It’s Tax Day today. Whether you owed or got a welcome refund, take a minute to read these stories from WTTW News.  Ald. Gilbert Villegas (36th Ward) appears on “Chicago Tonight: Latino Voices” on April 8, 2023. (WTTW News) The city of Chicago is on track to exhaust the $82 million officials set aside to cover police misconduct settlements and judgments in 2025, just four months into the year, city records show. With the financial toll of decades of police misconduct likely to grow in the coming months, Ald.

It’s Monday. Start the week with stories on an influential local record label specializing in archival releases, CPD’s consent decree progress and how federal cuts could impact Illinois libraries.  Numero Group Factory Outlet store, 2533 S. Troy Street, in Little Village in 2019. (Leland Meiner / Numero Group) Working out of a small two-flat on Marshall Boulevard in Little Village, Ken Shipley remembers the early days of starting the record label Numero Group with fellow co-founders Rob Sevier and Tom Lunt.

Happy Friday. You don’t have to watch HBO’s "The White Lotus" to enjoy this story from Patty Wetli about the poisonous pong-pong fruit featured in the show and its Chicago connection.  Captive-born Mexican wolf pups being introduced into wild dens in 2018. (Mexican Wolf Interagency Field Team) Patty Wetli: You may have heard the news earlier this week that scientists at a biotech company brought back an extinct species, the dire wolf. Full confession: I haven’t watched a single second of “Game of Thrones” or read a single word of George R.R.

Happy Thursday, Chicago. Here’s what’s happening around the city.  A dog at Chicago Animal Care and Control at 2741 S. Western Ave. in the Lower West Side on May 20, 2024. (Eunice Alpasan / WTTW News) In late March, the city-run animal shelter Chicago Animal Care and Control partnered with rescue groups for a weekend-long adoption event that led to about 60 animals being adopted out from the shelter. Spokesperson Armando Tejeda described the event as a “huge undertaking.” However, the relief was short-lived.

It's Wednesday and we're sick of this weather. Warm up and dry off with these stories from WTTW News.  Chicago City Hall. (Michael Izquierdo / WTTW News) A proposal that would create a city-owned nonprofit housing developer — the centerpiece of Mayor Brandon Johnson’s effort to reduce Chicago’s massive affordable housing shortfall — will face a key test Wednesday.

This Tuesday, read a column from “Chicago Tonight” host Brandis Friedman on motherhood and Congress. Plus, stories on local grad schools and the City Council approving Anthony Quezada as alderperson of the 35th Ward.  The campus of University of Chicago is pictured in a file photo. (Jacob Boomsma / Stock) The business and law schools at the University of Chicago and Northwestern were each ranked among the best in the country according to a new list from U.S. News & World Report, which looked at the nation’s best grad school programs of 2025.

It’s Monday. Ease into the work week with these stories from WTTW News.  (WTTW News) A pilot program that allows Chicago police officers to file felony gun charges without first getting approval from a prosecutor expanded to a second South Side police district on Friday, despite objections from defense attorneys and police reform advocates.

Happy Friday. Close out your work week with a column from WTTW News science and nature reporter Patty Wetli and a preview of Chicago's newest museum.  Early spring in the garden is a waiting game. (Credit: Patty Wetli / WTTW News) Patty Wetli: Gardeners, start your engines. It’s time to shift from park into low gear. I know, I know. You really want to go from zero to July. I feel you. I am you.

We hope you're dried off from yesterday's storms. This Thursday, we have stories on the CPS-CTU contract, CPD traffic stops and an interview with Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle. (WTTW News) The Chicago Teachers Union took the next step toward approving its new labor contract late Wednesday after its largest governing body signed off on the proposal.

Mayor Brandon Johnson addresses the news media on May 3, 2024. (WTTW News) Even as Mayor Brandon Johnson continued Tuesday to resist calls to ban teens from downtown after 8 p.m. following several violent incidents, the prohibition on teens in Millennium and Maggie Daley parks after 6 p.m. on weekends is set to enter its fourth summer. Ald. Brian Hopkins (2nd Ward), who has regularly demanded that Johnson ban teens from downtown after 8 p.m.