Chicago Sun-Times • 10/10/2025

In 'Little Palestine,' crowd cautiously hopeful for ceasefire agreement between Israel, Hamas

Speaking to a crowd gathered Thursday in “Little Palestine,” Deanna Othman said she was cautiously welcoming the ceasefire agreement that could end the deadly two-year war in Gaza but remained skeptical that Israel will follow through with its promises. “President [Donald] Trump must honor his commitment to securing a permanent ceasefire and must not allow the Israeli government to manipulate him yet again,” said Othman, an organizer with the Chicago chapter of American Muslims for Palestine, re...

Chicago Sun-Times • 10/09/2025

Protesters hit the streets as Texas National Guard expected to be deployed in Chicago area

Hundreds of protesters hit the streets around the Chicago area Wednesday evening as National Guard troops were anticipated to be deployed in the Chicago area.Earlier in the day, a military source told the Sun-Times that Texas National Guard troops were expected to head to the Broadview ICE facility in the west suburbs.Details were scant on how many troops would be arriving or when, and there were no signs of troops arriving there late Wednesday. But the deployment was expected to entail 200 sold...

Chicago Sun-Times • 10/07/2025

Chicagoans flock to nation’s second store for viral Jellycat plushies

Some Chicagoans can’t get enough of the lovable “jellies” stuffed toys from Jellycat, the British toymaker that opened its second U.S. store last week on Michigan Avenue.The shop nestled in the Nordstrom on the Magnificent Mile was bustling Monday evening, with a line of customers stretching out of the store waiting for a chance to buy the cuddly stuffed toys.Some shoppers were children who came with their parents. But most were young adults who say they love the stuffed animals and the nostalgi...

Chicago Sun-Times • 10/04/2025

Pritzker calls on state agencies to investigate feds’ treatment of children at South Shore raid

Gov. JB Pritzker is directing the state’s Department of Child and Family Services and the Department of Human Services to evaluate how children were treated during an aggressive immigration raid on a South Shore apartment building this week, he said in a Friday statement.The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said federal agents with Border Patrol, the FBI, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives arrested at least 37 people in the raid, making it one of the largest operatio...

Chicago Sun-Times • 10/03/2025

ChiArts board not renewing contract with CPS citing 'unsustainable' deficit, sparking questions about future

The board that oversees the Chicago High School for the Arts has decided not to renew its contract with Chicago Public Schools, casting doubt on the future of the city’s only arts-focused public high school.In a message to families, ChiArts Executive Director Tina Boyer Brown and principal Néstor Corona said “increasing financial challenges” led the board to its “very difficult” decision, adding that rising operating costs have led to an “unsustainable” deficit.“This means the board will not man...

Chicago Sun-Times • 10/02/2025

Women slugged in attacks near transit stations say they think they were struck by same man

A picture that circulated on social media connected two women who were punched during unprovoked attacks near Union Station and a Metra station near Rate Field, they told the Chicago Sun-Times.Lynsy Howard, 36, of the Near West Side, was walking east on Jackson Boulevard the afternoon of Sept. 20 with a friend.On a crosswalk near Union Station, the two walked past a man who Howard said “did not come off as intimidating.”Then she felt a blow to her head. “Something just flew to my head,” Howard s...

Dallas News • 10/02/2025

Collin County’s growing pains: Can one of the fastest-growing regions in the U.S. keep up?

There was just a stoplight at the intersection of Eldorado Parkway and U.S. Highway 75 when Halcyon Ramsey, pregnant with her first child, moved to McKinney about 15 years ago in search of a better school district for her now-teenage daughter.

Ramsey is among the 1 million Californians who have moved to Texas since 2010, settling in McKinney in 2011. Since then, she has watched that intersection become an unrecognizable jumble of more than a dozen lanes with a Trader Joe’s and a pickleball cour...

Chicago Sun-Times • 10/01/2025

Sen. Durbin rejects award from Chicago Archdiocese following backlash, archbishop says

Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin has turned down an award that was set to be given to him at an Archdiocese of Chicago reception in November, Cardinal Blase Cupich said in a statement Tuesday.The award was intended to recognize Durbin, who is Catholic, for his work on immigration reform and support for immigrants. But since the award’s announcement, the senator and the archdiocese have come under fire from Catholic and anti-abortion leaders and groups over Durbin’s support for legal abortion.“While I a...

