Good morning, Chicago.
In the month since the high-stakes battle over a $10.25 billion budget, Chicago Public Schools continues to face challenges, including a broad management reorganization and the threat of losing federal funds. The issues loom large for some board and community members, who are calling for increased clarity and transparency from the district.
The struggles come as the district tries to gain its footing after an extended time of turmoil in the last calendar year, marked by leadership changes, a new teachers’ contract, the growing pains of a new 21-member school board and thousands of layoffs of CPS staff and educators over the summer to address its financial woes.
The district continues to struggle with ongoing issues, particularly as it is caught in a legal dispute with the U.S. Department of Education over the release of $8 million in funding intended for CPS students. Meanwhile, the district maintains that no significant staffing decisions have been made.
Read the full story from the Tribune’s Kate Perez.
Here are the top stories you need to know to start your day, including Mayor Brandon Johnson pushing to reorganize City Council chairs, Cubs’ magic number to clinch top wild-card spot drops to 2 and our recommendations for what to do this weekend.
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Bahara appears from Afghanistan in a FaceTime call with her family in the Chicago area on Aug. 14, 2025. It has been four years since the family was together. (E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune)
‘We got out. She didn’t.’ Trump administration policy halts Afghan family’s bid to reunite with daughter left behind
On a recent video call, Bahara’s face flickered in and out — her sharp cheekbones barely visible in the dark. The power was out again in Kabul.
The 19-year-old spoke for a few minutes with her family in Illinois before the screen went black and an eerie quiet settled over the room.
It has been four years since Bahara’s family of seven was together, and since they last saw their youngest daughter. In their living room, half a world away from her, they relive their separation from her.
Activist Leanna Quarticcio stands outside fencing set up around the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility on Sept. 23, 2025, in Broadview. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune)
Broadview demands ICE take down new fencing around detention center
Broadview officials are demanding the Department of Homeland Security take down an “illegally built” fence erected outside an immigration processing and detention facility that’s been the site of volatile protests amid a recent blitz of Chicago-area immigration enforcement by the administration of President Donald Trump.
Related:
1 detainee killed and 2 others critically injured in Dallas ICE facility, Homeland Security says
Ald. Daniel La Spata, 1st, watches a vote count during a City Council meeting at City Hall, Feb. 19, 2025. (Eileen T. Meslar/Chicago Tribune)
Mayor Brandon Johnson pushing to reorganize City Council chairs; aldermen unsure of votes
With a key ally out of the City Council, Mayor Brandon Johnson plans to switch up the aldermen who hold the body’s power levers.
Johnson administration officials are lobbying aldermen with a plan to install a progressive Zoning Committee chair while winning over the council’s powerful ethnic caucuses with upgrades of their own.
Chicago Cubs center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong (4) celebrates after scoring on a wild pitch in the fifth inning of a game against the New York Mets at Wrigley Field in Chicago on Sept. 24, 2025. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)
Chicago Cubs’ magic number to clinch top wild-card spot drops to 2 after 10-3 win over the New York Mets
The Cubs (89-69) snapped a season-high five-game losing streak and recorded their first win since clinching a playoff spot one week ago. Their victory over the Mets, coupled with the San Diego Padres losing to the Milwaukee Brewers, lowers their magic number to two to take the top wild card spot as the No. 4 seed. If they can secure that top spot, the Cubs would host their wild-card series at Wrigley Field next week against the No. 5 seed, currently the Padres.
Related:
Photos: Chicago Cubs beat the New York Mets 10-3 at Wrigley Field
Chicago White Sox pitcher Cam Booser reacts as New York Yankees’ Aaron Judge runs the bases after hitting a home run during the eighth inning of a baseball game Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
‘A number you don’t want to get to’: Chicago White Sox reach 100 losses for the 3rd consecutive season
While the Sox have made progress after suffering a modern-day major-league record 121 defeats last year, they couldn’t avoid a third consecutive 100-loss season in 2025. They reached the 100-loss mark yesterday, falling to 58-100 with four games remaining.
