Despite the drops in shootings and homicides, the number of robberies (11,051) and motor vehicle thefts (29,287) reported in 2023, both jumped significantly, with increases of 23% and 37%, respectively. The number of thefts, aggravated batteries and criminal sexual assaults also increased last year.

The activists applied for a permit Tuesday morning to march outside the United Center and McCormick Place during the Democratic National Convention. The coalition includes groups like Chicago for Abortion Rights, Stop Trans Genocide, Gay Liberation Network, Reproductive Transparency Now! and more who say that, for years, Democrats have taken voters who care about reproductive and LGBTQ+ rights for granted.

Among the top stories to watch is Gov. JB Pritzker’s Prowess: With the billionaire’s new Think Big America PAC, big-dollar donations from in and outside Illinois, profiles in The New Yorker, mentions on national lists as a would-be future White House contender and the unofficial host of the DNC, 2024 could be a make-or-break year for Pritzker’s political future. Maybe he won’t wait to make a move until ’28 –should Biden win reelection, might Pritzker leave Illinois for a possible position in Washington.

In all, just two of the 21 tickets Mayor Brandon Johnson’s vehicles have amassed have been paid. State Rep. Blaine Wilhour hopes voters are keeping count. “Unfortunately a lot of times they don’t. This is the kind of stuff you’re going to continue to see until voters and citizens step up and say ‘enough is enough.’”

For the last few years, Local School Councils have had the power to vote whether to keep police officers, known as school resource officers, in their schools. But now, CPS officials have told principals that school board members – who will vote this summer on renewing the $10.3 million police contract – don’t support having police officers in schools.

Woodstock’s proposed ordinance would require transportation companies to fill out an application with the city before dropping off large groups of people. Companies must also state who would be responsible for taking care of the group. Violators could face a $10,000 fine, plus a $750 fine for each passenger.

Mayor Brandon Johnson’s first budget includes no new taxes, fees or service cuts, which ensured it passed in November with the overwhelming support of the Chicago City Council. But eliminating a $538 million shortfall while carving out enough to make new investments in mental health services and environmental justice may have been the easy part. The city’s 2024 spending plan sets aside just $150 million to house, feed and care for the men, women and children sent to Chicago from the southern border — less than half of what city officials expected to spend in 2023.

Jackson Potter, vice president of the Chicago Teachers Union, and Crystal Gardner, of United Working Families: “Pitting schools against one another with an enrollment system that ranks and sorts students by test scores has created a more segregated and unequal school district. As graduates of Whitney Young Magnet High School, we can attest to the promise and peril of an approach that produces clear winners and losers. For far too long, our schools have run families through a ‘Hunger Games’ style obstacle course of feast or famine.”

Texas Rep. Chip Roy replied to Mayor Brandon Johnson on X, writing, “You need @JoeBiden’s phone number? I am sure one of your Democrat U.S. Senators or Congress-critters has it.” And political strategist Logan Dobson wrote, “You received exactly as much communication and warning of their arrival as Texas did. If you have a problem, take it up with the federal government, headed by the president of your party.”

Mayors Brandon Johnson of Chicago and Mike Johnston of Denver, who have pushed the Biden administration for more help in dealing with the influx of migrants, discuss how immigration is affecting their communities.”This is certainly not just a matter of our national security, but it’s the type of chaos that this governor (Greg Abbott, of Texas) is committed to administering,” Johnson said.