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Happy Friday. Before you enjoy all the weekend has to offer, read up on the latest stories affecting your city from WTTW News. |
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Downtown Aurora is pictured in a file photo. (Denis Tangney Jr. / iStock) |
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Some homeowners are searching for answers as they grapple with hefty — and late — property tax bills. A new report from the Cook County Treasurer’s Office said declining values for downtown commercial properties are shifting the tax burden onto homeowners.
Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi, who is running for reelection, argues the property tax system favors corporations. He has said he’s working to change it.
Kaegi’s office assesses the value of nearly 2 million parcels in Cook County. When property owners think their bill is too high, they can file appeals with the Board of Review, which reviews valuations.
The median homeowner’s bill increased by a record-setting 16.7%, the treasurer’s study found. Some South and West Side residents have seen their tax bill go up significantly. The treasurer’s report said that this year, property taxes for homeowners went up by 133% in West Garfield Park and 99% in North Lawndale. That’s compared to a near 6% increase in more affluent Lincoln Park.
Kaegi joined WTTW News’ “Chicago Tonight” to discuss the property tax system and the study.
On property tax increases:
“When you look at Austin, when you look at Garfield Park, when you look at North Lawndale, people have a lot of pride in their neighborhood, and they have taken care of it,” Kaegi said. “They’re now getting a return on their investment. So the last three years on the South and West Side, there’s been more wealth creation in the growth of values in people’s homes than over the last 20 years. So that’s good news. Of course, it’s hard when people’s bills go up.”
On commercial property taxes:
“Everyone needs to be paying their fair share,” Kaegi said. “But when we’re seeing big cuts on commercial properties, on big industrial properties, commercial properties, corporate properties, and it’s pushed onto the homeowner, when past studies have shown that these cuts have been excessive, that is what I find extremely concerning, and that’s what I’m fighting against.”
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Leighton Criminal Court Building (Michael Izquierdo / WTTW News) |
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A Mauritanian man is set to testify Monday about the torture he says he suffered at the hands of a former Chicago police detective while being held at Guantánamo Bay as a Cook County judge weighs whether to overturn the conviction in one of the most notorious murders in Chicago history.
Mohamedou Ould Slahi was held for 14 years, without charge or trial, in the U.S. detention camp at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, while federal officials probed whether he had belonged to or provided support for al-Qaida, the terror network responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks.
Slahi was released in 2016 and returned to Mauritania. Slahi is scheduled to appear virtually to testify about the abuse he says he suffered at the direction of former Chicago Police Detective Richard Zuley, a member of the U.S. Naval Reserve who was sent to Guantánamo after the terror attacks.
Some backstory:
Circuit Court Judge Adrienne Davis is weighing whether to overturn the conviction of Anthony Garrett in connection with the murder of 7-year-old Dantrell Davis, who was shot and killed by a sniper at Cabrini-Green in 1992 as he and his mother walked to school.
Dantrell’s killing outraged the city and became a symbol of the gang violence plaguing Chicago and the city’s notorious public housing. In 1992, 936 people were killed in Chicago, setting a record that still stands. By comparison, 378 people have been killed so far this year in Chicago.
Zuley testified during Garrett’s 1994 trial that he confessed to accidentally shooting the boy while firing at rival gang members from the 10th floor of a high-rise apartment building. While the former detective has denied coercing Garrett’s confession, “there is strong reason to distrust Detective Zuley’s accounts of what transpired in light of his incontrovertible pattern and practice history of allegations of torture,” the Illinois Torture and Relief Commission concluded. |
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Protesters gather outside an ICE processing facility in Broadview, Ill. a suburb of Chicago, Friday, Oct. 24, 2025. (AP Photo / Nam Y. Huh) |
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Hundreds of people arrested and detained during the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration crackdown will not immediately be released, an appeals court ruled Thursday.
U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Cummings had ordered the release of as many as 615 people based on a 2022 consent decree outlining how U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement can make so-called warrantless arrests.
However, the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals declined to issue the longer-term stay sought by the Trump administration and ordered arguments to take place at 1 p.m. Dec. 2.
Less than 3% of the people Cummings had ordered released had criminal records, court records show, even as Trump administration officials have promised to target the “worst of the worst,” including those convicted of violent crimes.
Federal officials determined that 57 people have been deemed a safety risk, 75 have been deported and 33 have already been released, leaving 442 people set to be released, Cummings said.
What else happened?
Federal prosecutors are dismissed criminal charges against Marimar Martinez, who was charged with assaulting federal immigration agents, one of whom shot her multiple times during a vehicle incident in Brighton Park last month.
In a one-page motion filed Thursday, assistant U.S. attorneys Ronald DeWald and Aaron Bond said they “respectfully (move) this Court to dismiss the indictment” against Martinez and another man, Anthony Ian Santos Ruiz, who were each charged in October following the shooting at 39th Street and Kedzie.
Since then, texts from the Border Patrol agent who fired at Martinez revealed he apparently bragged about the shooting to others, stating in one message that he’d “fired 5 rounds and she had 7 holes. Put that in your book boys.”
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Lawrence Reed, 50, was charged in a federal complaint with a terrorist attack on a mass transportation system, two days after he allegedly doused a woman with gasoline and ignited a blaze on board a CTA train. The charge carries with it a possible life sentence.
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Back in the Day: Nov. 21, 1875 - Holy Name Cathedral Dedicated
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The Near North Side has undergone drastic change over the last 150 years but Holy Name Cathedral, a gothic revival Catholic Church, has been its one constant. On Nov. 21, 1875, the building was dedicated. The site at 735 N. State St., where it stands today, was previously home to the Cathedral of Saint Mary and the Church of the Holy Name, which were destroyed in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. As Holy Name Cathedral celebrates its 150th birthday today, it’s still the home of the episcopal seat of the Archbishop of Chicago, Cardinal Blase J. Cupich. While it’s an old, historic building, it’s not the oldest standing Catholic church in the city, that’s Old St. Patrick's Church at 700 W. Adams St., which was built in 1854 — one of the few local structures predating the 1871 fire.
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What's your favorite Thanksgiving dessert? Tell us where you can get it in Chicago.
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Email DailyChicagoan@wttw.com with your responses and your answers might be published. Here's what you had to say:
“Bakers Square French Silk Pie - I believe all the restaurants have closed but you can find them at Jewel now!! — Laurey T., Wilmette
“Anything from Justice of the Pies!” — @psychrat
“Sweet potato pie from MacArthur's Restaurant in Austin!" — @soyshelby
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5:30 PM | 11:30 PM |
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Newsletter Producer: Josh Terry |
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