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(WTTW News)
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Chicago saw an overall reduction in violent crime in 2025. Last year, 417 people were killed in homicides, down nearly 30% from the previous year and a 60-year low, according to the city’s violence reduction dashboard.
The decline in violent crime echoes a nationwide trend; however, more work lies ahead in preventing shootings and in saving lives, according to stakeholders working to reduce violent crime and provide needed support to victims and their families.
More context:
“There are many people in our communities on the South and West Side of Chicago who may not necessarily feel the numbers that are being reported,” said the Rev. Ciera Bates-Chamberlain, executive director of Live Free Illinois.
The organization helped advocate for the Homicide Data Transparency Act, which requires law enforcement agencies in Illinois to publish routine data and investigations on homicides, with the ultimate goal of improving homicide solve rates and helping families get closure.
Eddie Bocanegra, former senior advisor to the Assistant Attorney General at the U.S. Department of Justice, supported the work of community violence intervention (CVI) across the country in his previous role, a position he held for more than three years.
Bocanegra left the Department of Justice following federal cuts to CVI programs last year.
“We saw stronger relations between CVI organizations and law enforcement,” Bocanegra said about his time working at the Department of Justice. “There are also organizations, besides CVI organizations, that are coming together to provide more of the wraparound services.”
“Chicago, by far, has the deepest investments in CVI,” Bocanegra continued.
Garien Gatewood, Chicago’s deputy mayor of community safety, said the decline in violent crime comes from a variety of factors such as improving housing, holding people accountable who cause harm, and creating more resources for youth and adult jobs.
“I think the work that’s happening across the city of Chicago can be replicated in other parts of the country,” Gatewood said. “It’s not a single policy. It is literally everyone working together to drive violence down throughout the city.”
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Chicago Fire Department Battalion Chief James Spalla comes from a family of firefighters. (Ken Carl / WTTW)
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When Chicago Fire Department Battalion Chief James Spalla was a little kid growing up in Bridgeport, he remembers looking forward to seeing his Uncle Jack and Uncle Jerry at family parties.
“I looked at them as bigger than life, like, ‘Wow, these guys are firemen.’” Spalla said. “I got to experience a few times going as a child to one of their firehouses and it was just everything you thought it was gonna be, watching them respond to a run, watching them hang off the back of the truck (which we can’t do anymore). They were firemen when firefighting was rough.”
Some backstory:
Those early memories planted a seed in Spalla’s mind, and he, too, became a firefighter with the Chicago Fire Department. Firefighting has become something of a family business – or perhaps a family calling – for Spalla and his extended family. In addition to Uncle Jack and Uncle Jerry, Spalla has two cousins who became firefighters, plus a few in-laws. Now, Spalla is the one captivating the kids at family gatherings.
The Chicago Fire Department, which has some 4,500 uniformed firefighters and paramedics, is very competitive. Typically about 20,000 people apply, and only a few thousand are selected to take the exam, which is offered infrequently. According to the Chicago Sun-Times, the 2022 exam was “only the fourth the department has administered in 44 years.” Only 200 firefighters are hired each year.
Spalla joined the department in 1996. He leads Battalion 15, which covers parts of the Bridgeport, Pilsen, McKinley Park, and Brighton Park areas, so any given shift may find him at a different firehouse. Chicago firefighters work 24-hour shifts, with 48 hours off in between shifts.
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Jake Connelly appears on “Chicago Tonight” on Jan. 20, 2026. (WTTW News)
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“Stranger Things” premiered a decade ago, and the epic saga recently came to a close after five seasons. The final season introduced us to a new character who quickly became a fan favorite — Derek Turnbow, the comic relief-turned-protagonist.
Turnbow is played by Chicago-area native Jake Connelly.
The breakout star was just 4 years old when “Stranger Things” first came out. Now a 13-year-old, he’s around the same age as the main cast of kids in the first season.
“I was just so amazed that I actually got the audition for it, let alone being on the project itself,” Connelly said.
