Daywatch: Another government shutdown looms
Good morning, Chicago. Here are the top stories you need to know to start your day.
Good morning, Chicago.
A debate over the debt ceiling is at the center of a dispute over funding that is pushing Washington to the brink of a federal government shutdown.
President-elect Donald Trump has demanded that a provision raising or suspending the nation’s debt limit — something that his own party routinely resists — be included in legislation to avert a government shutdown. “Anything else is a betrayal of our country,” Trump said in a statement Wednesday.
Republicans quickly complied, including a provision in a revamped government funding proposal that would suspend the debt ceiling for two years, until Jan. 30, 2027. But the bill failed overwhelmingly in a House vote Thursday evening, leaving next steps uncertain.
Here’s what to know about the debate over the debt ceiling and the role it’s playing in the shutdown saga.
And here are the top stories you need to know to start your day.
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Mayor Brandon Johnson advisor told CPS board he wanted CEO Pedro Martinez out by late September
Mayor Brandon Johnson’s top labor advisor told the Chicago Public Schools board leaders that the mayor expected CEO Pedro Martinez to be out by Sept. 26, according to an internal memo obtained by the Tribune.
In a Sept. 12 email sent to Jianan Shi and Elizabeth Todd-Breland, the board’s president and vice president at the time, deputy labor mayor Bridget Early wrote “Here’s what lies ahead for the Board for the remainder of this term: CEO out by 9/26 … Land contract, current leadership is not on track to getting this done before a strike.”
Cook County settles police misconduct, medical malpractice suits
The Cook County Board approved three large settlements — a fraction of the more than $120 million approved during 2024, according to the county’s Finance Committee.
COPA releases bodycam of West Rogers Park shootout with hate-crime suspect
The Civilian Office of Police Accountability yesterday released body-worn camera footage of a harrowing late-October shootout between Chicago police officers and a now-deceased hate crime suspect in the West Rogers Park neighborhood.
Immigration drives 68,000 increase in Illinois population, new Census report shows, even though residents keep moving out of state
Illinois gained nearly 68,000 people from 2023 to 2024, reversing a recent trend of population losses, the U.S. Census Bureau reported Thursday. Much of the increase was due to an influx of migrants, a trend that played out across the country.
The increase of 67,899, or .5%, was small, and paled in comparison to the growth of 563,000 in Texas, but the numeric growth was the most in the Midwest.
- Immigration agency deports highest number of people since 2014, aided by more flights
- A key Donald Trump ally on immigration explains how mass deportations could work
Judges dismisses most of woman’s claims against Hubbard Inn in lawsuit involving viral TikTok
A judge dismissed all but one allegation filed against Hubbard Inn by a woman who posted a video alleging restaurant staff injured her in March.
In the now-deleted TikTok, Julie Reel alleged that a bouncer at the River North restaurant pushed her down the stairs between the evening of March 9 and the morning of March 10. The video was viewed hundreds of thousands of times across social media.
ICC approves amended ComEd grid improvement plan with $600 million rate hike
The Illinois Commerce Commission approved a revised multi-year power grid improvement plan that would increase electric bills for Commonwealth Edison customers by more than $600 million over four years, 11% less than the utility proposed.
The decision comes a year after the ICC rejected another grid plan from ComEd — which would have been more costly for consumers — for reasons that included a failure to show the cost-effectiveness of proposed system investments and not fully complying with the clean-energy goals set by Illinois’ ambitious Climate and Equitable Jobs Act.
Comcast raising monthly sports fee for subscribers while Bulls, Blackhawks and Chicago Sports Network still blacked out
While the Blackhawks, Bulls and the rest of the programming on the new Chicago Sports Network remains blacked out on Comcast, the cable giant is raising the monthly fee it charges subscribers to access its diminished local sports offerings.
Chicago Cubs ‘ready to move forward’ with Sammy Sosa after the slugger’s public apology for past ‘mistakes’
The Chicago Cubs are welcoming Sammy Sosa back to the organization following the slugger’s public apology for past “mistakes.”
Sosa released a statement Thursday, paving the way for the former National League MVP, who has been estranged from the organization since he left the Cubs after the 2004 season. Sosa had been linked to performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) but long denied his involvement.
Ben Johnson has a ‘burning desire’ to be a head coach. Could the Detroit Lions OC be a fit for the Chicago Bears?
The Chicago Bears have pledged to cast a wide net in their head coach search. One bright possibility certain to garner the attention of the Bears and other teams searching for their next hire in the upcoming hiring cycle will be on the opposite sideline Sunday afternoon at Soldier Field — Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson.
Review: In ‘Gypsy’ on Broadway, Audra McDonald is transformational and tragically human as Rose
Madam Rose is known for her powerhouse belt and for being the scariest Bad Showbiz Mother of the Year, but not for moving an audience to tears. Audra McDonald, surely the best actress ever to play this iconic role, changes that trajectory in director George C. Wolfe’s disarmingly moving Broadway revival of “Gypsy,” the 1959 masterpiece ostensible about the coming of age of Gypsy Rose Lee, with music by Jule Styne, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by Arthur Laurents.
At the performance Tribune theater critic Chris Jones saw, half the orchestra audience was wiping its eyes. Several times.
Kathy Griffin is doing a NYE show at the Chicago Theatre — because it felt like time for a laugh
Kathy Griffin is feeling triumphant.
Her naysayers thought she would never work again, but at age 64, the Emmy and Grammy Award-winning comedian is on the final leg of a stand-up comedy tour of more than 70 cities in the U.S. and Canada, her first since 2018. Titled “Kathy Griffin: My Life on the PTSD-List,” the tour comes to the Chicago Theatre on New Year’s Eve.
What to do in Chicago: Tink or Trans-Siberian Orchestra, plus a holiday pickleball tournament
Also around the area this weekend, a chance to see Hokusai’s famous wave print or visit with “Little Women” at Northlight Theatre.
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