tax bills this year — and this time, the north and northwest suburbs got hit particularly hard.

School districts, which heavily rely on property taxes in Illinois, are largely to blame, according to a new analysis from researchers at Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas’ office. A recent state law also allows schools and some other taxing bodies to “recapture” money that was refunded to property owners when they successfully appealed, lowering their assessments.

Mayor Brandon Johnson’s first budget comes at a crossroads moment for the Chicago Department of Public Health.

More than three years after COVID-19 placed the Health Department on the front lines and made it among the most vital and prominent departments in the city, Johnson’s decisions on prioritizing spending there as federal pandemic dollars dry up will help shape how prepared Chicago is should another significant public health crisis arise.

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration is defending its decision to renew a lucrative $40 million contract with Favorite Healthcare Staffing to staff the city’s migrant shelters through October of 2024.

NBC 5 Investigates was first to report the news of the new agreement on Wednesday.

Chicago Police Supt. Larry Snelling promised members of the Chicago City Council that he would get a handle on employee overtime, which has already cost Chicago taxpayers $200 million in 2023.

After spending $126.5 million on overtime for members of the Chicago Police Department during the first six months of 2023, the department remains on track to end the year with a total police overtime bill of more than $250 million. The City Council only budgeted $100 million for police overtime in 2023.

Spooked by the high price of Halloween candy? There’s not much relief in sight.

For the second year in a row, U.S. shoppers are seeing double-digit inflation in the candy aisle. Candy and gum prices are up an average of 13% this month compared to last October, more than double the 6% increase in all grocery prices, according to Datasembly, a retail price tracker. That’s on top of a 14% increase in candy and gum prices in October 2022.