As the year winds down, often along with the local news cycle, our newsroom is reflecting on what we reported in 2025.
Throughout the year, Austin Weekly News posted 345 stories online and got over 103,000 pageviews. While there’s no way to tell which articles our print readers liked best, below are the top 10 stories written this year that got the most pageviews online.
- Rep. La Shawn Ford files bill to permit Chicagoans to recall mayor – 3,174 pageviews
Though it doesn’t look like Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson will be unseated any time soon, La Shawn Ford — who’s been the state representative for Illinois’ 8th district for 17 years and was endorsed by Congressman Danny Davis to succeed him in retirement — filed a bill in January that, if passed, would allow Chicago residents to recall the mayor.
I thought that was pretty newsworthy, but it turns out Ford has been filing similar legislation every general assembly since 2015.
While most elected officials can be impeached, the mayor cannot. The same used to be true of the Illinois governor, but Ford helped pass a bill that, in 2010, became a law making it possible to recall the Illinois governor.
- Nurses escorted out of West Sub amid Family Birthplace closure — 1,293 pageviews
Nurses working on the Family Birthplace floor at West Suburban Medical Center were suddenly escorted out of the hospital in the middle of a weekday shift in July. I talked to a couple of those nurses, who said they were indefinitely suspended without pay because of, they were told, a shortage of nurses. But they showed me their timesheets, which were fully staffed through that upcoming weekend. The Family Birthplace floor, containing labor and delivery, postpartum and nursery units, remains closed.
Lacey Sikora — who often writes about real estate for Austin Weekly News — reported in March that Frank Lloyd Wright’s J.J. Walser House at 42 N. Central Ave. in Austin was added to Preservation Chicago’s annual list of the city’s most endangered historic buildings.
In May, the same home was named one of Landmarks Illinois’ 10 most at-risk structures in the state.
And earlier this month, I reported that the home went to the lender at a foreclosure sale. The lender hasn’t made a public statement about rehabbing the property, unlike one of two organizations that were aiming to buy the historic house and restore it, but couldn’t because it was too expensive.
- La Shawn Ford won’t run for state representative again — 992 pageviews
For weeks over the summer, I heard rumblings that Congressman Danny Davis was going to retire after nearly 30 years before he announced it at the end of July. That’s because, in May, State Rep. La Shawn Ford submitted federal paperwork to run for Davis’ spot. The same day Davis announced he’s serving his last term in Congress, he endorsed Ford to succeed him.
Ahead of the endorsement, Ford said he wouldn’t run again for state representative so that others could start circulating their nominating petitions.
Since Davis isn’t running for the first time since 1997, 20 candidates are tossing their hats in the ring to be congressman of the 7th district. Ahead of primary elections in March, look for the last of my profiles on those who are running, along with a roundup of all the candidates in the race.
- West Suburban names new president of medical staff — 975 pageviews
Back in March, West Suburban announced that the new president of its 500 providers would be Dr. Chidinma Osineme. She was vice president until Dr. Paul Luning resigned as president. Luning didn’t say why he resigned, but three days before, West Sub issued a statement accusing him of organizing a campaign to force the sale of the hospital and discouraging resident doctors from coming to the hospital’s Family Medicine Residency Program.
In January, West Sub lost its accreditation status, and this summer, the Family Medicine Residency Program saw its last graduating class.
But Luning is still chief medical officer of PCC Community Wellness Center, which was contracted to host the residents who studied at West Sub. Earlier this month, he told me that PCC is looking to sponsor a new family medicine residency program through a federally funded program.
- Woman-owned construction firm at work on women’s recovery house — 958 pageviews
Last fall, Pink Hats Construction & Development Group gutted a building at 851 N. Leamington Ave. Formerly Sisters House, a substance abuse recovery home, the building was redeveloped in March to serve a similar purpose.
The new 30-room Phoenix Recovery House offers a place to stay, from six months to a year, for women recovering from substance abuse and their children. Phoenix Recovery House was aiming to open in Austin over the summer.
- Banking starts comeback in Austin after decades — 881 pageviews
Both a PNC Bank and BMO bank opened in Austin this year — the former next to Forty Acres Fresh Market and the latter inside the Aspire Center for Workforce Innovation. But before what some locals are calling a resurgence in banking, Austin lacked access to financial institutions for decades.
For at least 10 years, U.S. Bank was the only option for 90,000-some Austin residents. But now, the tide is changing.
Last year, Great Lakes Credit Union at Leaders Network Financial opened on Madison Street as the first credit union in Austin. And with increasing economic growth and development on Chicago’s West Side, locals say it’s likely more financial institutions will want to have a presence in an area that was once a banking desert.
When the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education announced that West Suburban would no longer be able to sponsor the Family Medicine Residency Program in January, 20-some residents had to find another institution to complete their education at.
About 10 residents graduated in the last class of West Sub’s Family Medicine Residency Program in June. Family Medicine Residency Program staff helped remaining residents to relocate. Many left Chicago, and some went out-of-state, decreasing the number of family medicine doctors the city may have in coming years.
Every year, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development organizes a Point-In-Time Count, a report on how many people experience homelessness in an area on a single night.
This year’s count took place in January and estimated that nearly 7,500 people in Chicago experience homelessness on a given day.
Before those numbers were reported, Luzane Draughon — who was previously our staff reporter at the Wednesday Journal of Oak Park and River Forest — wrote this article about last year’s Point-In-Time Count. She reported that Illinois’ unhoused population grew from 11,947 in 2023 to 25,832 in 2024. But from Jan. 2024 to Jan. 2025, Illinois’ Point-in-Time Count dropped from 25,832 to 14,571 people.
- What new Illinois laws have taken effect in 2025? – 660 pageviews
Also written by Draughon at the beginning of the year, this article outlines what Chicago-area legislation started in 2025.
New laws that went into effect this year include:
- Requiring pay transparency, where employers with 15 or more employees must include information about pay scale and benefits in job postings
- Allowing digital driver’s licenses instead of physical ones
- Prohibiting discrimination on reproductive health decisions, like abortion, birth control, fertility treatment and miscarriage care
- Requiring Illinois insurance companies to cover annual cervical smears and prostate cancer screenings for anyone who’s insured
- Requiring insurance companies to provide coverage for mental health therapy services for police officers and their spouses, and that police can’t be fired for a mental or physical disability
- Requiring scrap dealers to record the VINs of cars that had their catalytic converters stolen
- Making it so landlords can’t penalize renters for reporting code violations by raising rent, suing or terminating a lease
Did any of these new laws impact you? Or do you have a unique view on one of the other stories I listed? What about any articles you want me to pursue in the new year? Email me your thoughts at jessica@austinweeklynews.com.
