Good morning, Chicago.
Serving as a member of the Chicago Board of Education can mean upward of 25 hours per week attending meetings, reviewing hundreds of documents, visiting schools and hosting office hours. All on a volunteer basis.
Two board members have left full-time jobs. Others say it’s difficult to juggle the demands of the role with personal and professional responsibilities.
But a new bill in the Illinois House would pave the way for board members to receive compensation, a change advocates say could broaden representation as it transitions to a fully elected body.
Read the full story from the Tribune’s Kate Armanini.
Here are the top stories you need to know to start your day, including: a look at yesterday’s International Women’s Day protest where hundreds marched to Trump Tower, tracking the Bears in NFL free agency and restaurant and bar specials for St. Patrick’s Day.
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Feds violated immigration court order, wrongly deported hundreds, court filing alleges
The federal government knew it had wrongfully arrested Henry Cordova Jaya. He had been detained by immigration agents last year during President Donald Trump’s ramped-up immigration enforcement raids in violation of a court order restricting warrantless arrests.
In January, the government acknowledged that his arrest was a violation of the 2022 Castañon Nava consent decree. In early February, lawyers for the federal government said in a court filing that they were seeking Cordova Jaya’s release from custody. But instead of releasing Cordova Jaya, the government kept him in detention for 18 more days and then sent him back to Ecuador, according to a new filing in federal court.
Rev. Jesse Jackson’s family and closest friends offer one last goodbye
They sent the Rev. Jesse Jackson home Saturday the only way it could have been done: with Gospel music, testimony that often brought people to their feet and story after story about a man who rose from humble beginnings to become one of America’s most influential Civil Rights leaders.
As South Side Congressional race nears end, candidates attend town halls, self-defense class and funeral
Between tributes and songs, the crowd celebrating civil rights leader Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. at Friday’s homegoing got a not-so-subtle call: Vote for his son.
For a short speech in front of thousands, Jesse Jackson Jr. stepped up to the cross-shaped lectern. The former congressman is balancing grief over his father’s death with a political campaign to win back the seat he resigned from amid a campaign finance scandal that sent him to prison.
International Women’s Day protest sees hundreds march to Trump Tower
A few hundred protesters marched yesterday to Trump Tower as part of nationwide Women’s March events in honor of International Women’s Day. Protesters gathered in the Loop’s Daley Plaza carrying signs with references to abortion, immigration, the war in Iran and women’s rights.
From startup seedling to cannabis powerhouse, Verano has navigated the industry’s ups and downs
When Illinois took the plunge and legalized medical marijuana in 2013, restaurateur George Archos decided he would get in on the ground floor. Archos, who grew up in the family restaurant business, had already opened several successful Wildberry Pancake and Cafe locations in Chicago and the suburbs, and was convinced his hospitality experience would serve him well in the nascent cannabis industry.
The budding entrepreneur has since turned Chicago-based Verano from a pipe dream into one of the largest publicly traded cannabis companies in the country. And he still owns seven Chicago-area restaurants.
Illinois orders 21 communities to remove forever chemicals from drinking water by 2029. But who will pay?
Sitting on the Mississippi River flood plains, Collinsville is among a handful of Illinois communities that draw drinking water from the American Bottoms aquifer.
The Metro East town of 30,000 is also one of 21 communities, covering 47 water systems, that contain levels of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances or PFAS that exceed state and federal standards, according to a statewide investigation by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency. From small towns along the Mississippi to suburban cities like Crest Hill, the drinking water of more than 400,000 Illinoisans is at risk of contamination.
Illinois 2026 GOP primary for governor features four candidates and one familiar face but big donors sit out
Four years ago, the six-way Republican primary for governor was impossible to miss. More than $100 million was spent largely on TV ads, including $35 million from Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker, who not-so-subtly steered GOP voters toward the candidate he deemed easiest to defeat that fall: Darren Bailey.
A downstate farmer and former state lawmaker who leaned heavily on his evangelical Christian faith, Bailey won that primary — then lost to Pritzker in November by nearly 13 percentage points. Now, he’s back, seeking a general election rematch in a GOP primary field of four.
Almost nothing else from 2022 has returned with him.
Tracking the Chicago Bears in NFL free agency: Special teams standout Daniel Hardy signs 2-year deal
The busiest week on the NFL’s offseason calendar is upon us.
The free-agent negotiating period opens at 11 a.m. today, and free agency officially begins at 3 p.m. Wednesday with the start of the 2026 league year. At that point, any contracts negotiated or trades agreed to can become official.
Mr. Wizard’s science show held children spellbound
An experiment began on March 3, 1951, in the studios of what is today NBC-5 in Chicago. The question it sought to answer was: Could television use entertainment to educate the children of the country about science?
St. Patrick’s Day 2026: Restaurants and bars with Chicago River views, unlimited food and drinks, and more
Chicago hosts one of the largest St. Patrick’s Day celebrations in the world, centering on the tradition of dyeing the Chicago River bright green and parades held throughout the city and suburbs.
Regardless of your own heritage, you can don something green and celebrate Chicago’s deep Irish roots at one of 57 spots.
