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Mayor Brandon Johnson’s first budget comes at a crossroads moment for the Chicago Department of Public Health.

More than three years after COVID-19 placed the Health Department on the front lines and made it among the most vital and prominent departments in the city, Johnson’s decisions on prioritizing spending there as federal pandemic dollars dry up will help shape how prepared Chicago is should another significant public health crisis arise.

While Johnson — who ran a campaign promising he’d emphasize spending on mental health — and his administration insist it has its eye on making sure Chicago is in good shape, some observers are concerned the city isn’t putting enough of its own money into ensuring the gains made over the past three years aren’t lost.

Read the full story from the Tribune’s John Byrne.

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After months of delay, nearly 1.8 million property tax bills for Cook County home and business owners are landing in mailboxes this week, and many homeowners in the north and northwest suburbs are in for jarring news.

It has been a year and Vickie Patterson still struggles to walk out the door.

The East Garfield Park resident tries hard to leave the house, nudged by her therapist to overcome her fear. She’s starting to walk more instead of taking Ubers. She’s riding the bus too, though she feels the need to scan the passengers who board.

Just four months after the July Fourth mass shooting in Highland Park drew worldwide attention, the Halloween mass shooting in the East Garfield Park neighborhood garnered immediate condemnation and concern from city leaders.

Rodi Glass survived the Holocaust as a child growing up under Nazi occupation in the Netherlands, where she was forced to wear a yellow Star of David sewn to her clothing to identify herself as a Jew at the age of 6.

Eight decades later, the 87-year-old Highland Park resident is disturbed by an unsettling spike in antisemitic incidents and rhetoric amid the Israel-Hamas war, marking a particularly threatening era for Jews locally as well as globally.

One week on call, followed by five weeks to work cases. Ten-hour days and take-home cars. And perhaps most importantly, total ownership of an investigation from start to finish.

Starting next year, the Chicago Police Department will roll out a new pilot program for detectives, altering how and when investigators respond to murder scenes across the city in an effort to boost CPD’s clearance rate.

10 thoughts from Brad Biggs after the Bears could not seem to capture a spark or enough momentum to build a two-game winning streak, if you can call something as brief as two a “streak.”

“Friends” star Matthew Perry, the Emmy-nominated actor whose sarcastic, but lovable Chandler Bing was among television’s most famous and most quotable characters, has died at 54.

The actor was found dead of an apparent drowning at his Los Angeles home Saturday, according to the Los Angeles Times and celebrity website TMZ, which was the first to report the news. Both outlets cited unnamed sources confirming Perry’s death.

The new show resuscitates a circus many thought was gone for good. After a five-year hiatus, a touring Ringling production opened in September and will stop Nov. 3-5 at Allstate Arena in Rosemont. Suburban La Grange native Sammie Pearsall is part of the aerial acts, performing on dance trapeze, aerial straps, silks and harness.

The first and only casino in Chicago opened last month to much fanfare, but the restaurants and bars have surprisingly remained a mystery. So the Tribune’s Louisa Chu decided to find out what food and beverage options Bally’s has to offer.