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It’s the last week of February. Spring into March with these stories from WTTW News.
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(Michael Izquierdo / WTTW News)
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Chicago has two years to spend $142 million in federal relief funds officials have promised to use to strengthen the city’s tattered social safety net and provide direct aid to Chicagoans struggling to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a WTTW News analysis.
What have we spent so far?
In all, Chicago has spent $310.4 million on the plan former Mayor Lori Lightfoot dubbed the “Chicago Recovery Plan” before Mayor Brandon Johnson rebranded it as his office’s “Road to Recovery” initiative, according to the most recent reports filed with the U.S. Department of the Treasury as required by federal law.
That effort is divided into 10 major categories: arts & culture; assistance to families; health & wellness; community development; environmental justice; homelessness; small business & workforce; tourism; violence prevention; and youth opportunities. Only two areas did not see their budgets cut: arts & culture and tourism. Nearly 96% of the funds set aside to help Chicago’s arts community had been spent by the end of 2024, giving officials little left to cut, records show.
What's next?
City officials would have had an additional $87 million to spend on a host of programs including affordable housing, mental health, violence prevention, youth job programs and help for unhoused Chicagoans, but the Chicago City Council used those funds to balance the city’s 2025 budget and avert a property tax hike.
That means the City Council reduced the amount of federal money available to the city to fuel a wide variety of social service programs until the end of 2026 by nearly 38% to balance the city’s budget without a single sentence of debate about what those cuts will mean for Chicagoans who have yet to regain the ground they started to lose five years ago. |
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A memorial to the victims of the July 4, 2022, shooting in Highland Park. (WTTW News)
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Robert Crimo III, who is accused of climbing atop a Highland Park business and firing dozens of rounds from a high-powered rifle at paradegoers during the city’s 2022 Fourth of July parade, is finally set to go to trial more than two and a half years after the mass shooting that left seven dead and scores injured. Jury selection begins Monday in a Lake County courtroom where Crimo, 24, will stand trial on 117 charges, including 21 counts of first-degree murder, representing three charges for each person killed.
Some background:
Crimo is accused of firing more than 80 rounds from a Smith & Wesson M&P 15 semi-automatic rifle during the attack before disguising himself in women’s clothing in order to conceal distinctive face and neck tattoos and blend into the crowd as he made his escape.
Crimo allegedly accessed a business rooftop at the corner of Central Avenue and 2nd Street through a fire escape and began firing down on pedestrians around 10:14 a.m.
More than 50 people were shot, including seven people who were killed: 64-year-old Katherine Goldstein; 35-year-old Irina McCarthy and her 37-year-old husband Kevin McCarthy; 63-year-old Jacquelyn Sundheim; 88-year-old Stephen Straus; 78-year-old Nicolas Toledo-Zaragoza; and 69-year-old Eduardo Uvaldo. |
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(WTTW News)
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The U.S. restaurant industry relies on the labor of undocumented immigrants. But in the wake of President Donald Trump’s mass deportation orders, some Illinois restaurant owners are raising concerns.
“There’s over 140,000 business owners, Latino-owned business owners, in the state of Illinois,” said Sam Sanchez, founder of Third Coast Hospitality Group and a board member of the National Restaurant Association. “You start closing these restaurants and they start affecting the business, inflation is going to go through the roof.”
To help business owners and their employees ready themselves for potential visits from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, the Illinois Hispanic Chamber of Commerce teamed up with the General Consulate of Mexico in Chicago and other local organizations to launch a new program called “Tools to Protect Your Business: Be Prepared in Case of Deportation.” The initiative offers tools that include legal preparedness, financial security, operational support and more.
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Back in the Day: February 24, 2015 - Chuy García Forces Rahm Emanuel Into Runoff Election
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On this day 10 years ago, Chicago faced its first-ever runoff mayoral election when then-Cook County Commissioner Jesús "Chuy" García received 34% of the vote compared to incumbent Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s 45% in the mayoral primary. While the runoff format was introduced during the 1999 municipal elections, it was never used because Mayor Richard M. Daley won in landslides with 70% or more of the vote in 1999, 2003 and 2007. The runoff election was held on April 7, 2015, where Emanuel won a second term with over 56% of the vote. Though García ran unsuccessfully for mayor again in 2023, he has served as the U.S. representative for Illinois' 4th District since 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.
The Chicago City Council is set to meet at 10 a.m. Wednesday. On the agenda: Alderpeople will decide whether to borrow $830 million for infrastructure projects.
A meeting of the Chicago Board of Education is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Thursday in the CPS Loop office. Advance registration for speakers and observers opens Tuesday morning.
At 9 a.m. Wednesday, the Chicago Park District’s Board of Commissioners will meet at the district’s Brighton Park office. On the agenda is a presentation on the district’s sustainability report.
Pace’s Chicago ADA Advisory Committee is set to meet at 1 p.m. Wednesday. Click here for info on public comments, streaming options and how to speak with staff one-on-one. |
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What was the best movie you've seen recently? |
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Email DailyChicagoan@wttw.com with your responses and your answers might be published. |
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President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago Austan Goolsbee on inflation, tariffs, Chicago’s economic outlook and much more.
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And President Donald Trump blames Ukraine for Russia’s invasion as the war reaches three years. We get local reaction.
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5:30 PM | 10:30 PM |
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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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