Peter Matuszak –

Illinois spent millions on stalled and canceled university construction projects

June 14, 2024 at 6:45 p.m.

Eight years after Illinois approved a massive capital plan for university campuses in the state, half of the largest new projects at state schools never began construction and are now...

Laurence Msall, president of the Chicago Civic Federation, listens during a panel hosted by the City Club of Chicago on May 19, 2015.

CPS buys short-term relief with bonds that will carry costs for decades

June 14, 2024 at 6:41 p.m.

Chicago Public Schools' latest long-term borrowing deal will buy the district a bit of financial breathing room through 2019 but comes at an immense cost to future generations. By the...

Chicago commits $100 million to investment fund aimed at low-income areas

June 3, 2018 at 11:11 a.m.

The view of the neighborhood from the 51st Street Green Line platform is bleak. To the west, boarded-up storefronts line one side of the street, and the most visible open...

$70,000 a day in interest — the cost of another short-term CPS budget solution

June 14, 2024 at 6:41 p.m.

Two expensive loans that Chicago Public Schools secured over the last week will cost roughly $70,000 a day in interest for the cash-strapped district under the terms of the deals....

Authorities search the Des Plaines River from First Avenue past Roosevelt Road on May 14, 2017, for a boy who jumped into the river with friends from a railroad trestle May 13and is still missing.

Authorities search for teen who jumped into Des Plaines River

May 22, 2019 at 11:25 p.m.

Authorities are continuing their search Sunday near suburban Melrose Park for a boy who jumped from a bridge into the Des Plaines River on Saturday and did not emerge. Three...

Emanuel’s short-term budget solutions will cost $1 billion in interest

June 14, 2024 at 6:44 p.m.

For years, Chicago has patched up budget deficits with long-term borrowing — an expensive habit that Mayor Rahm Emanuel inherited, perpetuated and has vowed to break. But a Tribune analysis...

The roughly six-story reddish structure on the SW corner (former Sears administration bldg) in the 3300 block of West Arthington Street in Chicago on Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2017.

Despite financial struggles, Chicago State has for years worked to open $60M second campus

June 6, 2018 at 1:47 a.m.

Chicago State University's struggles are daunting: It has half as many students as six years ago. The graduation rate has dropped to 11 percent. Hundreds of employees have been laid...

Chicago police investigating cop caught on video throwing coffee at motorcyclist

May 22, 2019 at 10:59 p.m.

Chicago police are conducting an internal investigation into an incident caught on video in which an officer throws a cup of coffee at a passing motorcyclist after the biker shouted...

Interim President Cecil Lucy, second from right, speak at the Chicago State University board meeting Dec. 9, 2016.

Chicago State University faces year-end deficit, needs to slash expenses

May 22, 2019 at 10:52 p.m.

In messages to prospective students and the public, Chicago State University officials are promising an optimistic future — one that might someday even include a school football team. In documents...

Disability Services of Illinois CEO Reuben Goodwin Sr. arrives at court on the 24th floor of the Daley Center. Friday, December 16, 2016.

Man missing from group home found wandering Chicago streets

June 14, 2024 at 6:47 p.m.

A man with developmental disabilities who had been missing since the state revoked the license of his group home provider weeks ago was found wandering Chicago's streets in the cold...

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