The Latest Breaking News from Ashlee Rezin

While the estimated budget hole is larger than the $18.2 million gap projected last year, it is one of the county’s smallest deficits in the last decade. Government leaders said that hiring hasn’t budged much in the past year. “We do need to staff up,” Cook County Board President Preckwinkle…

The “One Fair Wage” campaign wants tipped workers to make the same minimum wage as anyone else in Chicago. Tipped workers instead are paid $9. On July 1, that rises to $9.48 and the $15-an-hour minimum wage goes to $15.80.

Facing opposition in Evanston, university officials want to see action soon on the plans to make the stadium suitable for concerts and other events.

Taylor Swift and her Swifties took over the city, a giant pigeon was spotted in Welles Park, and Chicago Public Schools students started summer break.

Several in the group of about 40 vendors have tried different means of remaining in business after their half of the mall shuttered, but business isn’t the same and they feel isolated without one another.

The music superstar held more than 60,000 fans in the palm of her hand during her Friday night concert in Chicago.

Falcons in the Loop, kayakers enjoying the river, highlights from Sueños Music Festival and more in our best photos from the last week.

Chuck Valauskas is recovering from a 1-inch gash on his head. A family of falcons has made its nest on a Wacker Drive high-rise, and the momma is protective of her young, an expert says.

Ald. Walter Burnett expected to be stuck in the political wilderness. Instead, he became vice-mayor, with a $400,000 budget, keeping the staff he had as chair of the Committee on Pedestrian and Traffic Safety.