It’s Friday. Congrats on making it through a busy news week. Enjoy the warmer temperatures today and read these stories from WTTW News.
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
Darren Bailey appears on “Chicago Tonight” on March 19, 2026. (WTTW News)
|
Illinois is gearing up for a rematch.
Former state legislator Darren Bailey won the Republican nomination for governor on Tuesday, meaning he will face incumbent Gov. JB Pritzker in the November general election.
Pritzker beat out Bailey for the governor’s mansion in 2022 by more than 500,000 votes. But the longtime Illinois Republican said things this time around could be different.
“I’m a different person,” Bailey said. “Seven months ago, we didn’t have this on the radar to run. We felt called to it and thought that we had learned enough over the last four years that we could make a difference.”
Bailey has made affordability a central tenet of his campaign, criticizing Pritzker for raising taxes multiple times as governor. Pritzker’s FY2026 budget was the state’s largest ever at more than $55 billion, $700 million of which came from new taxes.
Pritzker, a billionaire, has maintained that the revenue is necessary to maintain programs Illinoisans rely on. But Bailey said the increasing size of the state budget has not actually solved any key problems.
More context:
“When I started running as a state representative, the budget in Illinois was $32 billion, and today it’s $55 billion,” Bailey said. “We just continually, any time there was a problem, whether it was education, mental health, just money. Hundreds of millions of dollars. Throw it at the problem, with no result, no resolve. We still have the same problems.”
Despite the new message, Bailey is expected to face strong headwinds in November, running in a midterm election cycle that typically favors the party outside the White House. Bailey, a former staunch supporter of President Donald Trump, has recently sought to distance himself from the administration, seemingly to broaden his appeal in areas such as Chicago.
In 2022, Bailey was criticized for referring to Chicago as a “hellhole.” Now he’s taking a different approach to the Windy City and its more than 1.5 million registered voters.
“I love Chicago,” Bailey said. “I want to work with Chicago. I want to help make it great. I want to work with every organization, every group of people that’s here. So Chicago, I’m sorry I said what I said, and I hope you open up your doors and your ears and give me another chance.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
(Michael Izquierdo / WTTW News)
|
Chicago lawyers appealed a ruling from a Cook County judge that ordered officials to delete millions of body-worn camera videos that have not been flagged for further review, records show.
After the city’s appeal, Cook County Circuit Court Judge Michael Mullen agreed to stay his order that gave the city until Monday to delete the estimated 14 million and 20 million body-worn camera videos in CPD’s system and stop storing videos older than 90 days that are not part of an active review, records show.
Lawyers for the city believe Mullen’s ruling is “legally incorrect,” according to a statement from the Chicago Department of Law
Destroying those videos will lead “to the permanent loss of evidence that may be essential for lawsuits and other challenges to police practices,” according to the statement.
Requiring the city to delete those videos could complicate efforts by a team appointed by a federal judge to assess the city’s compliance with the federal court order known as the consent decree, which requires CPD to overhaul the way it trains, supervises and disciplines officers while weakening “oversight by limiting the development of accurate, evidence‑based assessments of how policing is actually carried out,” according to the statement.
More context:
The city has never destroyed even a single video captured by a CPD officer’s body-worn camera, according to evidence presented to Mullen during the court case brought by the Fraternal Order of Police, Lodge 7.
Mullen ruled that state law required the city to delete body-worn camera footage that has not been flagged for further review after 90 days, citing the “clear language” of the Illinois Law Enforcement Officer – Body Worn Camera Act, which took effect in 2016.
Less than 1% of videos captured by officers’ body-worn cameras have been flagged for further review, according to court records.
Mullen ruled that it was illegal for the city to keep body-worn camera footage for longer than 90 days, since state law says that footage “must” be destroyed.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
Monarch butterflies roosting. (Alberto Loyo / iStock)
|
Monarch butterflies have begun their long journey north, and there are more of them making the trip than last year.
A newly released survey of the eastern monarch’s 2025-26 winter population in Mexico showed a 64% increase over 2024-25, according to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), which leads the annual count. This year, monarchs occupied 7.24 acres of forest compared with 4.42 acres last year.
Officials were cautiously optimistic regarding the promising sign of recovery. “These reports indicate conservation measures are going in the right direction,” Maria Jose Villanueva, WWF-Mexico director general, said in a statement. “We also need to remain vigilant and not forget that this unique migration continues to face many challenges.”
Those challenges include habitat loss across the monarch’s range — from its breeding sites and migratory routes in Canada and the United States to its winter home in Mexico. Pesticide exposure and extreme weather also threaten the monarch at various points in its life cycle.
Strong forest management in Mexico and grassland restoration projects in the U.S. are among the efforts promoted by conservationists, and World Wildlife Fund is among the organizations lobbying to limit the use of neonicotinoid pesticides.
Some backstory:
Year-to-year fluctuations in the monarch population indicate how sensitive the insect is to any changes in its environment.
