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Happy Friday. Here’s what you need to know from WTTW News on the upcoming primary election, a new study on CPD’s use of force and yes, dinosaurs.
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WTTW News 2026 Voter Guide to the primary election.
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WTTW News’ Voter Guide is your one-stop shop for everything you need to know before voting in the 2026 primary election. You’ll find candidate profiles that include detailed, issue-based questionnaires and an easy-to-navigate compilation of legal bar association ratings for the sometimes difficult-to-navigate judicial races.
Before you dive into the guide, here are some basic but still important facts to keep in mind. Election Day is Tuesday, March 17, and early voting began in Chicago last week. If you’re voting by mail, your ballot will need to be postmarked by Tuesday, March 17, to be counted. Note that beginning this year, the USPS instituted a new policy that says a postmark no longer reflects the date a piece of mail is received by the service, but when it is processed, which can be days after its reception.
Our Voter Toolbox is the place to go for information on how to vote early, where to vote and all the things you need to know about Election Day. We also pulled together the latest election and political coverage from our WTTW News team.
How did we put it together?
To assemble the guide, we reached out to all candidates with a set of questions we think will help inform voters and reveal where they stand on the issues that matter most to you. Where do congressional candidates stand on tax policy? What do potential senators think about foreign policy? We hope their answers help clarify your vote.
Our judicial guide (click here for Illinois Appellate Court, Cook County Circuit Court and Subcircuit judges) pulls together ratings from more than a dozen bar
associations in an easy-to-read format you can browse while in the voting booth.
Some races to watch:
U.S. Senate
After serving 14 years in the U.S. House of Representatives and 31 years in the U.S. Senate, Sen. Dick Durbin will not run for a sixth term, setting off a scramble for a rare open seat. Several Democratic and Republican candidates participated in our Voter Guide, including frontrunners like Juliana Stratton, Robin Kelly and Raja Krishnamoorthi.
U.S. House
Illinois has 17 congressional districts, which means there are 17 state-wide primaries to watch. Arguably, the most interesting race is Illinois’ 9th Congressional District, where longtime Rep. Jan Schakowsky’s decision to retire from Congress kick-started a massive multi-candidate primary. Evanston mayor Daniel Biss leads recent polling, but Illinois state Sen. Laura
Fine and journalist Kat Abughazaleh trail him.
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(WTTW News)
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Chicago police officers disproportionately used force against Black Chicagoans, even when considering that they are more likely to be arrested or suspected of committing a crime, according to the results of a court-ordered, first-of-its-kind study that examined four years of data.
CPD officers were also more likely to use force against Latino Chicagoans than White Chicagoans, according to the study. In addition, CPD officers used greater levels of force against both Black and Latino Chicagoans than White Chicagoans, according to the study.
The study, conducted by social scientists from the University of Texas at San Antonio and the University of Pennsylvania hired by CPD brass and crafted with the approval of a court-appointed monitoring team, blamed “systemic factors” for the disparity, not the actions of individual officers.
More context:
The study also found that the number of times CPD officers used force against Black and Latino Chicagoans “rose significantly toward the end of 2023,” according to the study, which did not attempt to determine the reason behind that increase.
A spokesperson for CPD said the department “continues to make significant strides in our consent decree compliance efforts. We know we have more work to do and will continue to build on the foundation we have set.”
CPD brass has taken no action in response to the study’s findings, according to the CPD court-appointed monitoring team charged with keeping track of efforts to comply with the federal court order, known as the consent decree, prompted by a 2017 probe that found officers routinely violated the constitutional rights of Black and Latino Chicagoans.
WTTW News is the first to report on the study, which was completed in March 2025 and is the first crafted by independent experts using scientifically valid methods to assess whether CPD is disproportionately using force against Black and Latino Chicagoans.
The report was provided to WTTW News by the coalition of police reform groups that forced the city to agree to federal court oversight, which obtained it through a Freedom of Information Act request.
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Paleontologist Paul Sereno marvels at the skull cast of the first dinosaur to be named from the Jenguebi fossil area in Niger, the spinosaurid Spinosaurus mirabilis. (Keith Ladzinski)
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Posing with a replica skull from a previously unknown dinosaur species, paleontologist Paul Sereno at the University of Chicago shows off what makes this one special. One of Sereno’s arms extends only partway along the skull’s snout, while his other hand grabs a nearly two-foot crest poking out from its top. His body is mostly hidden behind rows of interlocking teeth.
The unique size and shape of these bones from Spinosaurus mirabilis — the first Spinosaurus species discovered in over a century — gives important clues to the history of spinosaurids on Earth.
