Every Saturday morning, Daily Chicagoan gives you a quick rundown of the WTTW News coverage you need to know. Here are five essential stories that will inform you a bit more about our city.

1). 10 Final Designs for Next Illinois State Flag Include Corn Kernels, Abraham Lincoln and a Butterfly

Current Illinois state flag. (State of Illinois)

One of these 10 designs could become Illinois’ next state flag. The Illinois Flag Commission chose the finalists from nearly 5,000 submissions in a contest that closed in October. Come January, the public can vote online for a favorite, be it one of the new designs, flags made for Illinois’ centennial in 1918 and sesquicentennial in 1968, or the current state flag. The results of that vote will be non-binding, but will be considered by the commission, which has to come up with a recommendation by April as to what approach Illinois should take with its flag. Scroll through the finalists here.

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2). Dixon Officials Decry Commutation of Former Comptroller Rita Crundwell

The city of Dixon is pictured in a file photo. (Credit: “All the Queen’s Horses”)

Rita Crundwell infamously charted a new chapter in Illinois’ storied corruption saga by committing what the FBI believes to be the largest theft of public funds in U.S. history. Now, she’s among the 1,500 “non-violent offenders” whose sentence was commuted Thursday by President Joe Biden, in the nation’s largest single-day act of clemency. The commutation means Crundwell’s is getting a reprieve from the nearly 20-year sentence handed down in 2013 for stealing almost $54 million when she was serving as comptroller for the city of Dixon. 

3). More Than 155,000 Illinois Standard IDs and Driver’s Licenses Have Been Issued to Noncitizens in 5 Months

Examples of a Temporary Visitor Driver’s License and the new standard driver’s license for Illinois residents without U.S. citizenship. (WTTW News)

More than 155,000 standardized IDs and driver’s licenses for non-U.S. citizens have been issued in the five months since an Illinois law went into effect that aims to protect noncitizens from discrimination. The law, which went into effect in July, grants noncitizens regardless of immigration status the ability to obtain a standardized state driver’s license. Since the law went into effect, the office has issued 49,852 state IDs and 106,026 driver’s licenses for noncitizens. 

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4). Planned Red Line Extension Brings Worries, High Hopes

The CTA’s South Terminal at 95th/Dan Ryan on the Red Line opened in April 2018. A plan to extend the Red Line would connect the terminal to 130th Street. (Chicago Transit Authority / Flickr)

For many residents of the Far South Side of Chicago, they’ve often felt cut off from the rest of the city due to a lack of public transportation access. A project set to begin construction late next year is hoping to change that. The CTA’s Red Line Extension project will create four new stops on the South Side. Construction is expected to begin in late 2025 and the anticipated five-year process, which entails taking property and relocating residents, is already underway. Residents in nearby communities harbor both concerns about how the project will play out and hope that it could improve their neighborhoods.  

5). Johnson Calls Off Budget Vote as Deadline Looms

Mayor Brandon Johnson delivers his budget address on Oct. 30, 2024. (WTTW News)

Mayor Brandon Johnson called off the vote planned for Friday on his $17.3 billion 2025 spending plan, raising the odds of an unprecedented shutdown of city government in just 18 days. Johnson’s decision to delay the budget vote is an acknowledgment that the spending does not have enough votes to pass the Chicago City Council, even if Johnson cast a tie-breaking vote. The City Council voted 32-17 to recess the meeting, causing members of the public who had planned to speak during the public comment portion of the meeting to erupt in anger. Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd Ward), a frequent critic of Johnson, said the budget crisis is the fault of the mayor. “The mayor has called himself the collaborator in chief, and he’s collaborated himself into a budget impasse,” Reilly said. “Had there been any level of collaboration, he probably could have avoided this situation.”

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Newsletter Producer: Josh Terry