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It’s a holiday week. As you get ready for friends, family and a great meal, check out these stories from WTTW News. |
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Congressional candidate Patty Garcia appears on "Chicago Tonight" on Nov. 20, 2025. (WTTW News) |
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Patty Garcia, handpicked by U.S. Rep. Jesus “Chuy” García to replace him in the U.S. House of Representatives, vowed to stand on her own and earn the support of residents across the city’s Southwest Side.
During an appearance on WTTW News’ “Chicago Tonight,” Patty Garcia acknowledged that the congressman’s decision not to announce his retirement until after the deadline to qualify for the March primary election had triggered a political firestorm.
“This isn’t a done deal,” Patty Garcia said, noting that members of the Republican and a third party filed to run to represent the district drawn to include a significant majority of Democratic voters. “I’m taking this seriously, and I’m going out to every voter, to every municipality, to every neighborhood and ward.”
Patty Garcia, 40, is likely to be the only Democrat on the March ballot, but could face a serious challenge during next November’s general election. Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez (25th Ward) and others are weighing a bid for the congressional seat that will have been held by Chuy García for eight years, but face a steep climb to qualify for the ballot as independent candidates.
Some backstory:
Patty Garcia has worked for Chuy García since 2019 and became his chief of staff in 2023. The two are not related.
Petitions to run for the Democratic nomination were due at 5 p.m. Nov. 3, giving her less than two weekdays to collect the required 685 signatures from registered voters. Patty Garcia said anyone who wanted to challenge the congressman could have collected petitions and filed to run against him. In 2024, Ald. Raymond Lopez (15th Ward) ran unsuccessfully against Chuy García.
The U.S. House voted 238-186 Tuesday to rebuke Chuy García, with more than two dozen House Democrats, including two members of Illinois’ Democratic congressional delegation, voting for the resolution, along with all Republicans. |
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Mercedes Wells speaks at a news conference on Nov. 18, 2025. (WTTW News) |
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Last week, a pregnant Chicago woman was discharged from an Indiana hospital while in labor. Her contractions were just a minute apart, and she gave birth in a car eight minutes later. A Facebook post from her husband went viral, sparking outrage.
Now, the doctor and nurse directly involved in the woman’s care are no longer employed by the hospital, Franciscan Health Crown Point President and CEO Raymond Grady said in a statement Friday. He also promised mandatory cultural competency training for delivery staff and that pregnant patients must be examined by a physician before they leave the hospital.
“The recent video shared on social media does not reflect the values of Franciscan Health Crown Point, which include respect for life and compassionate concern,” Grady said in a statement. “Respect for life can be compromised when a mother and baby are prematurely discharged.”
Some backstory:
Mercedes Wells spent nearly six hours at Franciscan Health Crown Point, where her contractions began coming one minute apart, before she was told she was being discharged. She was on her way to another hospital in Munster, Indiana, when roughly eight minutes later, her husband Leon delivered their baby on the side of the road. Wells says the baby girl is doing well now.
In 2024, women in the U.S. are far more likely to die of a pregnancy-related cause than in other developed nations, according to information provided by Rush University Medical Center. Black women in Chicago are four times more likely to experience a pregnancy-related death than White women. |
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Border Patrol chief Gregory Bovino stands with federal immigration enforcement agents during a skirmish with protesters in Little Village neighborhood, Chicago Thursday, Oct. 23, 2025. (Anthony Vazquez / Chicago Sun-Times via AP) |
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Border Patrol chief Greg Bovino, and the agents under his command who led a series of increasingly aggressive raids across Chicago and its suburbs for more than two months, falsely depicted ordinary Chicagoans as professional agitators determined to mount a violent resistance, a federal judge determined.
U.S. District Court Judge Sara Ellis used the blistering 233-page ruling that formalized her sweeping order, which has already been put on hold by the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, to painstakingly detail how agents, over and over again, falsely asserted in court and in official reports that they had been confronted with unrelenting, coordinated and life-threatening violence every time they attempted to carry out President Donald Trump’s mass deportation effort.
Read the full order.
Federal officials “cannot simply create their own narrative of what happened, misrepresenting the evidence to justify their actions,” Ellis wrote, again saying the violence used by federal agents . “shocks the conscience.”
Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin responded to a request for comment about Ellis’ order from WTTW News by asserting that the conduct Ellis had specifically found agents had lied about had, in fact, occurred.
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The Department of Education is dismantling. Joining “Chicago Tonight” is Kirabo Jackson, a professor of education and social policy at Northwestern University and a former appointee to the White House Council of Economic Advisers, to discuss what that means.
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Back in the Day: Nov. 24, 2015 - Laquan McDonald Footage Publicly Released |
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On this day 10 years ago, after a Cook County judge ordered its release, a video documenting the police killing of 17-year-old Chicagoan Laquan McDonald was made publicly available. It dropped late in the afternoon, a couple of days before Thanksgiving, but the shocking footage outraged the community. Hours later, mostly peaceful protests sprouted downtown and elsewhere. Shot from a police cruiser, the six-minute clip shows McDonald, who was holding a three-inch knife, walking down South Pulaski Road in the Southwest Side’s Archer Heights. While the video was silent (police documents later showed its microphone batteries were improperly installed), it showed McDonald walking away when, suddenly, he was shot in a rapid succession of 16 bullets by an officer. The shooter's identity would be revealed six months later as Jason Van Dyke, a then-13-year veteran of CPD. The footage would be essential to Van Dyke’s prosecution, as he was convicted of second-degree murder and 16 counts of aggravated battery in 2019. |
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This Week’s Civic Events and Meetings |
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Every Monday, WTTW News highlights the best ways to get involved with local government.
Chicago Housing Authority
Every other month, the Chicago Housing Authority Board of Commissioners meets at 8:30 a.m. at the CHA Headquarters (60 E. Van Buren St.). The next meeting is Tuesday, Nov. 25. You can livestream the meeting here or attend in person.
Greater Chicago Food Depository
This holiday season, why not volunteer or donate to a local food pantry? The Greater Chicago Food Depository has a variety of openings and needs that you can peruse here.
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What's your favorite Thanksgiving side dish? Tell us why.
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Email DailyChicagoan@wttw.com with your responses and your answers might be published.
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Want more WTTW News content? Follow WTTW on Instagram to check in with us daily, go behind-the-scenes, and more. |
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Newsletter Producer: Josh Terry |
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