Good morning, Chicago.
The Chicago Board of Education approved Chicago Public Schools’ 2025-26 budget without taking out a $200 million high-interest loan, despite Mayor Brandon Johnson’s push to include borrowing as an option to close the district’s massive funding gap.
The 12-7 vote, with one abstention, followed months of financial warnings from top CPS officials and marked a notable shift in internal board dynamics. The decision came just days after Johnson appointed Ángel Vélez to the hybrid, partly elected, partly appointed board, hypothetically securing the simple majority needed to pass a budget with borrowing.
When district leadership presented a $10.25 billion budget to the board earlier this month, multiple board members — supporters of the mayor — dismissed it. The district’s budget did not include borrowing to bolster finances or a commitment to cover a $175 million pension payment for city employees. A budget clash last year over those two items led to the ouster of former CEO Pedro Martinez and prompted the resignation of the previous board.
Read the full story from the Tribune’s Nell Salzman and Kate Perez.
Here are the top stories you need to know to start your day, including what we learned about the Minneapolis church shooter, how the University of Chicago hopes to close a $100 million budget deficit and what’s happening at Oak Street Beach this weekend.
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CPD Superintendent Larry Snelling speaks to the media on July 21, 2025. Snelling said he will not direct his officers to obstruct a potential federal crackdown in the city but did not reveal further details on the department’s protocol should troops come to the city. (E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune)
Trump officials say Chicago immigration crackdown coming, top cop hopes to avoid ‘adversarial environment’
President Donald Trump’s border czar Tom Homan told reporters in Washington, D.C., yesterday that preparations were underway for an immigration crackdown in Chicago, and reports said it could commence as soon as next week.
Chicago police Superintendent Larry Snelling repeated that his door is open for the feds to inform him about any deployment, suggesting he wanted Chicago police to take on the least hostile role possible in order to mitigate some of the “chaos” that could erupt.
Trump administration asks Naval Station Great Lakes outside Chicago for support on immigration operations
The National Guard has been activated to Chicago 18 times from 1877-2021. Here’s a breakdown.
Community members wave flags during the Pilsen Mexican Independence Day Parade on Sept. 9, 2023. (Talia Sprague/Chicago Tribune)
Pilsen Mexican Independence Day parade to go on despite President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown: ‘We are not going to be stopped’
As President Donald Trump considers bolstering immigration enforcement efforts in Chicago as early as next week, organizers of the Pilsen Mexican Independence Day Parade said the upcoming celebration will go on despite deportation fears.
“We are not going to be stopped from celebrating our roots, our heritage, our culture,” said Vicky Lugo, secretary of the United Merchants of Pilsen Chamber of Commerce.
People walk up the stairs to the site of an Israeli strike, minutes before a second strike hit the same spot, killing at least 22 people in total, including five journalists, at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Aug. 25, 2025. This was one of the last photos taken by journalist Mariam Dagga, who freelanced for The Associated Press and other outlets, before she walked to the site and was killed in the second strike. (AP Photo/Mariam Dagga)
Journalist Mariam Dagga’s final images show the hospital where she was killed by an Israeli strike in Gaza
The last photos taken by Mariam Dagga show the damaged stairwell outside a hospital in the Gaza Strip where she would be killed by an Israeli strike moments later.
Dagga, a visual journalist who freelanced for The Associated Press, was among 22 people, including five reporters, killed Monday when Israeli forces struck Nasser Hospital twice in quick succession, according to health officials.
A person walks out of the Annunciation Church’s school as police respond to a reported mass shooting, Aug. 27, 2025, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)
Police say Minneapolis church shooter was filled with hatred and admired mass killers
The shooter who killed two Catholic school students and wounded more than a dozen youngsters sitting in the pews of a Minneapolis church once attended the same school and was “obsessed” with the idea of killing children, authorities said.
The shooter, identified as 23-year-old Robin Westman, fired 116 rifle rounds through stained-glass windows while the children celebrated Mass during the first week of classes at the Annunciation Catholic School, said Minneapolis police Chief Brian O’Hara.
The University of Chicago campus in the Hyde Park neighborhood on April 10, 2024. (E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune)
University of Chicago announces $100M in spending cuts to help plug deficit
In emails to faculty, school officials outlined a broad slate of reductions, including cuts to hiring, Ph.D. programs, master’s degree programs and construction projects.
Churchgoers pray at the life-size sculpture of Our Lady of Guadalupe in the chapel of St. Joseph at the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe during the first stop of its international tour on Aug. 27, 2025, in Des Plaines. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)
Life-size statue of Virgin Mary arrives at Our Lady of Guadalupe Shrine in Des Plaines
The 4-foot-8 statue, known as the Pilgrim Mother, arrived Wednesday from the Our Lady of Guadalupe Basilica in Mexico City. Ahead of the 500-year anniversary of the Virgin Mary’s apparition in Tepeyac, Mexico, the sculpture is embarking on a worldwide tour, with visits scheduled to Colombia, Puerto Rico and the Philippines, among other places.
Its first stop is Our Lady of Guadalupe in Des Plaines, where the statue will remain until Sept. 30.
Photos: Life-size sculpture of Our Lady of Guadalupe celebrated in Des Plaines
Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler passes out of the end zone in the third quarter, Nov. 13, 2016 at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Fla. The Bears lost to the Bucs, 36-10. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)
Chicago Bears All-Quarter-Century Team: Which players made our list of the best of the 2000s?
With the Chicago Bears gearing up for the season opener after setting their initial 53-man roster this week, there’s optimism at Halas Hall that — despite coming off a five-win season in a rugged division — they will field their best team in several years under first-year coach Ben Johnson.
As the 2025 season draws near, it’s a good time to look back at the last 25 years and compile an All-Quarter-Century Team.
Taylor Sander serves the ball during the men’s final at The AVP Chicago Open at Oak Street Beach on Sept. 1, 2024. (Eileen T. Meslar/Chicago Tribune)
AVP is back at Oak Street Beach — with a twist. Here are the beach volleyball teams to watch this weekend.
Every Labor Day weekend, a beach volleyball stadium pops up on Lake Michigan, just north of the Drake Hotel, and some of the world’s best players come to Chicago.
This weekend will be no different. The Association of Volleyball Professionals will take over Oak Street Beach starting tomorrow morning for the AVP League Championships, with winners crowned Sunday afternoon.
Jon Michael Hill (as Naz) and Glenn Davis (Junior) in in “Purpose” on Broadway at the Hayes Theater in New York. (Marc J. Franklin)
Column: Steppenwolf Theatre is having a Broadway trifecta, but it’s a different kind of success
Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre Company is no stranger to Broadway. Over the years, the Chicago-based theater has sent 18 shows to New York. Still, three transfers within the space of a calendar year is going it some, writes Tribune theater critic Chris Jones.
Emily Blunt and Dwayne Johnson in a scene from “The Smashing Machine.” (Ken Hirama Dunn/A24 via AP)
Movies for fall 2025: Our top 10 picks, from ‘Smashing Machine’ to a Springsteen story
Even with the film and streaming industries in churn, and too few new titles finding their under-marketed way to theaters this year, the movie summer of 2025 stayed alive. Job One: done. Fall comes next, and damned if that lovely season doesn’t have a way of raising our quality expectations. We have the usual quotient of critical successes coming soon, having premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May. More of these prestige titles will follow suit after first-look appearances at the Venice and Telluride and Toronto festivals in September.
It’s a good feeling, this kind of anticipation. Maybe we should make it autumn all year long. Here are 10 of many on the horizon, release dates subject to change.