Chicago Sun-Times • 09/30/2025

Cubs fans pack Wrigley for Game 1 of wild-card series: 'Some more magic'

Joel and Stephanie Jerabek have been Cubs fans since elementary school.Growing up in Yorkville, Stephanie Jerabek, 68, recalls watching Cubs legends like Ron Santo and Glenn Beckert, hearing Jack Brickhouse’s play-by-play coverage and meeting Ernie Banks in person.The Jerabeks were among the tens of thousands of Cubs fans who descended upon the Friendly Confines on Tuesday for the team’s wild-card series opener against the Padres.This is the first time the Cubs have clinched a playoff spot in fr...

Chicago Sun-Times • 09/27/2025

ICE made unlawful arrests during Operation Midway Blitz, new court filing says

Federal agents recently detained at least three U.S. citizens amid President Donald Trump’s aggressive deportation campaign in Chicago, according to lawyers mounting the most significant court challenge yet to the president’s “Operation Midway Blitz.”The arrests are detailed in a new federal court filing from the National Immigrant Justice Center and the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois, arguing that ICE arrested 27 people without warrants or probable cause and in violation of an exist...

Chicago Sun-Times • 09/23/2025

Antioch school staffer fired, other area education workers face backlash over post on Charlie Kirk’s murder

A Grass Lake school staffer in far north suburban Antioch was fired Friday after posting social media posts critical of Charlie Kirk, the conservative activist gunned down in Utah.In a screenshot of the now-deleted post circulating online, Cristina Monroy, an administrative assistant to the principal, said she had “absolutely no empathy” for Kirk. In the post, she called the Turning Point USA founder a “white nationalist mouthpiece.”Grass Lake’s Principal Ryan Wollberg confirmed the termination,...

Chicago Sun-Times • 09/21/2025

Hundreds plunge into Chicago River in city’s first open-water swim in nearly a century

About 300 swimmers plunged into the Chicago River on Sunday morning for the first organized open-water swim in almost a century as spectators lined the Dearborn and Clark Street bridges and the Riverwalk.“Reclaiming our river not only creates a recreational space for residents and visitors, but it also puts us on the map, along with other global destinations, where open-water swims have become part of city culture,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said at the 7 a.m. start.Participants who were swimming th...

Dallas News • 09/18/2025

The nation’s fastest-growing city paused building. Is Princeton ready to reopen the gates?

Madelyn Awalt thought she had found the perfect home for her family in Princeton, a small city 10 miles east of McKinney.

But problems started the day the family moved into the new, $285,000, house nearly four years ago. — the dishwasher shutting off mid-cycle and appliances tripping a breaker. Awalt eventually replaced the electrical panel and wiring in the house.

Then came the mold, so severe she and her family spent this summer living in an extended-stay hotel, waiting three months for thei...

Dallas News • 09/10/2025

What happened to Dallas’ public transit network of the 1930s? Curious Texas investigates

At around 7 a.m. on a recent morning, the Green Dragon emerged from McKinney Avenue Transit Authority’s trolley barn in Uptown.

Throughout the day, the vintage trolley will travel on the same tracks that were once part of Dallas’ vast streetcar network. The car will ferry locals and visitors alike between landmarks like West Village, the Dallas Museum of Art and the Winspear Opera House.

Today, Dallas’ public transit system looks very different from a century ago. MATA offers a nostalgic glimp...

Dallas News • 09/02/2025

Allen’s $349M spending plan trims tax rate, boosts public safety, parks

As the city plans for new developments and bolstering its infrastructure to keep up with population growth, Allen leaders are set to vote next month on a new tax rate and budget that includes about $349 million in expenditures.

The proposed budget includes a property tax rate of 41.54 cents per $100 in valuation, slightly down from the current rate of 41.75 cents. This marks the fourth year the rate has hovered around this level since the city dropped it from 47 to 42.12 cents in 2022.

City of...

Dallas News • 08/27/2025

Visa: Texas, Southern U.S. pulling ahead as national economic growth slows

Job growth, strong consumer spending, housing affordability and surging business investment are making the South the fastest-growing regional economy in the U.S., according to a new report from Visa.

