Chicago’s new Zoning chair on affordable housing, construction projects

Chicago's new Zoning Committee chair, Ald. Gilbert Villegas, says he plans to cut red tape to speed up housing and major developments that could bring in tax revenue.

Fewer young Americans are pursuing sewing careers. These Chicago tailors think they know why. Chicago’s emerging and longtime tailors have observed industry shifts they believe have led to fewer professional sewers.

"She wishes more 'homegrown' Americans would pursue the craft like her father did, but given that students no longer take high school home economics classes or learn to sew at home... their baseline skill levels are not what they used to be" www.chicagotribune.com/2026/04/21/f...

!!!!!!!

Will transparency fold under Gov. Pritzker's plan to revamp the Illinois Gambling Board? While key details haven't been worked out, the governor aims to eliminate the structure that currently exists for regulators of the ever-expanding casino, video poker and sports betting industries — w...

Will transparency fold under Gov. Pritzker's plan to revamp the Illinois Gambling Board? chicago.suntimes.com/the-watchdog...

CPS Employee Accused of Double-Dipping Through Dual Employment Scheme Now Works for CTA, Records Show Records obtained by WTTW News show a former CPS employee logged paid work hours while traveling domestically and abroad, contributing to inflated vendor bills and alleged time fraud. The investigation...

ICYMI: A former Chicago Public Schools employee who was classified as ineligible to be rehired after being accused of defrauding the district through a dual employment scheme is now working in a six-figure job at the Chicago Transit Authority.

O'Neill Burke wouldn't denounce Trump because she wanted to 'maintain' relationship with feds, emails show The emails were referenced in a new court filing by a coalition seeking a special prosecutor to investigate Operation Midway Blitz. The coalition argued that Cook County State's Attorney Eileen O'Neil...

Cook County's top prosecutor wouldn't denounce Trump because she wanted to 'maintain' her relationship with the feds, emails show.

The latest on a bid for a special prosecutor to take on Operation Midway Blitz agents, w/ @sophiesherry.bsky.social: chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/...

Philly gets free Broad Street Line rides home after World Cup matches

SEPTA Broad Street Line rides will be free after 2026 World Cup games in Philadelphia. Here's what to know.

Mystery shrouds ex-Mormon figure's death in northern Illinois plane crash amid child sexual abuse lawsuit Richard McClung died in February when the small plane he was piloting crashed in a community between McHenry County and Rockford. A pending lawsuit accuses McClung, a convicted sex offender, of molest...

#ICYMI this wild ride of a read by Bob Herguth: Mystery shrouds ex-Mormon figure's death in northern Illinois plane crash amid child sexual abuse lawsuit chicago.suntimes.com/the-watchdog...

"COPA released only two videos related to Rivera’s death and didn’t say how many it withheld, a significant departure from past practice and apparently at odds with city policy requiring the release of videos and reports when an officer shoots someone."

Don't forget: "The publisher of @illinoisanswers.bsky.social @chicago.suntimes.com + other media orgs asked the judge to undo her secrecy order last summer. She declined, but an appeals court overturned her order as “an abuse of discretion.” COPA released videos related to the shooting Friday."

Body cam video shows Chicago cop took cover for 90 seconds after fatally shooting his partner Krystal Rivera The footage released Friday shows that officer Carlos Baker ran up a stairwell after his gun went off when they encountered an armed man, leaving Rivera bleeding from a gunshot he initially said had b...

Body cam video shows Chicago cop took cover for 90 seconds after fatally shooting his partner Krystal Rivera chicago.suntimes.com/the-watchdog...

Burdened by costs of an ICE facility in town, Broadview reckons with a spotlight it never wanted While communities elsewhere have been shielded from the costs of ICE facilities, the western suburb was stuck with bills for nearly $400,000. The costs continue as Broadview preps its new budget.

A village of just 7,900 had been on solid financial footing. But after months in the national spotlight, it has budget problems that it didn't create. chicago.suntimes.com/news/2026/04...

Burdened by costs of an ICE facility in town, Broadview reckons with a spotlight it never wanted While communities elsewhere have been shielded from the costs of ICE facilities, the western suburb was stuck with bills for nearly $400,000. The costs continue as Broadview preps its new budget.

What's the cost of Trump's immigration blitz? Broadview is picking up the pieces. The small village spent $250,000 just on ambulance transfers from the ICE facility that became a de facto detention center: chicago.suntimes.com/news/2026/04... reports @bylaurenfitz.bsky.social & Nader Issa

By me and Nader Issa, who'd been wondering about this a while now.

Burdened by costs of an ICE facility in town, Broadview reckons with a spotlight it never wanted While communities elsewhere have been shielded from the costs of ICE facilities, the western suburb was stuck with bills for nearly $400,000. The costs continue as Broadview preps its new budget.

Burdened by costs of an ICE facility in town, Broadview reckons with a spotlight it never wanted. While communities elsewhere have been shielded from the costs of ICE facilities, the western suburb was stuck with bills for nearly $400,000. The costs continue.
chicago.suntimes.com/news/2026/04...

