As Chicago braced for an immigration enforcement crackdown and a possible National Guard deployment, churches across the city turned up their response from the pulpit

The annual festival now doubles as an Oktoberfest and has grown since its origin in 2016.

About 30 people demonstrated Saturday against Trump's policies along a stretch of U.S. Route 30 in Joliet at an entryway into the Louis Joliet Mall area.

President Donald Trump’s plan to dispatch National Guard troops and immigration agents into Chicago has put many Latino residents on edge, prompting some to carry their U.S. passports while giving others pause about openly celebrating the upcoming Mexican Independence Day

The Lions of Urban Prep traveled to Sterling to take on the Warriors at Prescott Memorial Field at Roscoe Eades Stadium, September 5, 2025.

The Trump administration has informed local officials that its promised immigration enforcement surge in Chicago will operate seven days a week for about six weeks, according to the mayor of a suburb that houses an immigration processing center

Chicago’s public school system suggested that families create phone trees to quickly share information and organize walk-to-school groups to “provide safety in numbers.”

NASCAR will not be returning to Chicago streets next summer as the racing series takes its road act to likely sunnier weather in San Diego following two rain-plagued races out of its three years in Chicago.

Pritzker encouraged residents to learn their rights and film ICE’s work. “Authoritarians thrive on your silence,” he said. “Be loud for America.”

The violence this time was deadlier than last Labor Day, when seven people were killed and more than 20 were wounded

Asked by reporters in the Oval Office if he had decided to send National Guard troops to Chicago, Trump said, “We’re going in,” but added. “I didn’t say when.”

The Fox Valley Folk Music & Storytelling Festival, held Sunday, Aug. 31, at Wheeler Park in Geneva was a meetup of "music, story and community," organizers say. The festival continues Monday, Sept. 1.

The Chicago Police Department will be barred from helping federal authorities with civil immigration enforcement or any related patrols, traffic stops and checkpoints during the surge, according to an executive order signed by Mayor Brandon Johnson

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Sunday said that the Trump administration will soon expand immigration operations in Chicago

Two veteran federal officials from Illinois are relaunching an effort to amend the Illinois Constitution and end partisan gerrymandering in state legislative districts.

The operation in the country’s third-largest city is expected to last about 30 days and could start as early as Sept. 5

Raymond D. Martinez, 33, was arrested after leading police on a chase in a stolen vehicle, crashing into another car and briefly prompting nearby schools to go on lockdown, according to Joliet police.

This summer marks a decade since Illinois’ budget impasse began, which ultimately dragged on for two years and decimated human services across the state.

President Donald Trump’s administration has asked a military base outside Chicago for support on immigration operations, the base said Thursday, signaling a push to expand its law enforcement crackdown to other cities

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker is doubling down on his message to President Donald Trump that the nation’s third-largest city doesn’t need or want military intervention to fight crime, showing off parts of the city where violent crime has decrease

Democrats see in the political fight a way to persuade voters, especially moderates and independents, that Republicans bluster on crime while Democrats are better able to protect citizens and keep the peace

Opinion from Rich Miller: What the Chicago Teachers Union really wants is an immense expansion of the state tax base

"Your remarks about this effort over the last several weeks have betrayed a continuing slip in your mental faculties and are not fit for the auspicious office that you occupy," Gov. JB Pritzker said of President Donald Trump’s threats to deploy the military into Chicago’s streets

If he wants to make the city safer, Johnson said, Trump should restore $158 million he cut in violence-prevention programs for cities such as Chicago.

Trump indicated Chicago could receive similar treatment to what he’s done in Washington, D.C., where he’s deployed 2,000 troops on the streets

Ann Sylvester and Emmanuel Lopez have joined the staffs of the city of Joliet and the Joliet City Center Partnership respectively, offering new outlooks for the future of downtown and other parts of the city

A Chicago man accused of impersonating a lawyer and tricking an 88-year-old Algonquin woman into sending him thousands of dollars has pleaded guilty to theft.

Almost 20 people have graduated from a pre-apprenticeship program in Will County that prepares them for union trade apprenticeships and construction project opportunities.

The Illinois State Police say funds will go to 21 departments to help with enforcement details to remove guns from those "who pose a danger to the public or themselves."

Tracy Chapman, the executive director of the Forest Preserve District of Will County said, “Hadley Valley is a living breathing example of what long term restoration and collaboration can achieve.”

IDOT unveiled its plans for improvements to the railway between Braidwood and Elwood in Will County that is tied to the high-speed rail through Illinois.

Geneva, DeKalb and DuPage County were among 17 communities in Illinois recognized this week for efforts to support electric vehicles and charging stations for a more sustainable future.

People liked Joel Matteson. In fact, the early Kendall County pioneer was so likable that he was eventually elected governor of Illinois, only (like so many future Illinois governors) to be disgraced after leaving office.

At least two arrests were made following a gun bust operation in Will County where members of a Venezuelan transnational gang made an appearance, prosecutors said.

House Bill 1806 regulates the use of artificial intelligence in mental health therapy sessions. It specifically prohibits therapists from using AI to make independent therapeutic decisions

Metra is temporarily canceling two inbound and two outbound trains on the Union Pacific Northwest line that runs through McHenry County.

The pretrial provision of the SAFE-T Act could have kept a man in jail and potentially prevented the escalation that led to a Joliet woman’s murder, according to an advocate for domestic violence victims.

A Chicago man pleaded guilty to possession with intent to deliver cocaine during a Crystal Lake drug buy and was sentenced to 11 years in prison.

Lingering wildfire smoke is the reason for an air quality alert issued by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency for a large portion of northern Illinois

Randolph County Coroner Tracy Vallett said Joseph Czuba, 73, died of natural causes while in the custody of the Illinois Department of Corrections.

A federal judge dismissed a racial discrimination lawsuit from a former Joliet police detective who claimed a former police chief conspired with another department to have him arrested on a domestic battery charge.

One of four men charged with the gang-fueled Joliet Township shooting on Halloween in 2021 has lost his bid to suppress his statements to sheriff’s detectives.

A Will County jury has found a South Chicago Heights man guilty of the 2023 first-degree murder of a Joliet woman

The City of Joliet has named Ann Sylvester as its new director of cultural affairs and special events. She previously worked for the city of Chicago's special events department.

A former Plainfield Township landlord who was convicted in February of the 2023 hate crime murder of a Muslim child has died, according to a Will County sheriff official.

A judge in Illinois dismissed a Trump administration lawsuit Friday that sought to disrupt limits Chicago imposes on cooperation between federal immigration agents and local police

Another company is joining the state-backed research and business facility on Chicago’s South Side

Will County reached an $85,000 settlement in a federal lawsuit case that claimed county law enforcement violated Illinois sanctuary laws with the detention of an immigrant who was the key witness of a reckless homicide.

The Illinois State Police welcomed 95 new troopers from Cadet Class 150 at a graduation ceremony in Springfield, its largest class in the past 25 years

After almost a decade, Illinois State Comptroller Susana Mendoza will not seek another term as the state’s chief financial officer.