Preckwinkle: Cigarette Tax Hike Would Save Lives
County Board President Toni Preckwinkle said Tuesday that she's not simply trying to raise revenue by seeking a $1-per-pack cigarette tax hike, she's trying to save lives.
Watch CBS News
County Board President Toni Preckwinkle said Tuesday that she's not simply trying to raise revenue by seeking a $1-per-pack cigarette tax hike, she's trying to save lives.
Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle's budget plan relies on new or higher taxes on cigarettes, ammunition, guns, and gambling machines, but also fulfills her 2010 campaign pledge to eliminate an unpopular sales tax hike enacted by her predecessor.
She's the Cook County Treasurer - the woman responsible for collecting property taxes, but now the Better Government Association has found the county did not collect thousands of dollars it should have gotten from Maria Pappas and her husband years ago.
Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart has made a new request to the State's Attorney's office to search the backyard of a Northwest side apartment building in hopes of finding new evidence in the murders of serial killer John Wayne Gacy.
Gov. Pat Quinn said Tuesday an idea to tax each slot machine and video gambling machine in Cook County ought to wait until he sits down with the legislative leaders to talk gambling expansion.
A Cook County Circuit Court employee has been charged with stealing $3,500 in traffic ticket payments, the fourth clerk's office employee to face criminal charges this year, prosecutors announced Tuesday.
Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart used the friendliest possible tone on Thursday to deliver the harshest possible message to inmates as he welcomed another training program to Cook County jail, this one providing guitar lessons.
Some inmates who are locked up at Cook County Jail are developing new careers with combs and scissors. CBS 2's Suzanne Le Mignot reports.
Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle may be getting creative when it comes to plugging a budget hole.
Both the Cook County Clerk and the Chicago Board of Elections have redesigned their websites so voters can prepare for the election with their smartphones.
The same cemetery that has been handling indigent burials for Cook County will continue to do so despite earlier criticisms of its operations.
Several hundred people who all shared something in common -- the violent loss of a loved one -- gathered Saturday at the UIC Forum to share, remember and heal.
A fight at the Cook County Jail has landed four inmates in the hospital.
Cook County commissioners reportedly ran up more than $98,000 in expenses without providing a shred of paperwork.
Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle is apparently considering targeted tax and fee increases and cost cutting to close a $115 million deficit in next year's county budget.
A Cook County Sheriff's deputy has filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against his employer, claiming that supervisors have done nothing to stop his co-workers from making his life miserable because he is gay.
An off-duty Cook County prosecutor has been placed on administrative duty after allegedly biting a man on the leg during a scuffle outside a lingerie shop in the Lakeview neighborhood over the weekend.
Tuesday is National Voter Registration Day, and officials in Cook County are joining the effort to get everyone onboard.
The Illinois Supreme Court will issue an order Monday permitting live broadcast coverage of trials in DuPage County.
Two south suburban men were due in bond court Saturday, charged with stealing checks from President Barack Obama's Chicago campaign headquarters.
Cook County Clerk David Orr fears the push for voter ID laws across the country is going to have a pronounced effect on Election Day.
Cook County Sheriff's investigators trying to identify victims of serial killer John Wayne Gacy have solved the unrelated case of a missing man from Peoria, whose body was found on a mountainside in Utah two years ago.
A total of $500,000 in federal grant money will allow a program to combat human trafficking to continue in Cook County.
The Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame has announced 12 people and three organizations that will become the newest inductees this November.
Five former Cook County Jail inmates are suing the Sheriff's office.Five former Cook County Jail inmates are suing the Sheriff's office.
A mass shooting sent six people to the hospital in Chicago's Humboldt Park community overnight Saturday into Sunday, police sources said.
A teen takeover ended with multiple people in police custody in Chicago's Englewood community overnight Saturday into Sunday.
One woman was killed and another was hospitalized after a shooting in Chicago's Roseland community early Sunday.
The WNBA celebrated its 30th season by holding its first All-Star Game in Chicago since 2022.
Jeremy Peña finished with three of Houston's six hits and scored twice.
President Trump cracked jokes at the redo of the White House Correspondents' Dinner on Friday night, after an armed assailant upended April's dinner.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has purchased commercial spyware that can covertly take control of phones, collect messages, photos and location information.
A new lawsuit argues that Wisconsin's elections commission is wrongly blocking absentee voters from canceling their ballots and requesting new ones, with nearly 91,000 ballots already returned ahead of the Aug. 11 primary.
The Illinois Legislative Ethics Commission voted on Thursday to publish a report outlining details of the investigation that led to state Rep. Harry Benton (D-Chicago) to resign his post earlier this month.
Voters in Chicago will have a chance to decide in November if the city should go after the federal government for money spent dealing with the Trump Administration's immigration crackdown and Operation Midway Blitz.
The Trump administration is taking aim at power grid operator PJM Interconnection over rising electricity bills that affect Illinois and Indiana residents.
Chicago remained the most bed bug-treated city in the country, according to Orkin's latest annual rankings covering a full year of residential and commercial treatment data.
Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul this week warned residents cleaning up from last month's storms to be on the lookout for scams.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker on Thursday signed several new consumer protections into law, including a ban on junk fees.