Prior to booking the role, Connelly only had one IMDb credit under his belt for a small part in a short film. He’d also done commercial work for Feldco Windows.
Given how enthusiastic fans can be, Connelly had to keep his involvement a secret. His go-to tale when people asked what he was doing for a year in Georgia, where “Stranger Things” films, is that he was in a documentary about mayonnaise.
“A couple of my friends were kind of disappointed the mayonnaise documentary wasn’t coming out,” Connelly said. “But everybody made me feel so supported, and I’m just so glad that I have a strong backbone of my family and friends that really made me feel good about the work that we did.”
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More From WTTW News:
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Back in the Day: January 27, 1986 - Bears Throw Super Bowl Victory Parade
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(WTTW News)
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On Jan. 26, 1986, the Chicago Bears won their first and only Super Bowl, besting the New England Patriots 46-10. On this day 40 years ago, the team held a victory parade in downtown Chicago. Some 500,000 fans showed up to celebrate, withstanding a windchill of 25 below zero, to welcome the home team along a route that started at LaSalle and Jackson and ended at Daley Plaza for a rally where five players spoke. While it was a joyous occasion, fans were disappointed that eight Bears stars, including Jim McMahon, Mike Singletary and Richard Dent, were absent due to their mandatory reporting for the Pro Bowl game in Honolulu. Also a bummer? The fact that the weather kept the returning
Bears players inside their buses. The Chicago Tribune interviewed one fan who said, “They play football in weather like this. You would think they could ride in an open automobile.”
While the parade could’ve been better, the actual Super Bowl was one for the history books. “Chicago Tonight” and host John Callaway went to New Orleans for that remarkable game. Watch the video from that once-in-a-lifetime WTTW assignment here. If you want to see how “Chicago Tonight” covered the parade, watch that video here.
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This Week’s Staff Recommendations
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Every week, WTTW News highlights their favorite things in Chicago. This week, it’s reporter Patty Wetli on new hobbies.
Patty Wetli: Welp, we’ve reached the time of year when I say to myself, “I need a hobby.” Besides watching TV.
I’m always looking for things to do with my hands — something that isn’t typing on a keyboard — which is why I love gardening. Sigh. I miss gardening. Here are some things I’m considering to fill the void.
I’ve already successfully completed one of Skokie-based artist Kate Wyatt’s beginner embroidery kits — a coneflower — which I picked up at an artisan market in Ravenswood. Should I challenge myself with another, more advanced pattern? If I pretend I’m a character in a Jane Austen novel while I’m sewing, can I count improv as a second hobby?
I’m a huge fan of “The Great Pottery Throwdown” (aka the show that beats “Great British Baking” at its own feel-good-TV game). Ah, what I wouldn’t give to make an exquisite yet workable toilet that would reduce Keith to tears (IYKYK). Maybe I should take another crack at wheelthrowing — I have a couple of extremely wonky bowls to show for my first stab at ceramics — or possibly switch to handbuilding. Penguin Foot Pottery in Logan Square sounds perfectly cutie patootie.
Is it too late to learn the fiddle or banjo? Or any instrument? Why, oh why, did I not stick with clarinet lessons back in second grade. Or piano. For crying out loud, my mom was a piano teacher. It was right there. Every time I walk by Old Town School of Folk Music, I picture how cool I’d look with one of those guitar-shaped backpacks.
For as many years as I’ve been thinking about remodeling my bathroom, I could have become a master carpenter or tiler. At the moment, I have the DIY skills of a person with no DIY skills, and still I dream of becoming the next HGTV construction crew leader. Just don’t give me a nail gun. There’s a place to learn how to do stuff like repair drywall and clear P traps. It’s called Even Made Trade, in Chicago’s Irving Park neighborhood, and if they offer a course on bathtub caulking, sign me up!
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Restaurant Week is in full swing. What’s your favorite place to grab
a bite in your neighborhood?
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Email DailyChicagoan@wttw.com with your responses and your answers might be published.
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