Jake Sheridan

Jake Sheridan covers local politics and the City Council for the Tribune's City Hall team. He previously worked as a general assignment reporter for the Tribune's Metro desk. He is a graduate of Duke University. He welcomes tips on important news, overlooked problems and colorful stories via X and email.

Mayor Brandon Johnson signs a veto of an ordinance pausing a phaseout of the subminimum tipped wage as he’s joined by supporters, on March 25, 2026, at Let's Eat to Live restaurant in Chicago’s Woodlawn neighborhood. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson vetoes tipped wage freeze, setting up City Council showdown

March 25, 2026 at 7:40 p.m.

Thirty aldermen last week voted to pause a 2023 ordinance that gradually eliminates Chicago's subminimum wage for tipped workers. Four more aldermen are needed to override Mayor Brandon Johnson's veto.

A driver gets out of the “Abolish ICE” snowplow that won the naming contest, on March 25, 2026, at a Streets and Sanitation facility in the West Town neighborhood. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)

Chicago’s ‘Abolish ICE’ snowplow unveiled by Mayor Brandon Johnson as winner of annual contest

March 25, 2026 at 4:39 p.m.

More than 9,000 people voted to rename one of six new Chicago snowplows "Abolish ICE" as part of a citywide contest that followed this fall's Operation Midway Blitz by the...

First Deputy Mayor for Community Safety Garien Gatewood, left, and Mayor Brandon Johnson arrive for a media availability at City Hall on Aug. 12, 2025. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune)

Chicago’s human rights commissioner resigns as Mayor Brandon Johnson defends public safety leaders’ firings

March 24, 2026 at 7:41 p.m.

Human Relations Commissioner Nancy Andrade will resign effective Wednesday from her role overseeing enforcement of the city's human rights and fair housing laws.

A passenger looks at two masked Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents who stand just inside a passenger exit area in Terminal 1 at Chicago O’Hare International Airport on March 23, 2026. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune)

ICE agents deployed to O’Hare as TSA goes without pay amid partial shutdown

March 23, 2026 at 5:33 p.m.

At O'Hare, travelers have not seen significant delays, and security lines were not long and moving at a normal pace on Monday morning.

Dozens of rolls of “I voted” stickers on March 12, 2026, at the Cook County Clerk’s Election Operation Center in Cicero, where thousands of pieces of voting equipment are stored, tested and distributed. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune)

AIPAC funded secretive super PACs that hid contributors and spent big in Democratic primary, new records show

March 23, 2026 at 2:07 p.m.

Federal Election Commission filings released Friday night reveal that United Democracy Project, AIPAC’s affiliated super PAC, directed more than $5.3 million to bankroll the groups Elect Chicago Women and Affordable...

Kenya Merritt, interim head of Chicago's Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, talks at the Office of Emergency Management and Communications on Dec. 29, 2025. (Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune)

Mayor Brandon Johnson’s cultural affairs pick sued by former employee

March 20, 2026 at 4:19 p.m.

Former first deputy DCASE commissioner Rosalyn Kimberly Grigsby is suing the city and Kenya Merritt under the Illinois Whistleblower Act.

Garien Gatewood, left, the deputy mayor for community safety, speaks as Mayor Brandon Johnson looks on at City Hall on May 27, 2025. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune)

Mayor Brandon Johnson fires community safety chief

March 19, 2026 at 5:13 p.m.

Garien Gatewood, Johnson’s deputy mayor for community safety, had served in the administration since the mayor took office.

Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss speaks to supporters after celebrating the Democratic nomination in the 9th Congressional District race during an election night watch party at Double Clutch Brewing on March 17, 2026, in Evanston. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)

More than $30M in outside spending shaped Illinois primaries, but wins were a split for big-monied interests

March 19, 2026 at 5:27 p.m.

Political action committees with unlimited raising and spending power poured nearly $33 million into a handful of closely watched Chicago-area races, but despite the scale of that spending, victories were...

Raeghn Draper, a bartender at Avondale’s Consignment Lounge and a One Fair Wage organizer, speaks at a rally at Chicago City Hall, March 18, 2026. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune)

Mayor Brandon Johnson poised to veto freeze to tipped worker pay passed by aldermen

March 18, 2026 at 6:10 p.m.

Restaurant industry groups are leading the effort to halt the gradual raises approved by the City Council in 2023 with the so-called “One Fair Wage” ordinance

Donna Miller walks into her election night event as the Democratic nominee for the 2nd Congressional District on March 17, 2026, in Chicago Heights. (Vincent D. Johnson/for the Chicago Tribune)

Cook County Commissioner Donna Miller wins Illinois’ 2nd District over comeback effort by former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr.

March 18, 2026 at 4:42 p.m.

Cook County Commissioner Donna Miller won the Democratic primary in Illinois' 2nd Congressional District Tuesday as voters rejected a comeback effort by former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr.

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