CBS News Chicago has learned that Illinois home insurance premiums are not only higher than the nation's average, but going up faster too.
East Chicago, Indiana is being placed on a precautionary boil water advisory starting Monday morning for planned installations that could affect water safety.
A new Northwestern Medicine study on long COVID shows women show more neurological symptoms than men.
A lettuce supplier to fast-food giant Taco Bell has been linked to a nationwide cyclosporiasis outbreak that has sickened thousands of people, the CDC said.
Chicago just barely made the top 20 in the American College of Sports Medicine's 2026 ranking of the country's fittest cities.
In a major turnaround in the opioid crisis, overdose deaths are falling across Chicago and Cook County.
The food deserts on Chicago's South and West sides could spread even wider if seven Save A Lot grocery stores close.
Illinois American Water and Aqua Illinois are both seeking rate increases that would raise monthly bills by as much as $28, while their parent companies seek regulatory approval to merge — a deal a consumer watchdog says would give one company control of nearly all regulated water customers in the state.
The Federal Trade Commission and attorneys general from several states secured a right-to-repair settlement Wednesday with agriculture equipment giant Deere & Co. — commonly known as John Deere — that requires the company to let farmers and independent shops fix their own equipment.
Chicago Soul Café opened Monday at 6248 S. St. Lawrence Ave.
The Chicago Bears this weekend said they are assessing land at Wolf Lake Terminals in Hammond, Indiana, for a possible new stadium.
Paramount Skydance on Friday said it would delay the deal until as late as June 2027.
Iowa announced a fall exhibition game against Kansas at the Field of Dreams ballpark, where major and minor league games have been played since 2021.
Christopher Nolan's "The Odyssey" is the first film shot entirely on 70mm IMAX cameras, and Cinemark Seven Bridges in Woodridge is 1 of roughly 30 theaters nationwide equipped to show it that way.
Brenda Fricker won an Academy Award for 1989's "My Left Foot," played the Pigeon Lady in "Home Alone 2" and appeared in "A Time to Kill" and "So I Married an Axe Murderer."
The actor's agent said he was providing more information following news reports "which contain inaccuracies and outright falsehoods."
Meteorologist Mary Kay Kleist has your 6 a.m. First Alert Weather forecast for Sunday, July 26, 2026.
A teen takeover ended with multiple people in police custody in Chicago’s Englewood community overnight Saturday into Sunday. Asal Rezaei reports.
One woman was killed and another was hospitalized after a shooting in Chicago’s Roseland community early Sunday.
Firefighters in the woodlands in southeast Texas say they get several calls each summer from residents hearing what they believe are barking dogs trapped in neighborhood storm drains.
Rescue crews saved about 10 horses from an adjacent barn who stood in their stalls, frozen in fear. Unfortunately, 17 horses died in the fire.
A teen takeover ended with multiple people in police custody in Chicago's Englewood community overnight Saturday into Sunday.
One woman was killed and another was hospitalized after a shooting in Chicago's Roseland community early Sunday.
Initial reports say the crash involved two boats and at least one of them may have flipped over.
A mass shooting sent six people to the hospital in Chicago's Humboldt Park community overnight Saturday into Sunday, police sources said.
The victim suffered multiple injuries to the body and was taken to Illinois Masonic Hospital, where he died, Chicago police said.
While Mayor Brandon Johnson hasn't announced if he will run for re-election next year, he's boasting about lower vacancy rates for Mag Mile buildings and taking credit for the positive changes.
A Lockport foster parent said he lost his kids, job and home for months after a mix-up that landed his name on the Illinois Sex Offender Registry.
Record heat and major air quality issues created by wildfire smoke were key topics as some of the top climate leaders from around the world gathered in Chicago this week for the Aspen Institute's annual climate summit.
Police say a man and a woman were last seen speaking with the victim before the shooting.
Neighbors in the Avalon Park neighborhood said their community has been plagued by squatters, weeds, rats, and water leaks – all thanks to an abandoned home that's been sitting vacant for years.
The WNBA celebrated its 30th season by holding its first All-Star Game in Chicago since 2022.
Jeremy Peña finished with three of Houston's six hits and scored twice.
Pete Crow-Armstrong was 4 for 5 with a home run and three RBIs as the Chicago Cubs cruised past the Pittsburgh Pirates 11-0.
Christian Walker hit a three-run double, Cam Smith added a two-run homer in Houston's eight-run sixth inning and the Astros overcame a five-run deficit to beat the Chicago White Sox 8-5 on Friday night.
WNBA All-Star weekend festivities continue. Chicago is the center of the women's basketball universe and fan interest has grown for this event.
A mass shooting sent six people to the hospital in Chicago's Humboldt Park community overnight Saturday into Sunday, police sources said.
One woman was killed and another was hospitalized after a shooting in Chicago's Roseland community early Sunday.
Madison, Wisconsin remains one of the only cities of its size without a police body camera program, leaving key moments of a fatal officer-involved shooting unrecorded.
A man was killed and a teenage boy was wounded in a shooting on Thursday evening in the West Garfield Park neighborhood on the West Side of Chicago.
A man and a woman were found shot and killed inside a car on Thursday evening on the University of Chicago campus in the Hyde Park neighborhood.