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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Federal agents use tear gas and smoke on community members and activists while they protest near the 3900 block of South Kedzie Avenue on Oct. 4, 2025, in Chicago. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)
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.
Dr. Michael McKee’s residence at 2100 N. Lincoln Park West in Chicago, on Jan. 12, 2026. A criminal complaint lists McKee’s home address as the building at left. Mckee is charged with killing his ex-wife, Monique Tepe, and her husband, Spencer Tepe, in Ohio. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune)
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.
Linda Brown, right, pictured with her husband, Antwon Brown. (Jen Rivera)
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 attends as Charles Beach is installed as the new chief judge of the Circuit Court of Cook County in a ceremony Dec. 1, 2025, at Chicago-Kent College of Law. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)
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 departs after announcing an independent commission to document and collect evidence of abuses by federal immigration agents on Jan. 8, 2026, at the Union League Club of Chicago. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)
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.
A woman walks out of Indian Trails Apartments, an affordable housing development that a developer plans to rehabilitate, in West Pullman, Jan. 12, 2026. (Eileen T. Meslar/Chicago Tribune)
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.
Bears kicker Cairo Santos speaks to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell before the NFC wild-card playoff against the Packers at Soldier Field on Jan. 10, 2026. (Patrick McDermott/Getty)
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.
Packers wide receiver Matthew Golden (0) pushes Bears cornerback Jaylon Johnson (1) after the play during the fourth quarter of an NFC wild-card game Jan. 10, 2026, at Soldier Field. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)
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?
Chevy Chase, left, with Marina Zenovich, the director of a new documentary about him, “I’m Chevy Chase and You’re Not,” in New York, Dec. 4, 2025. The famously prickly comedian found a sympathetic adversary in the director. (Blaise Cepis/The New York Times)
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.
The mansion at 609 Sheridan Road in Winnetka, which sold for $34.5 million in November, sits along the lakeshore on Jan. 7, 2026. (E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune)
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.
Sara Levine sits in home writing space on Jan. 9, 2026, in Evanston. Levine is the chair of the writing department at School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a novelist whose new book, “The Hitch,” follows her 2011 novel Treasure Island. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune)
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.
