Stories by Heather Cherone

James Gibson said he implicated himself in a 1989 double murder after being burned, punched, kicked and slapped by Chicago Police detectives supervised by disgraced former Chicago Police Commander Jon Burge during a three-day interrogation.

The renewed tension between Mayor Brandon Johnson and the city’s business leaders comes after Johnson endured a bruising battle over the city’s 2025 budget and is under intense pressure from President Donald Trump.

Trump’s audacious proposal appears certain to roil the next stage of talks meant to extend the tenuous ceasefire between Israel and Hamas and secure the release of the remaining hostages held in Gaza.

How local leaders are responding to the Trump administration’s executive orders. And Republican lawmakers file a lawsuit over Illinois’ legislative districts.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker directed state hiring officials to block the employment of anyone who took part in the attack that claimed the lives of five members of the U.S. Capitol Police and injured an additional 174 officers.

Republicans argue the map is an example of “extreme partisan gerrymandering,” which renders it unconstitutional under state law.

Wildlife professionals and advocates are grappling with an avian influenza outbreak that seems to be growing more virulent among Chicago's wild birds.

There were about five times as many emergency department visits for flu as there were for COVID-19, according to IDPH data during the week ending Jan. 25.

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

The Trump administration has begun drafting an executive order that would kick off the process of eliminating the Department of Education, the latest move by President Donald Trump to swiftly carry out his campaign promises, two sources familiar with the plans told CNN.

El Salvador President Nayin Bukele confirmed the offer in a post on X, saying El Salvador has “offered the United States of America the opportunity to outsource part of its prison system.”

The class-action complaint, filed Tuesday in federal court in Washington, seeks an immediate halt to the Justice Development’s plans to compile a list of investigators who participated in probes of the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol as well as Trump’s hoarding of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate.

In an order signed last week, Trump called for aggressive action to fight anti-Jewish bias on campuses, including the deportation of foreign students who have participated in pro-Palestinian protests. The cases were opened using the department’s power to launch its own civil rights reviews, unlike the majority of its investigations, which stem from complaints.

A WTTW News special: Mayor Brandon Johnson and community stakeholders join us for a town hall discussion to address major issues facing the city like public safety, immigration, housing and much more.

“At the point of which we go for this revenue again, let’s not allow the interests of the corporations as well as the ultra rich to dictate what working people deserve in this city,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said. “We have to pass Bring Chicago Home.”

The organizations say tens of thousands of students are being denied access to services because the money is not being spent.

President Donald Trump’s plan to implement tariffs on key United States trading partners could affect more than $100 billion worth of goods imported to Illinois from Canada, Mexico and China. The countries were Illinois’ top trading partners in 2023.

The White House confirmed the pause to the United States, which followed a similar move with Mexico that allows for a period of negotiations about drug smuggling and illegal immigration. There is a risk that the tariffs could still come into effect, leaving the global economy uncertain about whether a crisis has been averted or if a possible catastrophe could still be coming in the weeks ahead.

Illinois officials announced $60 million in funding for improvement projects at five parks and historic sites, with the lion's share being funneled to Starved Rock.

Neko Case has written the book on her sometimes wild life. She returns to Chicago this week to talk about her memoir, “The Harder I Fight the More I Love You.”

There were 38 homicides recorded throughout the city in January, an 8.6% jump over the same month in 2024, according to new data from the Chicago Police Department.

Without the programs that educate people in immigration courts and detention centers about their rights and the complicated legal process, many will end up navigating the system on their own. Advocates worry that due process and the backlogged immigration courts will suffer.

Since taking office in the White House last month, U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to impose tariffs on EU imports and refused to rule out the use of military force to take control of Greenland, an autonomous territory of NATO ally Denmark.

Members of Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, known as DOGE, eventually did gain access Saturday to the aid agency’s classified information, which includes intelligence reports, the former official said. Musk’s DOGE crew lacked high enough security clearance to access that information, so the two USAID security officials — John Voorhees and deputy Brian McGill — believed themselves legally obligated to deny access.

Correctional workers and Republican lawmakers have said exposure to synthetic cannabinoids in IDOC facilities has led to hospital visits and impacted prisons across the state. One man incarcerated at Hill Correctional Center said moving away from paper mail would have “devastating consequences.”

The trade penalties that Trump signed Saturday at his Florida resort caused a mix of panic, anger and uncertainty, and threatened to rupture a decades-old partnership on trade in North America while further straining relations with China.