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More Chicago-area counties have been added to a winter weather advisory starting Tuesday evening as forecasters warn of the potential for several inches of snow. The alert was initially set to begin at 8 p.m. in Lake and McHenry counties in Illinois and remain in effect through 6 a.m. Wednesday. A second advisory was issued for Kenosha County beginning at 9 p.m. and continuing through 6 a.m. Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service. But just before 2:30 p.m. Tuesday, a new advisory was issued for DeKalb, Kane, DuPage and northern and central Cook counties, beginning at 10 p.m. Tuesday and continuing through 8 a.m. Wednesday. “Be prepared for hazardous travel due to snow covered roads. The slippery conditions may also impact part of the Wednesday morning commute,” the alert states. Snow accumulations of between 2 and 5 inches are possible, with the highest totals expected near the Wisconsin-Illinois state line. For Lake and McHenry counties, “a heavier snow band is expected to develop.” “If a long enough period of heavier rates occurs, localized snowfall amounts may reach upwards of 5 inches,” the advisory warns. For the remaining counties, anywhere from 2 to 4 inches of snow is possible, with the highest snowfall amounts expected to occur “near and north of Interstate 88 and 290, with amounts tapering down to two inches or less with southward extent in the advisory area.” “There’s some potential for a heavier snow band to set up in northern portions of the counties, and if this occurs, localized snowfall amounts may reach upwards of 4 inches,” the advisory states. Snow is expected to come to an end Wednesday morning. According to the National Weather Service, the hazardous travel conditions will be possible from late evening Tuesday through early Wednesday before another front moves in, bringing more snow showers and gusty winds that could cause additional blowing and drifting snow through Wednesday evening. The second round is expected to begin around 5 p.m. Wednesday, starting in counties to the west. “Just in time for the afternoon and evening commutes,” Roman said. According to the National Weather Service, the snow could be paired with winds up to 35 mph. Dangerous cold then returns later in the week. Temperatures Friday morning will be below zero, Roman warned, with “feels-like” temperatures as low as -35 degrees. In counties to the north and west, wind chills between -35 and -40 were possible. Saturday, temperatures will remain in the single digits, Roman said, with highs moving into the teens by Sunday.

Residents against a proposed data center in suburban Naperville plan to pack a council meeting Tuesday night, where members are expected to consider a possible vote to move the development forward. Developers have already made changes and even scaled back on their initial proposal, but some residents said they don’t buy it. They told NBC Chicago the bottom line is they don’t want the data center in their neighborhood. “We want a no vote from the council,” said Clara Lambert, a Naperville resident. Lambert lives just feet away from where developers want to build the new data center along the Interstate 88 corridor in Naperville. “Our biggest thing – it being located in the middle of a residential area,” she said. “The area has been transitioned over the last six years in residences, and its proximity to homes is what our biggest challenge is.” She’s part of a coalition made up of dozens of residents concerned about the project and possible health risks. “We’re talking about a lot of noise, a lot of diesel emission, and even with the highest standards -there’s still emission, and any emission is bad,” she said.The Naperville City Council will vote on whether to approve a conditional use permit and development agreement for a data center with Karis Critical for the project at 1960 Lucent Lane. “We have no interest in building and developing a facility that causes trouble within the community,” said Greg Strom, SVP of Strategy and Operations for Karis Critical. Developers said their plan calls for a smaller campus of one 200,000-square-foot building instead of two after hearing from concerned residents. “Because those buildings are paired down, some of the equipment and infrastructure required also starts to decrease, the number of backup generators decreases, the number of air-cooled chiller that go onto the roof to chill the equipment also goes down,” he explained. Oher changes include downsizing the number of parking spaces and increasing the height of the equipment screening wall. Developers also conducted multiple noise studies and said the power usage would be capped at 36 megawatts down from 100 megawatts. “We as a developer do not want rates to go up, so we’ve committed to any infrastructure build-out cost,” he said. “We committed to bearing any additional cost that comes a lot with that 36 megawatts of power.” Developers believe the data center will help to revitalize the tech corridor in Naperville and believe it will benefit the community in the long run creating jobs and tax revenues to provide a boost for the local economy. But some residents are still not sold. “The things they have said they have done—they say they’re mitigating the concerns – whether it’s noise or diesel emissions, but mitigation is not elimination,” said Hiba Suleman, a Naperville resident. “The risk is still present.” At least 40 residents have signed up to speak during public comment. If developers get approval, they still need to close on the property and secure several permits. If everything goes according to plan, they could break ground as early as summer.

