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It’s already Thursday. If you feel like this week has flown by, take a moment to catch your breath with these stories from WTTW News.
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Protesters gather in downtown Chicago for a “No Kings” protest on June 14, 2025. (Michael Izquierdo / WTTW News)
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Since August 2024, Chicago police leaders have rarely missed an opportunity to highlight what they see as officers’ skillful handling of the days of sustained protests that swirled around the Democratic National Convention.
Not only had the Chicago Police Department exorcised the ghosts of the police riot that tarnished the 1968 DNC, but officers also banished the shadow cast by the department’s botched handling of the protests and unrest triggered by the police murder of George Floyd in 2020, police leaders in November told the judge overseeing the federal court order requiring officers to stop routinely violating Black and Latino residents’ constitutional rights.
In recent months, CPD officers have also policed without serious incident dozens of protests of all sizes against President Donald Trump and the aggressive immigration raids his administration launched as part of the largest mass deportation effort in U.S. history. Next up is Saturday’s “No Kings” protest, with tens of thousands expected to gather downtown to rally against the Trump administration’s policies.
The policy responsible for that series of successes was crafted after tense negotiations with the coalition of police reform groups that sued the city and forced officials to agree to the consent decree, the federal court order requiring CPD to change the way it trains, supervises and disciplines officers.
There’s no doubt that policy created a “better environment” for all Chicagoans to express their First Amendment rights, said Ed Yohnka, communications director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois.
“Things are never going to be perfect, but they are better,” Yohnka said.
More context:
The city’s inspector general concluded that CPD botched nearly every aspect of its response to the protests and unrest triggered by Floyd’s May 25, 2020, murder.
To ensure that conduct was not repeated, the independent monitoring team charged with enforcing the consent decree ordered CPD to undertake “immediate, deliberate, and transparent efforts” to “protect First Amendment speech while reducing the use of force and violence toward people and property.”
The consent decree expanded to include new rules governing how CPD prepared for and responded to large protests and civil unrest to requirements that officers’ body-worn cameras be reviewed after incidents.
In response, CPD adopted a new First Amendment Rights policy, which prohibited officers from arresting those engaged in protests for “minor or petty offenses … or for actions that pose no immediate threat to the safety of the community, or others, or of causing property damage.”
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Sponsor Message
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Make your plans to celebrate this April with the Poetry Foundation, offering a full roster of FREE public programs, including:
- a poetry reading with Chicago’s own National Book Award winner Patricia Smith;
- a live performance by chamber music collective D+Composed;
- a library packed with more than 40,000 books of poetry for readers of all ages.
Visiting Hours: Wednesday, Friday, Saturday 11 AM–5 PM; Thursday 11 AM–6 PM
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The Illinois State Capitol is pictured on Feb. 17, 2026. (Nick Blumberg / WTTW News)
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For those incarcerated in Illinois jails awaiting trial, whether or not they earn credit that gives them time off their prison sentence can sometimes come down to a judge’s interpretation of a single word.
Currently, it’s a toss-up how judges interpret a line in an Illinois state statute that states any “prisoner” engaged in certain programming, like substance abuse or educational classes, can earn time off their sentence via sentence credit.
Some judges understand the word “prisoner” to mean all incarcerated people, both those serving a sentence in prison or pretrial in jail, are eligible to earn credit. Others take the phrase literally, and do not think those who are not actually in prison are eligible to earn credit after a program’s completion.
A pair of Illinois bills seeks to clarify the language in that statute, aiming to ensure that after program completion, judges can issue sentence credit, whether it was completed in a state prison or a county jail.
Some backstory:
The bill, introduced by state Sen. Laura Ellman (D-Naperville), passed out of the Senate’s Criminal Law Committee earlier in March. The companion bill introduced by state Rep. Norma Hernandez (D-Melrose Park) passed out of the House Judiciary’s Criminal Committee on Tuesday. Ellman said she had never introduced any criminal justice-related bills before, but became concerned with the issue after visits to Stateville Correctional Center and other facilities.
“I’ve seen how programs, classroom settings can really have an impact on people who are incarcerated,” Ellman said. “Incentivizing people to do this using credits to their sentence is a win-win.”
The bill specifically adds language beyond “prisoner,” and states that any “inmate who was held in pretrial detention prior to his or her confinement to the Department of Corrections” who had completed programming should receive those credits from a judge.
