Stories by WTTW News

Watch the Feb. 17, 2021 full episode of “Chicago Tonight.”

Rush Limbaugh, the talk radio host who ripped into liberals and laid waste to political correctness with a merry brand of malice that made him one of the most powerful voices on the American right, influencing the rightward push of conservatism and the rise of Donald Trump, died Wednesday. He was 70.

If winter 2021 feels epic, that’s because it has been. According to the National Weather Service, it’s been 40 years since Chicago has seen so much snow in such a short span of time.

The sworn accounts by executioners raise questions about whether officials misled courts to ensure the executions scheduled from July to mid-January were done before death penalty opponent Joe Biden became president.

The coronavirus pandemic has wreaked havoc on people’s lives, and also on government budgets. On Wednesday, Gov. J.B. Pritzker will propose his ideas for getting Illinois through it. Here’s a preview of that address.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Monday that Congress will establish an independent, Sept. 11-style commission to look into the deadly insurrection that took place at the U.S. Capitol.

Bars and restaurants in Chicago can now expand their capacity for indoor service. We discuss that and other COVID-19 developments with Dr. Susan Bleasdale, medical director of infection prevention and control at University of Illinois Health.

President Joe Biden’s coronavirus relief package could include canceling some student loan debt. What that could mean for borrowers — and the economy.

A group of young women are changing the narrative of gospel music — and who it’s for. We meet a band of sisters who are on a mission. 

Thousands of preschool and special education students will resume in-person learning Wednesday, a day after all Chicago Public Schools students worked from home following a mammoth snowfall across the city.

A Democratic-led effort to pass a $1.9 trillion pandemic relief package has passed its latest challenge with House committees advancing measures that will soon be combined into a single bill expected to clear the full House by the end of February.

“Sole e Amore,” Enrique Mazzola’s newest project, will include two dozen songs by seven of the most beloved Italian opera composers of the 19th century, performed by 11 members of the Ryan Opera Center, Lyric’s renowned artist development program.

As Chicago digs out from yet another major snowfall, with accumulation piling on top of previous storm totals, the Department of Streets and Sanitation is activating its plan to relocate snow to pre-determined sites. Plows could shift to residential streets Tuesday evening, officials said. 

Acquitted by the Senate of inciting last month’s U.S. Capitol insurrection, former President Donald Trump faces more fallout from the unrest, including a lawsuit from a congressman Tuesday. But his biggest legal problems might be the ones that go much further back.

Chicago officials announced Tuesday they will allow indoor dining and drinking at bars and restaurants to operate at 40% of their normal capacity, or no more than 50 people.

Watch the Feb. 16, 2021 full episode of “Chicago Tonight.”

Snow dampens other sounds, but it makes plenty of noise itself, especially in colder temperatures. Here’s why. 

President Joe Biden is extending a ban on housing foreclosures to June 30 to help homeowners struggling during the coronavirus pandemic. The moratorium on foreclosures of federally guaranteed mortgages had been set to expire on March 31. 

O’Hare Airport officially notched 7.5 inches of snow but some Chicago neighborhoods got socked with more than twice that amount in the past 24 hours. 

On Monday, officials announced all city-run coronavirus testing sites will be closed Tuesday due to the weather. The sites have been closed since Friday in observance of Lincoln’s Birthday and Presidents Day.

The impeachment trial is over, but hundreds of rioters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6 are still facing criminal charges. We discuss the implications of new research showing some surprising findings on the identities and backgrounds of those rioters.

It’s been two years since an aggrieved worker at the Henry Pratt warehouse in suburban Aurora killed five people. Advocates for gun control say in that time, Illinois still hasn’t taken the necessary steps to fix problems with state firearms laws.

Neighbors in Rogers Park, Edgewater, Uptown and Ravenswood have a new state senator representing them in Springfield, and he says he plans to tackle the health and economic disparities his constituents experience.

As a winter storm threatens the Chicago area with a foot or more of snow, Chicago Public Schools has announced it will suspend in-person learning for students Tuesday and only expects essential building staff to report to schools.

It’s been 10 years since the infamous Groundhog Day blizzard left hundreds of motorists stranded on Lake Shore Drive. As another major winter storm bears down on Chicago, officials are putting to use lessons learned from that debacle.

Now acquitted in his second Senate impeachment trial, Donald Trump is preparing for the next phase of his post-presidency life. But after being barred from Twitter, the former president lacks the social media bullhorn that fueled his political rise.