The Catholic school that forced a change in the 1950s design of a popular Chicago expressway will close at the end of the academic year, the school announced. The historic St. Stanislaus Kostka Academy, located at1255 North Noble Street in Chicago’s Wicker Park neighborhood, will close for good at the end of the school year after over a century and a half, church leaders said in an email sent to parents and staff last week. The closure comes after school “has been on ‘life support’ for some time,” Father Anthony Bus said in the email. “Enrollment has plummeted for a variety of reasons. We are anticipating a school deficit of nearly $500,000 by the end of the school year,” Bus said in the email. “My heart breaks for all of you who have found a healthy and holy refuge for your children at St. Stanislaus Kostka Academy. The dedication of the faculty and staff, their love for your children, and the sacrifices they have made are admirable.” The school also announced the closure on social media. https://www.facebook.com/StStansChurch/posts/pfbid0E8MNR3RR5dhKHrnByi2snowo4BwXH2FhHtK6rAB2PetNALRpoKd3VJnSV5cvazXel The school changed their name to St. Stanislaus Kostka Academy in 2020 from St. Stanislaus Kostka School, and with the name change their motto became “Faith, Virtue, Valor — Expressway to Excellence”‘ — an homage to their mission to “educate the whole person” that makes a nod at the school’s impact on the 1950s design process for the expressway now known as the Kennedy, according to the history section of the school’s website. After early plans for the construction of the Northwest Expressway (now known as the Kennedy) threatened the possible demolition of St. Stanislaus Kostka Church and several of the parish buildings in the 1950s, protests ensued, according to the school’s website. Ultimately, the plan for the expressway was changed to spare the church and majority of the buildings. “We are the parish that moved an expressway,” the school’s website says. Many past and present students are part of families with years of ties to the school, including Christine Millers’ family. St. Stanislaus Kostka Academy has been a part of her family for more than 60 years and she still has her kindergarten pictures, she said. “Oh my God, we’ve had three generations going to that school, my brother, my sister, and I, and then my sister had her kids going there. My kids all went there. And it’s a great school, you know, I love it. So, so many good memories,” Miller said. “I wish I could win the lotto. If I did, that school would be continuing.” The original school opened in 1874. The same year, America’s first public zoo opened. Barbed wire was also invented that year. Kyle Werner says he was “crushed” to hear the school would close, adding that he forged lifelong friendships and his religious beliefs at the school. He was also on the basketball team. “That school has been there forever,” he said. “All my cousins went there. Two of my siblings went there.” Werner played for the school’s basketball team and said he still calls the “guys on that team brothers.” According to the Archdiocese of Chicago’s Office of Catholic Schools there are 105 students enrolled in the school. Tuition for new students is $8,250 a year and returning students pay $7,835. A spokesman for the archdiocese said there are currently no plans for the building as of now. National Catholic Schools Week the annual celebration of Catholic education in the United States takes place next week. St. Stanislaus Kostka Academy did not immediately respond to NBC Chicago’s inquiry.

