“Those schools, the presidents that were up there testifying, while they were saying, ‘oh you know we preserve freedom of speech, we value freedom of speech,’ they in fact do have records of suppressing speech,” says Tom Ginsburg of the Forum for Free Inquiry and Expression. 

The push to create a permanent board to oversee the Chicago Police Department begins. An attorney trying to disqualify former President Donald Trump from the ballot in Illinois. And free expression on college campuses. 

A legal challenge from five voters has made Illinois the 18^th state forced to grapple with whether former President Donald Trump should be disqualified from the 2024 ballot.

Every winter, Chicago stands divided around a practice commonly known as “dibs” – when car owners use janky household objects to reserve their precious shoveled-out parking spaces. So how did it begin? 

Applications are now open to serve four-year terms on the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability, which is designed to give Chicagoans real control of the police department as part of an effort to build trust in officers and police brass and put an end to repeated allegations of misconduct. 

President Biden on the campaign trail — but it’s not just any campaign speech. And Chicago’s suburbs seek to block buses of migrants.

The tally, which includes all invoices paid through Dec. 15, defies predictions released by city officials in mid-October that the cost of the migrant crisis to taxpayers would top $361 million by the end of 2023.

As the 60^th anniversary of the war on poverty approaches, the Shriver Center on Poverty Law is hosting a one-day poverty summit, bringing together a diverse group of academic, community and government leaders.

Hundreds of new laws are taking effect in Illinois. What are they and how could they impact your life? Two states kick former President Donald Trump off the ballot over his efforts to overturn the 2020 election. And our Spotlight Politics on the year ahead.  

Former President Donald Trump has been kicked off the ballot in both Maine and Colorado. At issue is whether Trump is disqualified from making another presidential run under the 14th Amendment due to engaging in insurrection.

Hundreds – actually 320 – of new laws took effect in Illinois when the disco ball dropped on 2023. WTTW News has rounded up some of the laws most likely to impact your day-to-day life.

The last year was filled with plenty of big news. As a new year begins, here’s a look at the stories that will continue into 2024.

Mayor Brandon Johnson’s first budget, which took effect Monday, includes no new taxes, fees or service cuts. Johnson now must make good on his promise to use the city’s $16.7 billion spending plan as a down payment on investments in working-class Chicagoans.

Mayor Brandon Johnson assumes office and inherits a migrant crisis. Ex-Ald. Ed Burke convicted on 13 federal corruption counts, with Michael Madigan’s trial looming. We recap 2023 in a special year-end edition of “Week in Review.”

West Chicago is currently home to the only waste transfer facility in DuPage County. Now a second one is looking to open and residents are pushing back.