Events That Shaped Chicago: 2023 Year In Review

CHICAGO — As the new year looms, pressing issues that dominated headlines in Illinois in the year 2023 range from significant strikes to devastating storms and drastic changes in the sports scene. 

Over the course of the last 12 months, when it came to crime in Chicago, homicides trended down. While a victory for the city’s police department, robbery and thefts spiked, and stolen vehicle reports skyrocketed by more than double.

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For Mayor Brandon Johnson, 2024 will be the first test of his new crime-fighting strategy, unveiled at year’s end. 

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COVID-19’s official end as a public health emergency came in 2023, closing a chapter three years after it began.

“Normal” was not the operative word when it came to Chicago politics. For the first time in 40 years, the incumbent mayor lost their run for re-election. 

Mayor Lori Lightfoot became a one-term mayor after losing to runoff contenders Paul Vallas and the progressive, former Chicago Teachers Union organizer who would become mayor, Brandon Johnson. 

His first and tallest challenge was an inherited one and one of the biggest stories of the year: the migrant crisis. 

Bus after bus arrived from the Texas border, bringing asylum seekers from South and Central America. Suddenly the city had to make room for 26,000 new residents. 

Most were immediately housed at Chicago’s police stations and at O’Hare Airport. However, the crisis was marked by fighting among neighborhoods unwilling to take on the risk and burden.

Turnover wasn’t just confined to the mayor’s office.

The longest-serving secretary of state, Jesse White, left office. After a months-long search, Larry Snelling became the permanent CPD superintendent. And often-embattled Cook County State’s attorney Kim Foxx announced she wouldn’t seek another term. 

Jesse White CPD Supt.  » Read More