The Rundown | Chicago News

Illinois Governor JB Pritzker says he’s been in meetings with Bears leadership recently about the possibility of keeping the Bears in Illinois as the team mulls a move to Northwest Indiana. Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson says a teen curfew ordinance set for a vote next week is more “thoughtful” than the one he vetoed last year. The National Weather Service says an extended system of wintry weather...

The state of Illinois has extended the open enrollment deadline for people who buy health insurance through the state-run marketplace to January 31st. Independent bookstore owners in Chicago are sounding the alarm as chain bookseller Barnes & Noble brings its nationwide expansion to the city. Some owners say it’s taking business away from smaller bookstores. A federal judge has ordered the Tru...

Illinois could lose $1 billion in federal funding for childcare and other social services, and Attorney General Kwame Raoul is in court with four other Democratic-led states trying to fight the latest funding freeze. Last November, the Trump administration released pending guidance for the Clean Water Act, and the EPA’s impact analysis found that more than 80% of the country’s wetlands would no lo...

Illinois U.S. Representative Robin Kelly has announced she intends to file articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent fatally shot a woman Wednesday in Minneapolis. Kelly alleges Noem has turned ICE into a rogue force that violates the constitution and tears families apart. A Cook County father is suing Roblox, accusin...

Mayor Brandon Johnson touted figures that show in 2025, fatal shootings were at the lowest level since 1965. Shooting incidents actually dropped by 34 percent from the previous year. For the second year in a row, Chicago Public Schools’ watchdog found a high-profile basketball team fielded players that were fraudulently enrolled in the school. Retiring U.S. Representative Jan Schakowsky is endorsi...

Workers at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago’s Streeterville neighborhood are demanding safer practices in providing emergency care. SEIU Healthcare Illinois says workers are unhappy that the hospital understaffs its emergency rooms, resulting in high wait times for patients with urgent needs. The Chicago Bears look to snatch their first playoff win in 15 years when they face the Green Bay...

Some Illinois lawmakers are calling for accountability after the Trump administration's arrest of deposed Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro. A new Northwestern Medicine study found the highest rates of gestational diabetes in American Indian and Alaska Native groups. Chicago Bears Quarterback Williams got a franchise passing record, but he says his focus is on the upcoming playoffs. Plus, a family...

Homicides and opioid deaths dropped in Cook County in 2025, and the news comes as Chicago had its lowest number of homicides in 60 years. One new Illinois law that went into effect at the start of the new year will regulate how employers use artificial intelligence when hiring new workers. Melissa Nunez and Elizabeth Branske were chosen in a raffle out of nearly a thousand couples to receive Cook...

We’re looking back at a story from earlier this month about the best Chicago albums of 2025. Our colleagues at our sister station Vocalo nominated their annual picks for the best in new Chicago music. Chicago has always been an eclectic music town where artists borrow from the city’s traditions of blues, jazz and soul. Some of this year’s best local albums blend the genres and even transcend them.

We’re revisiting a story from the WBEZ/Chicago Sun-Times arts and culture desk, in which our bookish colleagues share some of their favorite new books of 2025. Their recommendations range from a wide breadth of genres, including a novel that explores the complexities of friendship and family as well as a memoir detailing New York City nightlife in the '90s.

In a town full of foodies, Chicago pizzamaker Jonathan Goldsmith’s pies rise to the top at his restaurant, Spacca Napoli, located in Ravenswood on Chicago’s North Side. The eatery spent several years on the Michelin Guide’s Bib Gourmand list and an Italian-based website ranked it among the best pizza in the world in 2023. At the beginning of 2025, the restaurant was named the best pizza in town at...

This holiday season, the Evanston Symphony Orchestra hosted a new kind of concert. The so-called “barrier-free” performance was designed for people with disabilities and their loved ones. That includes accessible parking, an ASL interpreter and a sensory-free room where people could retreat if they got overwhelmed. About a hundred attendees of all ages poured into the performance at the Evanston T...