In assessing the 2025-26 winter count for Monarch Joint Venture, researcher Karen Oberhauser said weather likely played a significant role in the improvement over 2024-25.
|
|
|
|
|
|
More From WTTW News:
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
Back in the Day: March 20, 2006 - Audit Finds Archdiocese of Chicago Failed to Handle Abuse Claims
|
On this day 20 years ago, the Archdiocese of Chicago released a report conducted by outside auditors claiming several local Roman Catholic officials botched the handling of sex abuse allegations against the Rev. Daniel McCormack. “This is a tragedy for the children, for their families and all who are involved,” Cardinal Francis George said in a statement. “But it also represents failures within the Archdiocese to react promptly and appropriately to what happened in these cases.”
McCormack was a priest charged with molesting three boys and had been accused years before of having questionable conduct with a minor while he was in the seminary. He was still allowed to be ordained. “Police let him go free, and I misunderstood that to mean that they thought he wasnʼt a danger,” Cardinal George said in an interview with CBS2. “I think now as Iʼve been told by lawyers and others, it doesnʼt mean that, but it was certainly in my mind at the time. I didnʼt think he was a danger.”
|
|
|
|
|
Other News From Around Town
|
Every Friday, WTTW News highlights interesting stories about Chicago from the local and national press.
The Hideout Gets a New Owner, Testing the Future of a Chicago Institution (Crain’s Chicago Business)
"The Hideout, the beloved Chicago music club that often doubled as a public forum for politics and social justice, was sold to a former intern who has direct family ties to the oldest and largest futures brokerage firm in the United States.
Teri O’Brien, 40, assumed control of the club yesterday. The terms were not disclosed. The Hideout’s 26 employees were notified of the new ownership before doors opened that night.
Tim and Katie Tuten, and brothers Mike and Jim Hinchsliff, purchased The Hideout in October 1996. For the past 30 years the small bar, located inside the Elston Avenue industrial corridor between Bucktown and Lincoln Park, has served as a clubhouse for nearly every significant Chicago musical artist of the last 30 years..."
Allegations of Abuse by César Chavez Sadden, Shock Chicago’s Latino Community (WBEZ)
"Chicago-area supporters of longtime civil rights leader César Chavez, a Latino icon publicly celebrated in much of the city, expressed anger, shock and dismay over allegations that he sexually abused women and girls as he led the movement for farmworker rights in the 1960s and ‘70s.
An investigation by the New York Times released Wednesday found that Chavez groomed and sexually abused young girls who worked in the movement, including fellow leader Dolores Huerta, who was in her 30s at the time."
‘Whenever There’s a Cop Murder, There’s Shenanigans’: How a PlayStation Helped Free a Man Convicted of Murdering an Off-Duty Police Officer (The Guardian)
"The Lewis murder would spawn a 12-year legal saga that would ensnare three men in a battle against alleged police misconduct, and raise questions about the prosecution and the analysis of digital forensic evidence – a cornerstone in many criminal trials over the last two decades. But this isn’t just another wrongful conviction story. It’s the story of what happens when the institutions we depend on fail.
Lewis died in 2011, yet the investigation into his murder foreshadowed Trump’s America.
The case shows that grave injustices don’t always need grand plans. Sometimes they need nothing more than tiny decisions, and to treat safeguards as constraints rather than protections.
Yet it’s also the story of what happens when people who do care about justice fight back."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
What's your favorite new restaurant in Chicago?
|
|
|
Email DailyChicagoan@wttw.com with your responses and your answers might be published. Here's what you had to
say:
"@dixiepurakitchen in Bronzeville. Compassionate chef with two culinary cultures." — @iamkendrallmasten
"Matilda. I checked it out during Restaurant Week and tried a little bit of everything. The tuna tartare, ceviche and guacamole tatemado are all delicious -- and the guac is gluten free!" — Katelyn Haas, social media editor.
"Rendang Republic in Lakeview. The city's only Indonesian restaurant. Try their spins on a hot dog and a cheeseburger. You won't regret it." — Josh Terry, newsletter producer.
"Casa Yari (it's technically reopening with a new menu after two years) Smash Jibarito and Mahari" — Joel Ortiz, the Judy and John McCarter Fellow with WTTW News
"Field House in Deerfield" — Jay Smith, news director for WTTW News
"Zaa-E-Lee Thai Street Food in Albany Park: I recommend the Som Tum Pu Pla La (papaya salad with salted crab + a perfectly funky fermented fish sauce), Pra Sam Rod (fried red snapper) and Prik King Moo Krob (crispy pork belly with herbs, chilis and veggie fixings)." — Blair Paddock, reporter for WTTW News.
"Piccadilly Pub on Rockwell is great (as is the cute lil' Piccadilly Market next door)" — Nick Blumberg, correspondent for WTTW News.
|
|
|
|
|
|
5:30 PM | 7:00 PM
|
|
|
|
Want more WTTW News content? Follow WTTW on Instagram to check in with us daily, go behind-the-scenes, and more.
|
Newsletter Producer: Josh Terry
|
|
|
|
|