COMMENTARY OTHER VIEWS LGBTQ+ No, my Sun-Times colleague, Violet Miller, and lare not the same person Many people can't tell us apart because they don't know or understand trans women, a deficit that fuels policies and rhetoric that harm us all. By Ellery Jones | Apr 15, 2026, 6:00am CDT Chicago Sun-Times reporter Violet Miller (left) and Sun-Times and WBEZ Innovation Editor Ellery Jones | Candace Dane Chambers/Sun-Times

A very important personal message for you all today:

No, @vimiller.bsky.social and I are NOT the same person.

And the fact that y'all keep confusing us says something about Society™️

in case you need more clarification: chicago.suntimes.com/opinion/2026...

What can homeowners do to reduce flooding?

The risk of flooding in Chicago is growing. Here are a few easy and inexpensive ways to reduce flooding around your home and neighborhood.

City Council panel advances ban on cops joining Proud Boys, other extremist groups

A measure aimed at rooting out Chicago police officers with ties to extremist, anti-government groups like the far-right Proud Boys or Oath Keepers is set for a City Council vote as early as Wednesday.

“The Alarm Bell”: Arizona’s Drop in SNAP Participation Signals Potential Nationwide Impact of Trump Legislation Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act imposes stricter food stamp work requirements and shifts a larger share of the costs to states. Arizona’s swift implementation has made it more difficult to apply an...

Nearly half of Arizona’s SNAP participants have lost benefits since the state implemented new Trump legislation.

“Arizona is just the alarm bell,” one expert said. “This is likely going to happen in every state.”

Cool temperatures on Saturday expected to be pushed out by Sunday’s warm, windy weather

Chicagoans will need to gear up for varying weather throughout the weekend, as cooler temperatures on Saturday give way to a warm, windy Sunday, according to the National Weather Service.

All initial evidence suggested that Pope Leo “was something entirely different from both Francis and Donald Trump: a quiet American, as I called him last summer. That description is now obsolete,” Francis X. Rocca argues: theatln.tc/ARoFjFUY

📸: Manon Cruz / Reuters

Rush Medical Center nurses petition to form union If the Rush nurses succeed, they will join more than 6,500 workers in the Chicago area represented by the National Nurses United. They say a union would help prevent burnout and help ensure patient safety.

Rush Medical Center nurses are unionizing, joining a wave of health care workers who are forming unions across the country chicago.suntimes.com/health/2026/...

Illinois deja vu? Appellate arguments for ex-Speaker Michael Madigan to focus on line between politics and bribery. On Thursday, attorneys for imprisoned former House Speaker Michael Madigan are expected to ask the appeals court for a reversal of his February 2025 conviction and 7 1/2-year sentence.

Only in Illinois alert: Former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, pardoned by President Trump for an array of corruption convictions, has been paid $130k by ex-ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore to lobby Trump for a pardon in her conviction of bribing House Speaker Michael Madigan
www.chicagotribune.com/2026/04/09/a...

#ICYMI because this is smart smart smart chicago.suntimes.com/education/20...

Brandon Johnson Picks Anjanette Young for CPD Oversight Board Mayor Brandon Johnson nominated Anjanette Young, a social worker who was handcuffed while naked during a botched 2019 Chicago Police Department raid, on Thursday to serve on the city’s police oversigh...

NEW: Mayor Brandon Johnson nominated Anjanette Young, a social worker who was handcuffed while naked during a botched 2019 Chicago Police Department raid, on Thursday to serve on the city’s police oversight board. @wttw.bsky.social

Should this prompt your human self to want to DO SOMETHING, there's a "How to Help Refugee Families" widget in the story.

Trump’s policy changes put refugees in a Catch-22, resettlement agencies say. They can only receive SNAP benefits once they become legal permanent residents. But the federal government isn’t processing their green card applications.

We're talking people fleeing wars and persecution elsewhere who are legally in the United States. As Elvia reports, as many as 16,000 people could lose SNAP benefits because of the change in eligibility for immigrants, according to the Illinois Department of Human Services.

Refugee families are the latest group to face SNAP food benefit cutoff Refugees and people granted asylum in the U.S. will join thousands of others in Illinois expected to lose their food assistance starting this spring as the Trump administration’s tax and spending bill goes into effect.

Refugee families are the latest group to face #SNAP food benefit cutoff, joining thousands of others in Illinois expected to lose their food assistance starting this spring as Trump administration’s tax + spending bill takes effect
chicago.suntimes.com/politics/202... Via @elviamalagon.bsky.social

The Pentagon Threatened Pope Leo XIV’s Ambassador With the Avignon Papacy The Free Press has documented a closed-door Pentagon meeting in which a senior Trump official lectured Pope Leo XIV’s ambassador on American military supremacy.

NEW: A stunning new report claims that the Pentagon summoned Pope Leo XIV’s top American diplomat and threatened him after the U.S.-born pontiff gave his January state-of-the-world address.

Leo used the address to denounce a world ruled by “a diplomacy based on force” and “zeal for war.”