Illinois leaders on Monday reacted to the one-year anniversary of President Donald Trump’s second term in office – a year marked by major changes to border security, grocery prices and the stock market. The migrant crisis that dominated the news in Chicago before President Trump was elected remained a persistent issue throughout the past year. As the White House sees it, there were promises made and promises kept. Naturally, there’s a sharp divide along party lines. Among what President Trump highlighted as his first-year accomplishments was the recent arrests in Minnesota during immigration enforcement. Trump promised — a year ago — the largest mass deportation program ever. Not just Minnesota, but Chicago and the suburbs witnessed it as well. Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Monday discussed how Illinoisians responded. “We wrote the playbook that’s being used in other cities across the country,” he said. “If you look at how Portland managed through, if you look how Minneapolis has pushed back.” As the Illinois General Assembly returns this week to Springfield for the spring session – crafting a state budget is far more uncertain. The state’s Medicaid program alone could see up to a $5 billion dollar hit – as 60% is federally funded, and the White House is cutting back. “I think the federal government is holding states like Illinois accountable, accountable for high error rates, accountable for a lack of transparency, holding us accountable for fraud,” House Minority Leader Tony McCombie said. As for the stock market, while it was volatile on Monday, record gains were reported over the past year. At the same time, the key message from politicians – Republican and Democrat — is “affordability,” knowing Americans are worried. “For me it has been very scary. It’s like I’m basically living day to day to figure out what’s going to drop next,” an Illinois mother said. The political war of words intensified over the past year. Shortly after Trump took office – Pritzker compared Trump’s actions to what took place in Germany in the 1930s. Trump vs. Pritzker is a near-daily battle. “The difference for me, I guess, is people are paying attention, maybe not just in Illinois but outside of Illinois, to the idea that speaking your mind, being straightforward, is what we should demand of all of our politicians,” Pritzker said. McCombie criticized the governor, saying, “Obviously, Governor Pritzker, although he hasn’t stated it, is running for president and unfortunately puts Illinois in a negative limelight with the federal government.”

From lighter federal regulations to tariff changes, much has shifted in the first year of President Trump’s second term — and those moves are showing up in people’s day-to-day lives. NBC 5 Responds took a closer look at the biggest shifts so far —and the changes you can expect next. As President Donald Trump took the oath for a second term in January 2025, he had promised sweeping consumer relief — including things like lower credit card rates and cheaper car insurance. However, the year that followed told a different story, according to Susan Weinstock, CEO of the Consumer Federation of America. “It’s been pretty devastating. You know, there’s been significant rollback of rules that were put in place to protect consumers,” said Weinstock. Just weeks after Trump took office, his administration issued a Stop Work Order to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The order halted all investigations and litigation while also rolling back recently passed consumer protections, like a Biden-era rule that would’ve capped credit card late fees at $8, and another aimed at capping bank overdraft fees. “That’s gonna cost consumers $5 billion annually in overdraft fees that they would not have been paying. Typically, it’s about a $35 fee. The CFPB’s rules were going to limit it to about $5,” said Weinstock. Consumer protection rollbacks are also landing at the worst possible time for travelers. Department of Transportation data shows nearly one in four U.S. flights were delayed or cancelled between June 2024 and July 2025. “There were rules that the Biden administration had enacted that customers should get automatic compensation for canceled flights and extensive delays. That’s gone,” said Weinstock. By April 2, touted as ‘Liberation Day’, President Trump’s announcement of sweeping tariffs caused many to fear higher costs on everyday products. But that’s not exactly what happened.“It appears the prices didn’t go up as much as economists thought they were going to,” said Steven Durlauf, Professor with the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy. Instead, the tariffs played a part in destabilizing the job market, with the unemployment rate now sitting at 4.4% — the highest it’s been in years, Professor Durlauf said. “The labor market is frozen,” Durlauf said. “Since April, the quit rate has actually been quite low, but the hiring rates been very low.” As a result, there is “all of this uncertainty” as “people don’t know what to do,” Durlauf explained. “So, there’s been a lot of stasis in the labor market.” Despite a cooler job market, Durlauf says tariff‑driven price increases may be modest this year “There’s no reason to think that the price increases are going to attenuate. I think that they probably will increase as there’s adjustments in response to the tariff changes that are being gradually made,” said Durlauf. President Trump is pushing to cap credit‑card interest rates for one year starting January 20. But there’s still real uncertainty over whether he can make that happen without congress — or if it’s even legally possible. Just weeks ago, a judge ordered the Trump administration to continue funding the CFPB — but experts say it’s unclear if the agency, which has helped consumers recover more than $21 billion since its creation, will ever be brought back to what it once was.