The Latest Breaking News from Cook County

Former Illinois House Speaker Michael J. Madigan made his first courtroom appearance as a criminal defendant at the Dirksen Federal Courthouse, a happy couple celebrated winning the lottery for Cook County’s first marriage license in 2024, and the legendary Rosebud on Taylor Italian restaurant…

“You call the police and you report it,” a Cook County judge told Chicago firefighter Omotayo Kassim, who is accused of critically wounding a driver in Andersonville.

Officials in Cook County say implementation has been seamless, but the new policy put a strain on resources elsewhere in Illinois.

Chicago hospitals were admitting about 30 COVID-19 patients per day as of Christmas Eve, a 13% rise from the previous week.

A year into Judge Timothy Evans’ still-secret investigation, the Sun-Times has found that nine of his highest-paid employees who left match loan recipients in the fraud-ridden Paycheck Protection Program.

Doses at 14 other West Side gas stations will become available at no charge between now and the new year as part of a Cook County sheriff’s office program.

Francisco Benitez was 18 when he was arrested and later convicted in the 1989 fatal shootings of two teens. He got a certificate of innocence from the state Dec. 7.

The affordability and availability of transit is a racial justice issue for metropolitan Chicago, the RTA chairman writes.

A sandhill crane dancing with a cornstalk, a 12-point buck in the Foroest Preserves of Cook County, ice-fishing guru Dave Genz on bluegills and the record pounds of silver carp taken from the Illinois River are among the notes from around Chicago outdoors and beyond.