Related:
Aaron Judge ties MLB record by hitting 50 home runs for the 4th time, matching Ruth, McGwire and Sosa
Seattle Mariners win the AL West for the 1st time in 24 years as Cal Raleigh reaches 60 home runs
Raiders edge rusher Maxx Crosby eyes Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert in the first half on Sept. 15, 2025, in Las Vegas. (Rick Scuteri/AP)
3 things we learned from Chicago Bears practice, including being wary of ‘relentless’ edge rusher Maxx Crosby
Offensive lineman Theo Benedet was asked yesterday if the Chicago Bears had a difficult practice at Halas Hall.
“It was a Ben Johnson practice,” he replied in the affirmative.
Last week the Bears coach called out his players’ practice habits and was rewarded with a home win against the Dallas Cowboys, the Bears’ first and his first as a head coach.
Another strong week of preparation will be required when the Bears (1-2) travel to Las Vegas to face the Raiders (1-2).
Artist Tim Chapman retrieves his artwork from the Austin-Irving branch of the Chicago Public Library on Sept. 20, 2025. Chapman is among a group of artists whose work was pulled from display at the library in Chicago’s Portage Park and they believe it was because of the anti-Trump theme. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)
Artists claim anti-Trump display at Chicago library was ‘censored’
A group of local artists is accusing the Chicago Public Library of censoring an exhibit that was critical of President Donald Trump, but the city won’t publicly comment on whether the early removal of their artwork was due to its political content.
Titled “We Are Not Done Yet,” the installation at the Austin-Irving library branch on the Northwest Side featured 16 artists and was on display from July until last week, when the city ordered the works be taken down, according to the group’s curator, Sara Peak Convery. She alleged the library made the decision “following political complaints by two unnamed individuals who are city employees and are on city payroll.”
Domhnall Gleeson (standing) as Ned, the new editor in chief on “The Paper.” (Aaron Epstein/Peacock)
Column: You think your office is a sitcom? I worked at Toledo’s Blade newspaper, a loose inspiration for ‘The Paper’
When “The Paper” and its location were announced earlier this year, former Blade staffers lit up social media, skeptical of how crazy this show could possibly get — how true to actually working at The Blade could a sitcom be and still be believable? Sure, the show’s co-creator, Michael Koman and others had visited the Toledo publication and pressed reporters and editors for details on their news-gathering process, their backgrounds, what they did after work. They’d studied the paper’s 190-year history and absorbed the Renaissance Revival architecture of its long, corner-hugging building.
Since journalists are natural cynics, the consensus of Blade veterans was that there was no way they’d nail the real deal — sitcom or not, true tales of the real place strain credulity. Could you base an episode around the crisis that unfolds when the staff is unable to tell a newspaper executive that a Lifesaver is stuck to the back of his head? True story. Or the time a reporter inserted an odd detail into a murder story, noting the victim had a feather in their throat and was likely smothered by a pillow, which prompted the coroner to call the newsroom to say there was no feather. The reporter, who had recently had a lobotomy, admitted he’d seen the feather thing on an episode of “Quincy.”
Really.
This image released by Disney shows Jimmy Kimmel hosting his late night show “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” in Los Angeles on Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2025. (Randy Holmes/Disney via AP)
Jimmy Kimmel is back on ABC with big ratings, but some affiliates still refuse to air his show
Jimmy Kimmel is back on his ABC late-night show, but it’s still a mystery when — or if — viewers in cities such as Washington, Seattle and St. Louis will be able to see him again on their televisions.
The Chicago Theatre marquee displays comedian Louis C.K.’s shows there on Jan. 13, 2023. (Lou Foglia / Chicago Tribune)
What to do in Chicago: Hyde Park Jazz Festival, Louis C.K. and a bed race
Here are our picks for events in and around Chicago this weekend.
