Opinion & Comment
Comment: It's Just Life in the Big City...
A burning train car, a shooting under the Christmas lights, a killing in a doorway. Three tragedies close in space and time, the cause all the same. And no one with the sense to stop it.
Politics
The Politics Section of the Chicago Journal.
Opinion & Comment
Comment: The Bell Tolls Not for Madigan, but for Thee
The sound of a once-mighty machine is replaced by a resounding crack of a gavel, the final note in a symphony of corruption, patronage, and unchecked power that spanned more than half a century.
Illinois Politics
An Introduction to AI-Assisted Analysis in Illinois
Curious about how AI and humans can team up locally? Explore this deep dive on Illinois corruption as a real-world experiment. Hopefully, AI can help us unite data-driven analysis with creative understanding for a smarter, more transparent future. Either way, this is only the beginning.
Chicago Journal
Opinion & Comment: Let's Go, Brandon!
Contributor Wink Swindell cheers the Mayor's 6.6% approval crash, his $830M bond spree, and sanctuary city bravado. He urges the mayor to go all-in, ignore fleeing business and debt, and embrace a raucous spiral into the People's Republic of Chicago's glorious unknown. As long as he gets a piece...
Politics
Gallery: Photos from protests outside the 2024 Democratic National Convention in Chicago
In August 2024, as the Democratic National Convention took place in Chicago, protesters gathered in the streets to voice their opposition to the ongoing conflict in Gaza and U.S. foreign policy. This gallery captures moments from those protests.
Illinois News
Supreme Court upholds cash-free bail in Illinois, takes effect in September
Supreme Court Chief Justice Mary Jane Theis ordered that the halt on the law be lifted 60 days after Tuesday's opinion, on Sept. 18, 2023.
Chicago News
Kim Foxx won't seek third term
“I leave now with my head held high, with my heart full, knowing that better days are ahead,” Foxx said. “And it has been my honor and my privilege on behalf of project kids across this city."
Chicago Journal
Johnson elected Chicago mayor in victory for progressives
Johnson, a Cook County commissioner endorsed by the Chicago Teachers Union, won a close race over former Chicago schools CEO Paul Vallas.
Chicago Journal
Chicago chooses between progressive, moderate for mayor
The top two vote-getters in the all-Democrat but officially nonpartisan race moved to the Tuesday runoff because no candidate received over 50% of the vote.
Crime
ComEd, Madigan focus of federal bribery trial in Illinois
While Madigan, 80, will feature in much of the testimony and evidence, he won't be in court. He has been indicted, but he isn't a defendant at the current trial in U.S. District Court. He isn't expected to testify either. His own trial is scheduled for next year.
Chicago Journal
Illinois ban on cash bail in hands of state's Supreme Court
Brief arguments before the Supreme Court's seven justices in Springfield on Tuesday largely centered on whether lawmakers have the authority to make such a sweeping change to pretrial procedures. The justices gave no timeline for when a decision in the case will be released.
Law
Illinois enacts mandatory paid leave 'for any reason'
Just Maine and Nevada mandate earned paid time time off and allot employees the freedom to decide how to use it, but Illinois’ law is further reaching, unencumbered by limits based on business size.