Faith leaders were denied access to pray with detainees at the Broadview ICE facility today. Illinois is part of a multi-state coalition suing the Trump administration for targeting gender affirming care. A holiday-themed pop-up in Humboldt Park takes inspiration from a Puerto Rican Christmas tradition. And Jake Connelly, a 13-year-old from Arlington Heights, is the newest star of the hit Netflix...

Who is Gregory Bovino? For months, the Border Patrol Commander-at-Large led agents through Chicago on an aggressive immigration enforcement campaign, while making sure his noticeably uncovered face was in front of as many cameras as possible. But there’s very little information online about Bovino’s background, his experience, or his rise to overnight prominence. So our team went digging – to his...

The Chicago Bears are the toast of the town after an overtime win Saturday against the Green Bay Packers. The Cook County Clerk’s office has selected the couple who will receive the county’s first marriage license of 2026. Operation North Pole is an annual holiday charity event for children with life-threatening illnesses. It returned for the first time since COVID. Plus, the biggest life expectan...

The Chicago City Council has approved the revenue portion of a rival, aldermanic-led spending plan that does not include a corporate head tax as Mayor Brandon Johnson wanted. It still requires a second official vote to be fully adopted. The Trump administration said the Chicago Transit Authority’s new security plan “fails to meet the need for immediate, measurable corrective action” and threatened...

A state commission examining wrongdoing by federal agencies during the so-called “Operation Midway Blitz” is now taking testimony. Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson says he will do "whatever it takes" to avoid a government shutdown. A coalition of alders advanced a rival budget proposal, and the plan still needs a full council vote. The Chicago Bears will host arch-rivals the Green Bay Packers Saturda...

Chicago's Jewish community continues to mourn the victims of the mass shooting during a Hanukkah celebration in Australia. An Illinois state task force is investigating why violence against women and girls in Chicago is disproportionately high. Chicago officials are urging people to get their vaccines before gathering with friends and family for the holidays. Plus, a school on Chicago’s southwest...

U.S. Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino has returned to the Chicago area. Illinois might not be able to generate all the power it needs to meet future demand because coal-fired plants are shutting down and newer, cleaner sources aren’t coming online fast enough. The Chicago Blackhawks are playing in Toronto without star center Conor Bedard due to an upper-body injury. Plus, a Chicago theater c...

Jewish leaders in Chicago are mourning the lives lost in Australia this weekend, but say they won’t live in fear as Hanukkah celebrations continue this week. Actor and film director Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele Singer, were killed in their Los Angeles home yesterday. Some anti-violence advocates want the Chicago Transit Authority to allow violence interruptors to patrol the transit system. Plu...

Patients in Illinois who are terminally ill will be able to request life-ending medication with a doctor’s prescription starting later next year. A proposed city-wide ban on the sale of hemp products now includes an exception for THC-infused beverages. The National Weather Service says snow is likely Saturday afternoon with evening wind chills near 20 below zero. Plus, We recently asked people in...

The city of Chicago says warming centers will be available this weekend as bitterly cold temperatures move in. A commission formed in honor of an unarmed Black woman murdered in her Springfield-area home last year has unveiled their 26 “calls to action.” Red Kettle donations for the Salvation Army are down in the Chicago area. Plus, the new company that provides health care to nearly 30,000 people...

WBEZ lost power at our studios at Navy Pier today and will return to its usual programming schedule as soon as we can. A group of alderpersons who oppose Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s budget have introduced their own revenue package. Chicagoans can expect more snow going into the weekend. Plus, the widest “death gap” across neighborhoods of any big city in America is between the Loop and West Ga...

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson is revising his proposed and controversial corporate head tax in hopes of shaking a budget stalemate loose. Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker signed into law protections from what he called “unjust actions” taken by federal immigration agents. Top executives at the parent company of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois got hefty raises and multimillion bonuses last year des...

The prospect of a government shutdown over the city’s budget is growing bigger in the city of Chicago. Chicago voters will elect all 21 members of the school board next November but a new poll finds few realize this is happening. Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich celebrated Mass on Sunday in the chapel of Cook County Jail’s maximum-security division. Plus, December is Nutcracker season. Some local gro...