The Rundown | Chicago News

Illinois has faced a decades-long pension funding crisis, and Governor JB Pritzker yesterday announced a plan to fix it. The Black Excellence Revue from Second City is back for its fourth year with the show “Black and Highly Flavored.” It’s the first-ever Wetlands Week at Shedd Aquarium. Plus, some Northwestern students and faculty are questioning administrators after a symbol known to represent opposition to equal rights for women and minority communities appeared on campus.

Metropolitan Capital Bank & Trust in Chicago’s River North is the first bank in the nation to go under in 2026. Illinois Governor JB Pritzker has pumped $5 million into a super PAC supporting Lieutenant Governor Juliana Stratton’s bid for U.S. Senate. A theatrical production based on marching band traditions in historically Black colleges and universities kicked off its tour in Chicago. Plus, the Obama Presidential Center will feature a museum and library when it opens in June. Chef Cliff Rome is shaping the vision for dining at the complex.

Martin Luther King moved to Chicago’s North Lawndale neighborhood in January 1966 to fight against racist real estate practices in the city, and others continue his work today. Some small business owners across the Chicago area closed up shop today as part of a general strike to protest immigration enforcement across the country. Forty years ago this week, the space shuttle Challenger exploded just after liftoff. One of the seven crewmembers onboard was Christa McAuliffe, and WBEZ’s Jim Nayder spoke with McAuliffe in 1985, not long before the Challenger disaster. Plus, a new essay collection visits the places that shape Midwestern literature. “Lingering Inland: A Literary Tour of the Midwest” features prose about the neighborhoods and spots that inspired regional writers.

A former downstate cop has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for murdering an unarmed Black woman in her Springfield-area home. Sean Grayson, who is white, fatally shot Sonya Massey in 2024. The Chicago City Council recently passed an ordinance to ban the sale of some hemp-derived products. Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias announced a campaign to address the dangers of some micromobility vehicles, such as electric bikes and scooters. Plus, the International Puppet Theater Festival descends upon Chicago every January. This year, the Chicago group Manual Cinema is putting on its production “The Fourth Witch,” which puts a twist on Macbeth.

The group National Nurses United is hosting a candlelight vigil and a rally in Chicago in honor of Alex Pretti, who was shot and killed by federal agents over the weekend in Minneapolis. Pretti was also a nurse at a VA hospital. The state of Illinois is teaming up with a Chicago-based charity to operate the first statewide abortion fund. Second-term Chicago Alderperson Byron Sigcho-Lopez is seeking a spot on the fall ballot for the 4th Congressional District. Plus, In a west suburban school district, an administrator heard that two of her former students were collateral victims of President Donald Trump’s Chicago-area deportation drive. So, she tried to help.

Elected officials in Minneapolis are warning Chicagoans they should be ready for increased violence and surveillance tactics by federal agents if the city sees another deportation blitz. Chicago's 2026 festival and event lineup is out now, with events starting in May with the Maxwell Street Market and continuing through the end of the year. Bulls forward Matas Buzelis has again been chosen as an NBA Rising Star. Plus, three Democrats vying to become Illinois’ next U.S. senator shared a stage in Chicago Monday night. It was the first face-to-face debate between U.S. Reps. Robin Kelly, Raja Krishnamoorthi, and Lieutenant Governor Juliana Stratton.

The Chicago law firm representing Renee Nicole Good's family has released a statement on the killing of another Minneapolis resident by federal immigration agents over the weekend. Three frontrunners in the Democratic primary election for retiring U.S. Senator Dick Durbin’s seat are sharing a debate stage Monday night at the University of Chicago’s International House. Many of Chicago’s top chefs and restaurateurs gathered Sunday night for the annual Banchet Awards. Plus, 40 years ago today, the Chicago Bears won their first and only Super Bowl, permanently cementing the legacy of the ’85 Bears.

A federal judge ruled Friday that President Donald Trump’s administration must keep federal funds flowing to child care subsidies and other social service programs in Illinois and four other Democratic-controlled states. The Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights is calling for ICE to end its operations everywhere. The Chicago shelter Harmony House for Cats is hosting its first tuxedo cat soirée Friday night at Burning Bush Brewery in the city’s North Center neighborhood. Plus, a federal jury called Juan Espinoza Martinez “not guilty” on Thursday. Espinoza Martinez was accused of offering $10,000 for the murder of U.S. Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino in one of the most contentious cases tied to “Operation Midway Blitz.”

The Illinois Department of Human Rights has filed a housing discrimination charge and is investigating the landlord of the South Shore apartment building raided last year by immigration agents. An extreme cold warning will go into effect Thursday night for the Chicago area, with windchills expected to reach 35 degrees below zero in the early morning hours on Friday. The Chicago Public Library announced the grand opening of Legler Regional Library’s food pantry. Plus, how Operation Midway Blitz has interrupted the plans for one Chicago couple who got arrested and detained last October — just 8 days after getting married.

Federal prosecutors have rested their case against Juan Espinoza Martinez, the Chicago man accused of offering $10,000 for the murder of U.S. Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino. Cook County officials worry more people will get sick as they’re pushed out of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program with eligibility requirements changing on February 1st. Chicago is preparing to host UNESCO’s International Jazz Day in April. Plus, more than 170,000 Illinois residents are behind on their student loan payments. People are at risk of having their wages garnished now that the Trump administration plans to restart collections on federal loans in default.

