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| Good afternoon, Chicago. Mayor Brandon Johnson raised the possibility of city worker layoffs today after a bruising budget fight that he again claimed led to an unbalanced spending plan for this year. At a City Hall news conference, the mayor responded to a question about retroactive changes to the 2026 budget, which aldermen passed over his objections last month, by reiterating the package could force personnel cuts. Meanwhile, the top financial official in Johnson’s administration, Jill Jaworski, is leaving to take a job with the nonprofit corporation that runs Navy Pier. Here’s what else is happening today. And remember, for the latest breaking news in Chicago, visit chicagotribune.com/latest-headlines and sign up to get our alerts on all your devices. Subscribe to more newsletters | Asking Eric | Horoscopes | Puzzles & Games | Today in History
news  Ayelech Gray, left, of Elk Grove High School, Jonila Ilazi of Rolling Meadows High School and Nell Krzyszczuk of Rolling Meadows High School receive training to be official election
judges while operating on-campus early voting sites as part of the Cook County clerk’s office’s first-ever high school early voting program at Hersey High School in Arlington Heights on Jan. 6, 2026. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune) Cook County clerk’s office teams up with Chicago Bears to launch inaugural student election judge programThrough the initiative, dubbed “Defenders of DA’mocracy,” students across the county will see the inner workings of the election system firsthand by becoming official election judges for their peers ahead of this spring’s primary.
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business  Northwestern Memorial Hospital workers hold signs during a rally to call attention to emergency
department staffing needs, among other concerns, across the street from the hospital, Jan. 6, 2026, in Chicago. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune) Northwestern Memorial Hospital workers demand better staffing, ahead of expansion voteA hospital workers’ union is calling on Northwestern Memorial Hospital to beef up its emergency department staffing, ahead of a scheduled state board vote next week on whether the hospital should be allowed to embark on a $96 million expansion project.
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sports  Bulls center Nikola Vučević defends Hornets guard Kon Knueppel on Jan. 3, 2026, at the United Center. (AP Photo/Matt Marton) Chicago Bulls are being forced to play small again. Absence makes the heart grow fonder for double-big lineups.Sometimes, going big is better. That has been a new trick for the Bulls this season. Small ball wasn’t cutting it.
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eat. watch. do.  Yoonshin Park stands in her studio at Mana Contemporary Chicago on Dec. 30, 2025, while surrounded by artist book prototypes for her upcoming exhibition
"Prompt and Prompted." (Eileen T. Meslar/Chicago Tribune) Yoonshin Park includes students’ artwork in upcoming ‘Prompt and Prompted’ exhibitThe fascination with papermaking has always been inside of Yoonshin Park. Her newest exhibit, “Prompt and Prompted,” at the Hyde Park Art Center, showcases reimagined structures of what books can be in an art form known as artist books.
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nation & world  A bullet hole is seen in the windshield as law enforcement officers work at the scene of a shooting involving federal law enforcement agents, Jan. 7, 2026, in Minneapolis. (Tom Baker/AP) Minneapolis mayor says ICE officer’s killing of motorist was ‘reckless’ and wasn’t self-defenseAn Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer shot and killed a Minneapolis motorist today during the Trump administration’s latest immigration crackdown on a major American city — a shooting that federal officials claimed was an act of self-defense but that the city’s mayor described as “reckless” and unnecessary.
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