FILE - Boxes of the drug mifepristone sit on a shelf at the West Alabama Women’s Center in Tuscaloosa, Ala., on March 16, 2022. (Allen G. Breed / AP Photo, File)

Walgreens will begin dispensing the medication within a week at some locations in several states, including Illinois.

La Tiendita in Pilsen provides free necessities to people in need. (WTTW News)
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The free shop is located inside a Chicago Public Schools Parent University, which offers classes and workshops on topics like financial literacy, career development and more.

(Credit: “Fight for Black Lives”)

The new documentary “The Fight for Black Lives” chronicles the stories of Black mothers who faced racial inequities in the health care system. The film comes as Gov. J.B. Pritzker is proposing $4 million dollars in his new budget proposal aimed at addressing the issue. 

(WTTW News)

The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, also known as WIC, is facing a $1 billion budget shortfall, and Congress has until March to secure funding. Illinois would need about $24 million in additional funding for the 2024 fiscal year to serve its eligible population.

(WTTW News)

“Chicago Tonight: Latino Voices” host Joanna Hernandez spoke to those working directly with Chicago’s unhoused population to understand what work is being done, the barriers to finding help and some possible solutions.

State Rep. Lakesia Collins, D-Chicago, speaks at an event announcing the planned opening of a birth center on the South Side of Chicago Monday. (Credit: Illinois.gov)

The nonprofit Chicago South Side Birth Center will mark the city’s second active midwife-led birth center, but the first for the South Side. Advocates say the Black-led center offers safe birthing alternatives in a medically underserved area of the city. 

Maternal mental health disorders such as suicide and opioid overdose are responsible for nearly one in four maternal deaths in the U.S., research shows. (Prasit photo / Moment RF / Getty Images / File via CNN Newsource)

The maternal mortality rate in the U.S. is two- to threefold greater than in other high-income countries, and it has only increased in recent years, according to a new evidence review.

(WTTW News)

Local health officials are working to notify people who may have been exposed to measles after a northwest Indiana resident sought medical care last week in Chicago while contagious with the infection.

 A UChicago Medicine nurse submits ballot in strike authorization vote held on Feb. 20 in Hyde Park. The union National Nurses United represents 2,800 nurses at UChicago Medicine. (WTTW News)

National Nurses United represents 2,800 nurses at UChicago Medicine. A strike authorization vote is part of standard procedure, where represented nurses give the union the authority to call a strike. 

A homeless encampment in Chicago’s Humboldt Park is pictured in February 2024. (Michael Izquierdo / WTTW News)
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The Chicago Coalition for the Homeless estimates more than 68,000 people in Chicago are experiencing homelessness. That higher number includes people who are doubled up, or temporarily living in someone else’s home.

The Margarita Inn, 1566 Oak Ave., in Evanston, is now being used by Connections for the Homeless to provide housing and support services. (Credit: Medill School of Journalism)
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The hotels were originally used as temporary solutions during the COVID-19 pandemic. Housing advocates said the hotels are turning out to be significantly more effective than a traditional shelter approach.

Caseworkers MG Hibionada and Ell Fabricius talk to a person on the Red Line about shelter options. Fabricius and Hibionada are members of the Thresholds team on the CTA, which provides outreach and services to people sheltering on the trains. (Kathleen Hinkel / Block Club Chicago)
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The program has connected dozens of people to housing or shelter, but officials say it needs more funding and time to make a bigger impact.

FILE - This Feb. 20, 2015, photo shows an arrangement of peanuts in New York. (Patrick Sison / AP Photo, File)

An estimated 17 million people in the U.S. have the type of food allergies that can cause rapid, serious symptoms, including severe, whole-body reactions that are potentially deadly.

Cook County Public Guardian Charles Golbert appears on “Chicago Tonight: Black Voices” on Feb. 14, 2024. (WTTW News)
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The person who advocates in court for children who’ve been abused or neglected said the state’s Department of Children and Family Services is not only failing to meet the needs of kids in its care — but that the situation is getting worse.

FILE - Lurie Children’s Hospital sign is seen at the hospital as patients walk in, Feb. 5, 2024, in Skokie, Ill. (Nam Y. Huh / AP Photo, File)
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Hospitals have shifted their use of online technology to support everything from telehealth to medical devices to patient records. Today, they are a favorite target for internet thieves who hold systems’ data and networks hostage for hefty ransoms.

(WTTW News)

“Aging is not a uniform phenomenon that happens equally,” said Jay Olshansky, professor of public health at the University of Illinois Chicago.