Singer, poet and South Side native Jamila Woods has been using music as a tool for self-healing for most of her life. She first found the power of an artistic community in her grandmother’s church choir and now finds a similar solace through connections with fans and musicians alike.

The 40-member task force will be charged with developing “Chicago’s first comprehensive reparations study, a critical step forward in acknowledging, addressing and repairing generations of harm experienced by Black communities,” according to a statement from the mayor’s office.

Twelve states sued the Trump administration Wednesday for “illegally imposing” tax hikes on Americans through tariffs.

The agency shuffled through three acting directors over the course of a week. It’s preparing to lose tens of thousands of workers to layoffs and voluntary retirements. And President Donald Trump is weighing in on which nonprofits should lose their tax-exempt status.

The bleaching event has been so severe that NOAA’s Coral Reef Watch program has had to add levels to its bleaching alert scale to account for the growing risk of coral death.

Captain David Meyer, 54, died from injuries after a garage collapsed from a West Side fire early Wednesday morning. He joined the Chicago Fire Department in 1996.

In a March 27 executive order, President Donald Trump alleged that Smithsonian exhibits had disparaged the nation’s history via a “divisive, race-centered ideology.” A group of pastors is pushing back.

Each Wednesday, WTTW News producer Josh Terry presents must-see live music shows from indie rock to jazz, country, hip-hop and more.

U.S. District Court Judge John F. Kness granted federal prosecutors’ request to hold an evidentiary hearing about whether the former alderperson is healthy enough to stand trial.

U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin announced Wednesday he will not seek a sixth term in the U.S. Senate, setting off a scramble for a rare open seat that will reshape Illinois politics.

More than 90 bands will be performing during the three-day festival held Sept. 19-21 in Douglass Park.

The president’s fight to end birthright citizenship is headed to the Supreme Court. And possible signs of life on a faraway planet.

President Donald Trump’s executive order to end birthright citizenship for the children of people who are in the U.S. illegally has been halted nationwide by three district courts around the country. Appeals courts have declined to disturb those rulings.

The task force, formed in February, has met twice, and the next meeting is set for Wednesday, Deputy Mayor Garien Gatewood said.

Using the James Webb Space Telescope, researchers said they were able to detect signs of sulfur-based molecules called dimethyl sulfide or DMS, which on Earth are only produced by life, primarily marine phytoplankton.