It’s Tuesday. Baseball is back (the Cubs lost their season opener in Tokyo this morning) and we’re filling out our March Madness brackets. Here’s what else is happening in Chicago.  Endangered sunflower sea stars — debuting at Shedd Aquarium — can grow as many as 24 arms and have as many as 15,000 tube legs. (Shedd Aquarium) A group of microscopic sunflower sea star larva arrived at Shedd Aquarium last year and have been bulking up behind the scenes ever since. Now, after growing 16,000%, they’re ready to make their public debut.

Whether you spent your weekend drinking green beer or relaxing at home, start the week with these stories from WTTW News.  An accessible pedestrian signal, or APS, at the intersection of Lincoln and Catalpa avenues on March 13, 2025. (Nick Blumberg / WTTW News) A federal judge has ordered the city of Chicago to make about 71% of its 2,713 signalized intersections with pedestrian crossings accessible to people who are blind or have low vision within 10 years – with the remainder made accessible within a further five years.

Happy Friday. It’s supposed to hit 70 degrees. Enjoy it.  Dyeing the Chicago River green for St. Patrick's Day is a decades-old tradition. (Tzido / iStock) Patty Wetli: The Chicago River is about to get its annual St.

Look up tonight, Chicago. There’s a total lunar eclipse and WTTW News has the details.  A file photo of workers at a COVID-19 testing site. (WTTW News) More than 1.2 million Americans have died from COVID-19. Despite having one of the most sophisticated health care systems in the world, the U.S. response to the coronavirus pandemic fell well short when compared to other developed nations. So, five years after the World Health Organization declared a global pandemic, is the United States any better prepared to weather the next pandemic?

Another day, another needed dose of sunshine this week. Read on for stories from WTTW News on COPA, funding threats to Illinois universities and more.  Andrea Kersten, chief administrator of Chicago’s Civilian Office of Police Accountability, appears on “Chicago Tonight” on June 28, 2023.

It’s Tuesday. Let’s talk city jobs, monarch butterflies and cheeseburgers.  (WTTW News) Elected officials and Chicagoans concerned about the number of vacant city positions will soon have a new way of keeping track of what jobs are empty with a new database, officials announced Monday.

You deserve the nicer weather this week, Chicago. Before you put away your winter jacket, check out these stories from WTTW News.  (WTTW News) As Illinois’ prison population sits at a near 30-year low, the Illinois Department of Corrections has put out a bid to build two new 1,500-single-celled facilities. That bid is part of a $900 million plan to close Stateville and Logan Correctional Centers, both of which are in dismal condition.

Patty Wetli: Regular readers of our Friday newsletter know that we typically end with a list of outdoor events. Well last Saturday, pretty much every member of what I think of as the greater Chicago “nature community” spent the entire day indoors. Some 2,000 nature stewards, advocates and educators — myself included — flocked to the Rosemont Convention Center for the biennial Wild Things conference, hosted by Friends of Illinois Nature Preserves.

Yesterday, Mayor Brandon Johnson testified before a congressional committee on Chicago's status as a sanctuary city. Here's what happened and more from WTTW News.  Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson responds to questions during a House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform hearing with Sanctuary City Mayors on Capitol Hill, Wednesday, March 5, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.) Mayor Brandon Johnson fiercely defended Chicago’s protections for undocumented immigrants, telling Republicans on the U.S.

Preservation Chicago released its annual “Chicago 7 Most Endangered” list of threatened buildings, and the list reads like a trip through the city’s history. Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul appears on "Chicago Tonight" on March 4, 2025. (WTTW News) In the six weeks since President Donald Trump has returned to the White House, nearly 100 legal challenges have been filed against the administration’s executive orders, according to the digital law and policy journal Just Security.