Like other spinosaurids, this new species stood tall on two legs and used muscular arms to grab prey. And, like another close Spinosaurus relative, teeth poked out of its mouth — interlocked like a crocodile. What sets this new species apart from other known spinosaurids is its crest, which rather than fanning out of its back, poked out of its head like a horn.
And from Niger’s Saharan to Chicago’s Fossil Lab and back again, the story of these ancient bones adds some perspective to our own brief stay on this planet.
After more analysis in the Fossil Lab, the bones will be sent back to Niger, which Sereno said is their “rightful stage.” There they will add to the growing collection at the Museum of the River in the nation’s capital.
Meanwhile, replicas will be on display at the Chicago Children’s Museum at Navy Pier beginning in March. Sereno highlighted the remarkably quick turnaround from publishing research in a peer-reviewed journal to sharing the findings with children.
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More From WTTW News:
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The Rev. Jesse Jackson will lie in state for two days next week before he is laid to rest following services at his Rainbow/PUSH Coalition headquarters in Chicago.
Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke announced sweeping changes that will allow her office to prosecute federal immigration agents in cases where felony charges are deemed appropriate, following widespread calls to hold those agents accountable for their alleged misconduct.
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Back in the Day: February 20, 1926 - Bob Richards, Two-Time Olympic Pole Vault Champion and First Athlete on a Wheaties Box, Born in Illinois
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Wheaties, the popular cereal brand that calls itself the “Breakfast of Champions,” began including athletes on its boxes in 1934, starting with baseball legend Lou Gehrig. For the first 24 years of the practice, the sports stars were featured only on the sides and back of the box. It wasn’t until 1958 that they decided to place athletes right on the front, kicking off the practice with two-time Olympic gold medalist pole vaulter Bob Richards, who was born on this day 100 years ago in Champaign, Illinois. Known as “The Vaulting Vicar,” Richards became an ordained minister with the Church of the Brethren, an Anabaptist denomination. After his athletic retirement, he took a
foray into far-right politics, running for president in 1984 under the Populist Party ticket and gaining just 66,000 votes. He’d later express support for the white supremacist American Freedom Party in 2010. He died in 2023 in Texas, six days after his 97th birthday.
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Other News From Around Town
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Every Friday, WTTW News highlights interesting stories about Chicago from the local and national press.
Chicago Police Officer ‘Inadvertently’ Fired Taser a Year Before Fatally Shooting His Partner — Chicago Sun Times
“The Chicago cop who city officials say unintentionally shot and killed his partner during a foot pursuit last summer had previously told his bosses that he ‘inadvertently’ fired his Taser after a high-speed car chase he failed to initially report a year earlier.
The car chase ended when the driver of a fleeing Jeep hit the train crossing at 89th Street so fast that it flew into the air and then crashed into six cars, according to records obtained by Illinois Answers Project and the Chicago Sun-Times. No one was seriously injured.
The crash and Officer Carlos Baker’s accidental firing of the Taser and failure to report the chase raise new questions about why he subsequently, in early 2025, was allowed to join a tactical team, a competitive position, in the Gresham District on the South Side.”
Warlord Chef’s Abuse Went Unchecked for Years, Women And Ex-Workers Say — Block Club Chicago
“The star chef and co-owner of Warlord has, for years, abused women, shared nude photos of romantic partners without their consent and created a toxic work environment by berating staff at the acclaimed restaurant, multiple former employees and women said.
Warlord, 3198 N. Milwaukee Ave., opened in 2023 and took the local culinary scene by storm, with lines out the door and critics touting it as one of Chicago’s best restaurants. At the center was Trevor Fleming, one of its three co-owners and chefs, who worked at Warlord’s trademark hearth and appeared in writeups about the restaurant. But beneath that surface, Fleming was regularly engaging in sexual relationships with his employees; and he regularly berated staff in public, multiple former employees and ex-partners told Block Club Chicago.”
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What is the most underrated Chicago food item?
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Email DailyChicagoan@wttw.com with your responses and your answers might be published. Here's what you had to
say:
“The always-mostly-frozen chocolate eclairs from Jewel. Ridiculously thick chocolate frosting outside, custardy crystals on the inside. Especially when they are BOGO for the package of three.” — @laurainaurora.bsky.social
“Saganaki or the Gym Shoe” — @Jackrsalzman
“Chicken Vesuvio” — @SBuckley0725
“Pepper & Egg sandwich” — Maria B.
"Giardiniera..because it pairs well with any savory dish." — @trebbz24
“Pizza puff.” — @TheZChrist
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Newsletter Producer: Josh Terry
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