“We saw armed, masked men walk down our streets in broad daylight, and they kidnapped mothers and fathers,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said of the federal agents. “We saw them brutalize protesters and shove crying grandmothers into the back of unmarked vans.”

Justin Ishbia founded and manages Shore Capital Partners, a Chicago-based private equity firm. His current net worth is $5.1 billion, according to Forbes Magazine. In 2023, Justin and brother Mat purchased a majority stake in the NBA’s Phoenix Suns and the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury in 2023, giving them experience in operating major sports franchises.

“Let’s be clear, the Chicago police followed the law,” Gov. JB Pritzker said. “When ICE is engaged in raids like this, if there is a situation where there is a court ordered warrant for someone’s arrest, then it is absolutely appropriate for police to be engaged. … and I have to say they overstep constantly, one time after another at the federal level — and they need to make sure they’re following the law just like we do.”

Among them, Naperville officials said the state’s move to eliminate the grocery tax would leave the city with a potential $6.1 million budget hole. The Naperville Area Chamber of Commerce presented three options on its website earlier this week: re-enacting the grocery tax, raising the home rule sales tax by 0.25 percent, or reducing programs and services, which “could include staff layoffs.”

“In a city such as Chicago, where most students are Black or Latino, charter schools offer one of the few alternatives to often failing and under-enrolled neighborhood schools. … For over a decade, the CTU has worked to destabilize, defund and ultimately eliminate charter schools in Chicago. That campaign can only be described as discriminatory.”

“The setbacks show a first-term mayor struggling to build political coalitions, and a Chicago City Council disinclined to rubber stamp his ideas. The pastor’s son and former social studies teacher, who quotes scripture and pitches himself as a champion of working people, has few easy choices to keep up with Chicago’s long habit of costs overrunning revenue.”

It’s been a while since late-night burglars have freely roamed stores along the Magnificent Mile and Oak Street. But one group of thieves sprang into action early on Thursday. Their target was Alo, a yoga store where crew socks cost $32 a pair and a “performance” baseball hat will set you back $68.

Days before the election, candidate Ebony Lucas penned a letter in the Hyde Park Herald blasting Robinson for attempting to suppress votes by claiming she’d racked up debts, code violations and city fines. She also accused the former state representative of hypocrisy for co-sponsoring a “Truth In Politics” bill.

Hundreds of students in the Chicago area are not sure where to turn after the federal government pulled funding for their trade school, which is now closing at the end of the month. Students at the Paul Simon Chicago Job Corps Center were seen packing their bags and moving out of their student housing Wednesday afternoon. But it was not because of summer vacation.

An internal Cook County Sheriff’s report states that since December, the number of people ordered detained for all charges has increased by 47 percent through the end of March, compared to the month before Burke took office. The report found pre-trial detentions for domestic battery have increased by more than 80 percent.

In total, the county plans to spend $9 million it has received from the federal government to help recover from the COVID-19 pandemic to erase up to $1 billion in medical debt for county residents. That money must be spent by the end of 2026, and the county has spent about two-thirds so far, said Matt Richards, Cook County deputy chief of staff for health.

Tensions escalated outside the office building as agents led detainees out to vans. Most agents wore face coverings and some carried long guns. They were seen pushing back some of the alderpeople and residents who assembled to protest, and Ald. Anthony Quezada later said he was aggressively pushed to the ground by agents.

According to the feds, enforcement in those areas will focus on the investigation and prosecution of offenses including illegal firearm possession, drug trafficking, robberies, carjackings and other violent crimes.

In Joliet Monday, 13-year-old Manuel Mejia Perez was shot and killed in an alley. The Will County State’s Attorney’s office charged a 15-year-old boy with three counts of first-degree murder and one count of unlawful possession of a weapon. And in Matteson Tuesday, a 13-year-old boy is accused of shooting and wounding a 15-year-old boy outside the Matteson Community Center. “And that’s why I want to fix the problem,” said U.S. Rep. Jonathan Jackson. “A 13-year-old cannot go into a gun shop.”

“It’s hard to claim you’re standing with working families while taxing their daily bread.”