Economic growth slowed in all four U.S. regions in the first quarter of 2025 as tariff implementation and uncertainty weighed on businesses and consumers.

Still, the South led the nation in economic expansion and job creation, according to data from the credit card giant.

Service sector hiring ac...

Dallas News • 08/20/2025

New McKinney biotech firm aims to integrate, simplify PCR testing

A new biotechnology company in McKinney has ambitions to become the world’s first fully integrated platform for polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing — the same technology behind a common COVID-19 test.

Three Texas health care and biotechnology companies — McKinney-based Community Direct DX and Tyler-based Scienetix and Advanta Genetics R&D — announced Tuesday they have merged to form OSPRI, a name chosen as a play on the fish-eating raptor.

The new enterprise — which aims to streamline the...

Dallas News • 08/19/2025

Watch, cheer, donate: Dallas startup ‘gamifies’ money pledges to NCAA football teams

When the first college football games kick off later this month, fans will have a new way to support their teams — through tax-deductible, “gamified” donations.

A new mobile app by Dallas-based company Sportsmo will let users see play-by-play updates during a game, and can let them make donations for positive plays.

Fans can also make pledges ahead of a game — a $5 donation if the team scores more than 18 points, for example.

“It’s a fun and social new way to enjoy a game with your friends,”...

Dallas News • 08/15/2025

‘Unacceptable’: Rural Collin County may lose fire protection as tax district vote nears

Jo Ann Graham’s family has called an ambulance twice and the fire department once in the eight years they have lived just outside McKinney. Each of those times, she said, help arrived in minutes.

The wait could soon be much longer, when first responders from McKinney next year halt service to areas outside the city. If that happens, the nearest alternative might be Weston’s volunteer fire department, which is about 12 miles away, much of it on two-lane county roads.

“You never know when a gras...

Dallas News • 08/07/2025

4 Collin County mayors share vision for fast-growing region

From within their council chambers, city leaders in Collin County have steered small, sleepy suburbs into booming hubs.

City councils across the county — and the mayors who lead them — have sought to address the growing pains.

Over the last year, the county added almost 76,000 new residents — the most in North Texas. Since the 2020 U.S. Census, the county grew by more than 240,000 people, according to the North Central Texas Council of Governments. In all, an estimated 1.3 million people now c...

Dallas News • 07/29/2025

Rural Collin County voters to consider new tax for emergency services

Faced with losing fire protection, residents in rural Collin County will decide in November if they will pay a new tax to cover emergency services.

The county’s Commissioners Court, heeding a resident petition from earlier this year, voted unanimously Monday to place the proposal on the Nov. 4 ballot. If approved, it would create the county’s first emergency services district.

Richard Hill, one of the residents who spearheaded the petition, told commissioners that “homes and other structures w...

Dallas News • 07/24/2025

Prosper eyes bond package to fund library, police HQ expansion

Strapped for cash to pay for a new library, expand its police headquarters and make a permanent space for town departments, Prosper leaders could decide next month if they will ask voters to approve a $183.8 million bond package in November.

The package, which Prosper’s Bond Committee presented to the Town Council earlier this week, will not raise the town’s current tax rate.

“I can say with absolute confidence that our recommendations ensure this bond package truly reflects the diverse voices...

Dallas News • 07/18/2025

From schoolhouse to hub of hope: Esperanza Community Center aims to uplift neighborhood

A weathered red sign stood outside J. Frank Dobie Pre-K School on a recent afternoon, two months after it announced the last day of classes — and the end of the school itself. Across the street, Victoria Gonzalez, 59, has been keeping an eye on the schoolhouse. Her family has lived in the neighborhood for more than 30 years, and she worries that the building would sit empty and attract vandals. “We were pretty upset when they closed it, because we were like, ‘Wow, this is the perfect pre-K bui...

Dallas News • 07/07/2025

Trump signs disaster declaration, activates federal aid to Kerr County

President Donald Trump on Sunday signed a major disaster declaration for Kerr County after deadly flash flooding through Texas’ Hill Country. Authorities said the death toll had climbed to 68 in Kerr County alone.

“These families are enduring an unimaginable tragedy, with many lives lost, and many still missing,” Trump said in a social media post announcing the signing.

The declaration comes one day after U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem arrived to survey the storm-battered regi...