A new report explores what’s behind ongoing enrollment decreases in Chicago Public Schools. U.S. Senator Dick Durbin is denouncing President Trump’s threats to annex Greenland and throwing support to Danish sovereignty. Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul says his office has filed more than 50 lawsuits and more than 100 amicus briefs during the first year of President Trump’s second term. Plus, in January of 1966, Martin Luther King Jr. moved into an apartment in Chicago’s North Lawndale neighborhood with his family. Sixty years later, local playwright Willie Round has written about this pivotal time in King’s fight for fair housing, education and employment in his new play “Lawndale King.”

Illinois Governor JB Pritzker has changed his tune on who needs to pay off the remaining debt from the Soldier Field renovation 23 years ago. Former Vice President Kamala Harris spoke at the 40th Annual Interfaith Breakfast in Chicago. Divisions emerged over Gaza in the race for Illinois’ 9th Congressional District. Plus, the Chicago Bears are entering the second round of the playoffs, and fans aren’t leaving anything to chance. During last weekend’s matchup against the Green Bay Packers, fans shared their superstitions and game-day rituals they rely on.

Child care workers rallied outside the Trump Tower in Chicago’s River North neighborhood to condemn the federal funding freeze for child care programs. The final day to enroll in a federal Affordable Care Act health insurance plan is January 15, but the Illinois state-run marketplace has extended its deadline to the end of the month. Chicago is unveiling a first-of-its-kind support center on the South Side for women returning from incarceration. Plus, the Trump administration is using a legal shortcut to make it easier to cut down trees in national forests. Illinois’ Shawnee National Forest, the state’s only national forest, is an early battleground against the increasingly popular tactic to fast track timber sales across the country.

The Supreme Court is allowing a downstate Republican Congressman to sue Illinois for the way it counts mail-in ballots. The U.S. House has passed a spending package to cut $125 million from lead pipe replacement funding. The city of Chicago is set to pay nearly $1 million to settle another police misconduct lawsuit stemming from 2020 protests against the police murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Plus, a new exhibit at the Chicago History Museum documents a long tradition of resistance in Chicago's Latino communities. The exhibit is called Aqui en Chicago, and it’s the result of a protest organized by local high school students six years ago.

Illinois Governor JB Pritzker says he’s been in meetings with Bears leadership recently about the possibility of keeping the Bears in Illinois as the team mulls a move to Northwest Indiana. Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson says a teen curfew ordinance set for a vote next week is more “thoughtful” than the one he vetoed last year. The National Weather Service says an extended system of wintry weather could result in several back-to-back opportunities for snowfall. Plus, 2026 will bring several big names to Chicago stages. And while Chicago always has a constant hum of performances, there are some big tickets on the horizon.

The state of Illinois has extended the open enrollment deadline for people who buy health insurance through the state-run marketplace to January 31st. Independent bookstore owners in Chicago are sounding the alarm as chain bookseller Barnes & Noble brings its nationwide expansion to the city. Some owners say it’s taking business away from smaller bookstores. A federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to restore nearly $12 million in funding to the Itasca-based American Academy of Pediatrics. Plus, Soldier Field was in a frenzy Saturday night after the Chicago Bears’ comeback NFC Wild Card win over the Green Bay Packers. Before the game, we caught up with a Bears superfan who’s known as Bear Man.

Illinois could lose $1 billion in federal funding for childcare and other social services, and Attorney General Kwame Raoul is in court with four other Democratic-led states trying to fight the latest funding freeze. Last November, the Trump administration released pending guidance for the Clean Water Act, and the EPA’s impact analysis found that more than 80% of the country’s wetlands would no longer be protected. The Chicago Bears will kick off their NFL post season on Saturday against the Green Bay Packers. Plus, Wednesday's shooting of an unarmed Minneapolis woman by an immigration enforcement agent is reverberating across the country. The shooting resembles two shootings during the Chicago area’s deportation campaign this past fall.

Illinois U.S. Representative Robin Kelly has announced she intends to file articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent fatally shot a woman Wednesday in Minneapolis. Kelly alleges Noem has turned ICE into a rogue force that violates the constitution and tears families apart. A Cook County father is suing Roblox, accusing the popular gaming platform of failing to protect his 9-year-old son from sexual exploitation. Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love says he’s ready to face the Chicago Bears this Saturday after three weeks away to recover from a concussion. Plus, the Carl Sandburg poem “Chicago” has been a beloved local anthem for more than a century, but the poem is making the rounds again after a federal judge read it aloud in a court ruling amid the Trump administration’s deportation campaign in the city.

Mayor Brandon Johnson touted figures that show in 2025, fatal shootings were at the lowest level since 1965. Shooting incidents actually dropped by 34 percent from the previous year. For the second year in a row, Chicago Public Schools’ watchdog found a high-profile basketball team fielded players that were fraudulently enrolled in the school. Retiring U.S. Representative Jan Schakowsky is endorsing a candidate in the wide-open primary campaign to nominate a potential successor. Plus, a large mural hung above the main bar for decades at the now-shuttered Berlin nightclub in the Lakeview neighborhood on Chicago's North Side. The artist reflects on the story of how the mural came to be.

Workers at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago’s Streeterville neighborhood are demanding safer practices in providing emergency care. SEIU Healthcare Illinois says workers are unhappy that the hospital understaffs its emergency rooms, resulting in high wait times for patients with urgent needs. The Chicago Bears look to snatch their first playoff win in 15 years when they face the Green Bay Packers on Saturday. The Grant Park Music Festival announced its season lineup, which has a strong focus on American composers. Plus, New Year's resolutions are in full swing, and many people have committed to Dry January or year-round sobriety. A 2024 Gallup survey shows alcohol consumption is at its lowest point in almost 90 years in the U.S., and it’s leading to a boom in the non-alcoholic drink industry.