Good morning, Chicago.
Late property tax bills weren’t just an inconvenience for homeowners and businesses, they were a drag on taxing districts around Cook County, to the collective tune of almost $122 million for school districts alone, according to a group of suburban school leaders.
Bills that typically land in the summer weren’t paid until mid-December thanks to a halting technology upgrade. Additional problems with the system prevented the county from distributing those revenues to hundreds of taxing bodies.
To bridge the gap in the meantime, school districts — particularly wealthier ones whose budgets rely more heavily on property taxes than on state aid — had to take out loans, cash out investments or forgo other investment income that would have built up on property tax revenues parked in the bank, the Tribune previously reported.
According to a group of school leaders who have been surveying colleagues countywide, the interest and issuance cost of borrowing, plus cashed out and lost interest on investments, totaled $59.5 million for suburban school districts and $62.2 million for Chicago Public Schools.
Read the full story from the Tribune’s A.D. Quig.
Here are the top stories you need to know to start your day, including an Illinois Supreme Court Justice retiring, the NFL commissioner touring potential new Bears stadium sites and a discussion on the art of “difficult” women with Evanston’s Sara Levine.
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Illinois and Chicago sue DHS over ‘militarized’ immigration-enforcement tactics
Saying immigration agents have acted more like an occupying military force than law enforcement, lawyers for the state of Illinois and city of Chicago sued the Trump administration in federal court seeking to bar agents from using tear gas without sufficient warning, making warrantless arrests, and randomly stopping people to question them about their citizenship.
- Minnesota and the Twin Cities sue the federal government to stop the immigration crackdown
- FBI says it has found no video of Border Patrol agent shooting 2 people in Oregon
Lincoln Park man charged in murders of ex-wife and her dentist husband to be extradited to Ohio
A Lincoln Park man accused of killing his ex-wife and her husband in their Columbus home will be sent back to Ohio to face charges in the couple’s deaths, according to the Winnebago County sheriff’s office.
Body of missing CPS teacher recovered from Lake Michigan: ‘She was an amazing person’
Linda Brown, a special education teacher at Robert Healy Elementary School in Bridgeport, was reported missing on Jan. 3. But after days spent searching for her, Brown’s family in a written statement last night said her body had been found in the 31st Street Harbor.
Illinois Supreme Court Justice Mary Jane Theis retiring after four decades on the bench
Mary Jane Theis became a judge in 1983, a few weeks before the biggest, most sweeping judicial corruption scandal in Cook County history came to a head.
Operation Greylord resulted in about 100 indictments and the conviction of more than a dozen judges. And throughout a career that eventually saw Theis elected to the Illinois Supreme Court and serve as chief justice, she said the scandal was a constant reminder that the judiciary in Illinois had once been a national disgrace and that judges must approach their roles with integrity, humility, and honesty.
Former Mayor Lori Lightfoot sued over credit card debt
Former Mayor Lori Lightfoot was served with a lawsuit from JPMorgan Chase Bank for allegedly failing to pay about $11,078 in bills, according to a copy of the complaint filed in Cook County Circuit Court.
Troubled West Pullman housing complex has new owners, and will get a complete rehab
A Far South Side affordable housing complex plagued by neglect and deteriorating conditions has been sold, and city officials say the new owner will launch much-needed renovations.
NFL commissioner tours potential new Bears stadium sites, including Arlington Heights and northwest Indiana
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell joined top Chicago Bears officials to tour potential new stadium sites before the team’s stunning playoff win over the Green Bay Packers, a source familiar with the visit said.
Column: Chicago Bears are moving on — but 3-game drama vs. Green Bay Packers shows the rivalry is reborn
During the teams’ three meetings this season, the postgame handshakes between Bears coach Ben Johnson and Packers Coach Matt LaFleur may have set a record for brevity, writes Phil Thompson.
Johnson might have reignited this feud out of obligation, playing to a long-suffering Chicago crowd, but did this somehow become personal?
- 5 things we learned from the Bears: ‘No weak links’ at this stage of the playoffs
- Bears likely to lean on Theo Benedet at left tackle after Ozzy Trapilo’s season-ending knee injury
Column: Chevy Chase and Seymour Hersh get the documentaries they deserve
Be thankful that you are not Cornelius Crane “Chevy” Chase, writes Rick Kogan.
The subject of a new CNN documentary titled “I’m Chevy Chase and You’re Not” is not a particularly pleasant person, even though some of his churlishness may have been caused by a brutal and physically abusive childhood.
Here are the Chicago area’s top 10 home sales of 2025
For residential real estate, 2025 was the year of the Chicago-area megasale.
Two mansions on the North Shore sold for more than $30 million each, setting new Chicago-area sales records.
What’s like got to do with it? Evanston’s Sara Levine on the art of ‘difficult’ women.
Sara Levine’s novels feel right for early January, for this gray period when we’re all expected to reassess our lives, make changes and emerge in the spring with clearer heads.
The way certain works of fiction can do, her books could double as perverse self-help, starring heroines who go out of their ways to show how not to conduct your life. Her writing voice, sardonic, breezy, chimes with Joy Williams and Donald Barthelme, but it’s hard not to hear “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and even “The Office” — that nexus where unraveling people lacking self-awareness stumble across empathy.
