Daywatch: Cook County property tax reforms stall out in Springfield
Good morning, Chicago.
Legislative reforms to Cook County's property tax system almost uniformly stalled this legislative session, halting efforts to give tax breaks to more seniors and those walloped with big bills, and to help people hang on to some of their homes' value if they lose the properties because of unpaid taxes.
When tax bills will ultimately hit mailboxes, meanwhile, is still in flux, as tech upgrades continue at the county's property tax offices. Those bills will have fresh numbers that reflect Chicago's latest reassessment.
With most countywide officeholders facing reelection next year, many are looking to address long-standing complaints about rising property tax bills so they can tell voters they're working on it.
Read the full story from the Tribune's A.D. Quig.
Here are the top stories you need to know to start your day, including: new details in Officer Krystal Rivera's mistaken fatal shooting, Northwestern lab directors describe 'bleak' atmosphere in wake of Trump research funding freeze and Steppenwolf Theatre's 'Purpose' wins best play at the 2025 Tony Awards.
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Immigrant advocates rallied Sunday for an end to aggressive U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids in Chicago and denounced the alleged cooperation of Chicago police in arrests made Wednesday.
The rally, which drew dozens of people to a plaza at the corner of Blue Island Avenue and Loomis Street, follows nationwide protests during the past week over the Trump administration's revamped mass deportation efforts.
Tensions in Los Angeles escalated Sunday as thousands of protesters took to the streets in response to President Donald Trump's extraordinary deployment of the National Guard, blocking off a major freeway and setting self-driving cars on fire as law enforcement used tear gas, rubber bullets, and flash bangs to control the crowd.
Moments before her death Thursday night, Chicago police Officer Krystal Rivera and her partner were rushing after a person they'd just attempted to stop on suspicion of having a weapon when that suspect ran into an apartment building located at 8210 S. Drexel Blvd., prosecutors said Sunday.
For farmers who grow anything but soybeans and corn in Illinois, buying crop insurance is nearly impossible. Even an insurance agent couldn't figure out how to safeguard his vegetable and poultry farm against unpredictable weather and plain old bad luck.
Ed Dubrick, a first-generation farmer, worked at a local crop insurance agency for two years as he was starting up his small operation. He wanted the same federally subsidized safety net for his grapes, raspberries, asparagus and tomatoes that he was easily selling to row crop farmers. But the bureaucracy was insurmountable.
Read Part One of this series:
In the closing hours of the Illinois General Assembly's spring session, Senate President Don Harmon tried to pass legislation that would have wiped clean a potential multimillion-dollar fine against his political campaign committee for violating election finance laws he championed years ago.
Harmon's move came against the backdrop of the former Illinois House speaker's upcoming sentencing for corruption and abuse of power and almost instantly created a bipartisan legislative controversy that resulted in the bill never getting called for a vote.
The Oak Park Democrat's maneuver, characterized by critics as 'brazen' and self-serving, also raises anew questions about how seriously political leaders are trying to improve ethical standards in a state government the electorate already holds in low regard.
The Trump administration's freezing in April of $790 million in federal research funding for Northwestern University has left concerned lab directors without key grants from the National Institutes of Health and forced the university to spend millions to keep vital research afloat and to continue to pay graduate workers and scientists.
The emails were dashed off, with the agitated posts on social media garnering hundreds of likes. Protests were promised. Supporters mobilized.
But by the time the drag storytime event for children at the Beverly branch library rolled around last week, the scene looked more like a dance party for families than a volatile clash.
The Chicago Sky will have to unravel a 2-5 start to the season without their floor general.
Guard Courtney Vandersloot sustained a torn right ACL in Saturday's game against the Indiana Fever at the United Center and will miss the rest of the 2025 WNBA season, the team announced Sunday. Vandersloot will undergo surgery this week after an MRI on Saturday revealed the tear.
As the Bears push to become more competitive this season, Tribune writers Brad Biggs, Sean Hammond and Dan Wiederer weigh in on four key topics.
There is a roughly 8-mile section of Route 66 at the western edge of this state that is considered to be one of the most scenic and white-knuckled drives this country has to offer.
It's known as the Arizona Sidewinder, or to locals, simply The Sidewinder.
'Purpose,' a drama by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins that was commissioned and first produced by Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre Company, has won the Tony Award for best play in an awards ceremony at Radio City Music Hall.
The win is a major victory for the famed Chicago company that last wowed New York theater with Tracy Letts' 'August: Osage County' in 2008. Actress Kara Young, who joined the Chicago cast of 'Purpose' for the Broadway production, also won a Tony for best featured actress in a play.
'42 Balloons' is a musical about the quixotic Vietnam veteran known as 'Lawnchair Larry' Walters, who took to the air in 1982 above Southern California while seated in a lawn chair lifted by more than 40 helium-filled weather balloons. Walters reached as high as 16,000 feet, which meant he entered the sights of commercial pilots in airspace controlled by the Los Angeles International Airport. He came down by popping his balloons with a BB gun, a metaphor waiting to happen.
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