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Mayor Brandon Johnson on March 25, 2026, vetoes an ordinance that would reverse a 2023 City Council vote to phase out the tipped minimum wage. (Heather Cherone / WTTW News)
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Mayor Brandon Johnson on Wednesday vetoed an ordinance that would reverse a 2023 City Council vote to phase out the tipped minimum wage, keeping one of his major legislative accomplishments intact — for now.
The Chicago City Council voted 30-18 on March 18 to scuttle a plan approved nearly two and half years ago that gave restaurants until July 1, 2028, to prepare for the end of the tipped minimum wage, while giving servers and other workers who earn gratuities 8% raises annually on July 1.
All Chicago businesses should be required to pay their workers the same minimum hourly wage, regardless of whether they also earn tips, Johnson said before vetoing the measure at Let’s Eat to Live in Woodlawn.
What else to know:
It will take 34 votes for the City Council to override Johnson’s veto, the third he has issued in less than a year. That effort is expected to take place on April 15.
The proposal would freeze the subminimum wage at 24% of the city’s $16.60 per hour minimum wage. Supporters of that freeze said it was a mistake for Chicago to join Alaska, California, Guam, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, Oregon and Washington. In June, Washington, D.C., leaders put their efforts to phase out the minimum wage on ice.
Tipped workers must now be paid $12.62 per hour by their employers, assuming tips account for at least another $3.98 per hour. The 2023 vote was a major victory for Johnson, who vowed to end the tipped minimum wage during his campaign for mayor.
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More From WTTW News:
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Back in the Day: March 26, 2006 - Roberts Temple Church of God Declared Chicago Landmark
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On this day 20 years ago, Roberts Temple Church of God, the South Side parish that hosted Emmett Till’s open casket funeral on Sept. 2, 1955, was designated as a city of Chicago landmark. First founded in 1916 by Church of God in Christ Bishop William Roberts, the church moved a few times around the South Side before ending up at its present Grand Boulevard site at 4021 S. State St. in 1923. The funeral for Till, whose death was the result of a racially motivated killing in Jim Crow Mississippi, drew thousands of mourners and national attention to the congregation. It became a designated national monument in 2023.
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This Week’s Arts and Culture Events
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Every Thursday, WTTW News newsletter producer Josh Terry highlights his picks for the week’s must-see cultural events.
I tend to associate March with sports. There’s the month’s titular men’s and women’s college basketball “Madness,” of course, but Major League Baseball begins its new season today, too. And don’t forget Major League Soccer, NWSL, the NBA, the NHL and all the major tennis tours being in full swing as well. While there are few things more fun than taking in individual and team-based athletic accomplishments, your month can’t just be sitting behind a TV screen spectating. You should diversify your schedule with enriching cultural events, like these four things happening in the Chicago area soon.
Film: “Trading Faces: ‘FACE/OFF’ with Michelle Rinard and Dr. David Morris” — Gene Siskel Film Center
“Face/Off” was a 1997 John Woo-directed action film where an FBI agent (John Travolta) swaps faces with a terrorist (Nicolas Cage) in order to stop another major crime. On its face, it’s an outlandish premise, but the Gene Siskel Film Center’s latest installment in its Science on Screen series asks, “How wild is it, really?” At 6 p.m. Friday, the theater will screen the film and host a Q&A discussion with Michelle Rinard, director and curator of the International Museum of Surgical Science, and plastic surgeon Dr. David Morris. They “will explain how plastic surgery, facial reconstruction, and even facial transplants aren’t new sciences, but something the medical community has been working on for decades.” Buy
tickets here. (FYI: The repeat screenings don’t feature the post-film interview).
Comedy: Margaret Cho — the Vic Theatre
Margaret Cho is an Emmy-nominated stand-up comedian and actress who you might recognize from "All-American Girl," "30 Rock" and "Fire Island." Her decades-long career has had one constant and that’s Cho being consistently funny, blending searing social commentary with incisive introspection and yes, some crude humor, too. On Saturday at 7:30 p.m. she makes a stop in Lakeview on her “CHOLIGARCHY” tour. Buy tickets here.
Art: Lauren Lee McCarthy Lecture — Art Institute of Chicago
On Tuesday, March 31, at 6 p.m., the Art Institute of Chicago is hosting a lecture and Q&A with Lauren Lee McCarthy, an artist focused on “examining social relationships in the midst of surveillance, automation and algorithmic living.” The talk is free and open to the public. Registration isn’t required, but you can click here for more details.
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What’s your favorite museum in the Chicago area? Tell us
why.
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Email DailyChicagoan@wttw.com with your responses and your answers might be published.
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Newsletter Producer: Josh Terry
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