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. 

The comments came during a joint online press conference Wednesday afternoon with Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson,  New York City Mayor Eric Adams and Denver Mayor Mike Johnston.

Singer, actress and television host Dionne Warwick can add another accomplishment to her legendary career. Warwick is one of the recipients of a Kennedy Center Honors.

One on one with actress and comedian Lisa Ann Walter. A rare Nativity set at the Art Institute. And a local man creates the Cinnamon Bear’s miniature world of Maybeland.

Lisa Ann Walter is set to appear in Rosemont later this month for a series of comedy shows. Ahead of her visit to the Chicago area, she spoke with WTTW News about what it’s been like since getting back to work with her comedic cast, and what’s in store for her upcoming comedy set.

Once powerful Ald. Ed Burke now a convicted criminal. A proposed shelter site on the Far South Side may be contaminated with pollutants. And Texas’ governor flying migrants to Chicago on a private plane.

Former Ald. Ed Burke (14th Ward) was convicted Thursday of 13 of 14 counts of racketeering, bribery and extortion, bringing his landmark corruption trial to an end with a verdict that delivered a searing indictment of Chicago’s political system, which Burke used to amass power for half a century.

Two people, identified as “handlers” in the police log, fled the private plane transporting migrants Tuesday evening and “jumped into an Uber” before they could be questioned by officers, according to police.

Remote working. A four-day workweek. Quiet quitting. A resurgent labor movement. These are just a few of the changes workers and employers have been grappling with over the last few years.

A data analysis by WTTW News and the Hyde Park Herald/South Side Weekly found the disparity between access to quality nursing home care for Black and White Chicagoans is stark, with highly rated homes concentrated on the city’s North Side and housing majority White residents.

Day 2 of jury deliberations in the Ed Burke corruption trial. What trends in a changing labor landscape could mean for workers. And a local man creates the Cinnamon Bear’s miniature world of Maybeland.