The Rundown | Chicago News

A new 60-day shelter deadline puts pressure on the need for permanent housing for asylum-seekers. The Peoples Gas Rate hike was slashed by over $100 million yesterday. Winter is coming, and the Illinois Department of Transportation is telling drivers to ‘get it together.’

Gov. J.B. Pritzker earmarked $160 million toward helping the thousands of asylum seekers now sleeping at Chicago police stations and O’Hare Airport. The Chicago Fire Department reports at least 19 people are injured as a result of a Yellow Line train crash at the Howard Street switching station. Northwestern University surprised the college football world this season: the team has a chance to make...

The Chicago area is home to the country’s largest Palestinian American community. There are more than 18,000 Palestinians living in Cook County alone, the most of any county in the nation, and that’s only according to the available Census data. “Experts say that’s likely a huge undercount of the true population,” said WBEZ data reporter Amy Qin. “Some experts estimate the actual Palestinian popula...

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s first city budget passed. There are few details on a 60-day limit for migrants staying in Chicago city shelters. The Illinois Commerce Commission will issue its decision on the Peoples Gas $402 million dollar rate hike today.

The Chicago Police Department’s budget for next year will be nearly $2 billion, a slight increase from this year. The father of the suspect in last year's Highland Park mass shooting wore a shirt reading "I am a political pawn" when he showed up at the Lake County courthouse today to begin serving his jail sentence, leading a judge to threaten him with contempt. Chicago Bears quarterback Justin Fi...

Can artists make the world a better place? “We have seen over and over again that the existing structures and hierarchies aren't working, the models aren't working,” said Megha Ralapati, the director of the fellowships program at CEC ArtsLink, “and artists are uniquely trained and experienced to dismantle, to understand them from a new angle – a new vantage point – to bring nuance, to bring a more...

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s first city budget will be voted on today. Chicago’s police oversight board says the city is not accurately tracking how much is spent each year on policing. There’s a new initiative with the mission of informing young people about PrEP to prevent H-I-V.

The Biden Administration’s National Climate Assessment is out today, and the Midwest is expected to grow warmer and wetter if the U.S. does not cut emissions. The head of Northwestern University is appointing a new advisory committee on preventing antisemitism and hate. The number of migrants arriving in Chicago has slowed for the first time in months.

Angela Allyn started the Old Lady Project because she didn’t see enough aging women on Chicago’s stages. “I’m kind of reclaiming old,” Allyn says. “I don’t understand why old is great for houses or valuable paintings, but it’s not okay for humans.” She solicited scripts and screenplays with the goal of producing a couple staged readings. But in the 2023 submission cycle, she received over 600 scri...

Chicago Police arrested more than 100 protestors – who were calling for a ceasefire in Gaza – during a massive demonstration in downtown Chicago yesterday. A new rule aims to prevent Chicago cops from joining hate or extremist groups. Evanston leaders voted to delay a vote on Northwestern’s $800 million stadium rebuild.

Hundreds of Jewish people from across the Midwest rallied at Ogilvie Transportation Center Monday morning, calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and leading to more than 100 arrests, according to organizers. A 39-year-old Chicago firefighter died Monday morning after battling an extra-alarm fire in Lincoln Park. Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson is announcing Doctor Olusimbo Ige will lead the city’s public...

In 2016, Chicagoan Tracy Occomy Crowder went on a mission to find an adventure novel with a Black boy protagonist for her son. She wanted him to see himself in a book that wasn’t only about the heaviness of being Black in America, and she came up empty-handed. “You might have to write it,” a bookseller told her. So she did. This year, she published her debut middle grade novel, Montgomery and the...

Coming up - a new assessment shows major barriers in the city of Chicago’s mental healthcare system. Owners of a west suburban grocery store float plans to expand into areas with poor access to fresh food. Former U.S. Representative Adam Kinzinger on his new book.

Illinois lawmakers approved a measure that benefits those with existing cannabis transporter licenses, but Gov. J.B. has not committed to signing the bill yet. Deerfield-based Walgreens is laying off about 5 percent of its corporate staff, the company’s second round of staff reductions in recent months. Calumet Fisheries has been closed by the Chicago Department of Public Health after failing a he...

How are religious leaders in Chicago explaining the conflict in Israel and Gaza to their congregations? The Rundown’s Adora Namigadde spoke with a Muslim shaykh, a Christian reverend and two Jewish rabbis – one a self-described Zionist and the other a self-described anti-Zionist. We hear from all four. Namigadde tells host Erin Allen how each of them is processing the conflict, and how each wants...

President Joe Biden toasted a new labor deal for autoworkers and the opening of a truck-manufacturing plant in northern Illinois. The Chicago City Council approved expanding paid leave for workers. A new program helps Venezuelan migrants with the logistics of applying for work permits.

Illinois lawmakers have approved a measure lifting the state's moratorium on building nuclear facilities. The federal corruption trial of ex-Chicago Alderman Ed Burke is delayed once again. Several community organizations rallied in downtown Chicago calling for solidarity between Black and brown residents.

Do you know your neighbors? Many of us feel isolated these days, and it can be hard to tap into your local community. So we want to talk to people who are investing in their neighborhoods. Enter Cultivate Collective, a Southwest Side community hub on the former LeClaire Courts public housing site. The nonprofit is built around a public charter school, the Academy for Global Citizenship. And in a c...

A proposal being debated today at City Hall would give workers an additional five vacation days they can use for any reason. Chicago plans to convert a downtown hotel into a homeless shelter. Workers there are protesting layoffs. A bill to lift Illinois’ over 36-year-long moratorium on construction of new nuclear reactors just passed the state senate and now heads to the house.

Legislation meant to get guns out of the hands of domestic abusers has stalled in Springfield. A new study suggests cities can increase usage of public transit by changing the way large downtown spaces are used. The Chicago Sky introduced Jeff Pagliocca as their new general manager.

When it comes to addressing climate change, some solutions wouldn't really affect our lifestyles, like changing outdated building codes to limit greenhouse gas emissions. But other solutions have the potential to make a big impact on our lives, like giving up meat or cars. “That’s something that just doesn’t track well with people,” said Sabina Shaikh , senior instructional professor at the Univer...

Chicago City alderpersons ultimately voted today [TUES] NOT to formally reprimand Alderperson Carlos Ramirez-Rosa following allegations of threats and bullying. Illinois lawmakers want answers: how is the state recouping some of the 5 billion dollars paid out in fraudulent unemployment claims? A surprising finding about Chicago shoplifting rates.

The Chicago City Council approves the purchase of land in Morgan Park to open a migrant shelter. Voters will decide whether Chicago should increase a tax on the sale of high-end properties to fund homelessness prevention. Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy kicked off his book tour for “World Within a Song” in Chicago this past weekend.

This year marks the 29th Black Harvest Film Festival, which showcases work from Black filmmakers—past and present. From a short film about Chicago’s South Shore Drill Team to a Black Barbie documentary, the 2023 lineup promises a wide range of Black joy onscreen. And the festival looks back to Black filmmakers that came before with screenings of films from the 20th cCentury. Host Erin Allen previe...

One of Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s top City Council allies is resigning from leadership amid accusations of bullying. The ramifications of a guilty plea from the father of the alleged Highland Park shooter. Latinos in Chicago are three times more likely to contract COVID than other demographic groups, according to experts with the city’s health department.