Stories by Matt Masterson

Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul on Wednesday announced the lawsuit, arguing President Donald Trump’s executive order is unconstitutional and risks disenfranchising voters by preventing states from effectively administering their vote-by-mail programs.

The eclipse will peak Thursday night at 11:12 p.m., with almost the entire moon darkened by Earth's shadow.

Mayor Brandon Johnson’s order requires contractors to certify that they have not committed a “public integrity violation, antidiscrimination or wage theft violation” during the previous five years.

Until the Supreme Court rules, 31 cases will remain in limbo — including three that seek to terminate officers who caused the deaths of Chicagoans, record show.

The American Society of Landscape Architects announced Lurie Garden as the 2026 recipient of the organization’s Landmark Award.

The 23-year-old female whale was part of a second group of four whales that arrived at Shedd in mid-August, following a pod of four who came to Shedd in late July.

Meta agreed to pay out more than $17 billion and must implement significant safety features to protect children on Instagram and Facebook as part of a new settlement with Illinois and dozens of other states announced Wednesday.

The Chicago Sky have banned Enes Kanter Freedom from their home games after the former NBA center was ejected from Sunday’s loss to the Indiana Fever.

With the few months they have left as senators, Democrat Dick Durbin and Republican Bill Cassidy have embarked on a mission to save tens of millions of Social Security beneficiaries from a projected 22% cut in their benefits, starting in just six years.

The terms of two members of the board expired last month, including Vice Chair Ryan Cortazar, who has led the board since former Chair William Conlon stepped down in July 2025, and Board Member Sarah Jin.

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

The new leader of the Chicago Department of Public Health on his vision for a healthy city. And as kids head back to school, President Donald Trump recommends changes to childhood vaccines.

Dr. Garth Walker assumed the role of Chicago Department of Public Health commissioner this month after he was appointed by Mayor Brandon Johnson and unanimously confirmed by the Chicago City Council in July.

The executive order recommends splitting the measles, mumps and rubella, or MMR, vaccine into three separate shots and reducing the number of vaccines recommended for all children from 18 to 11.

Dolly Parton wrote hundreds of songs, including classics like “Jolene” and “I Will Always Love You,” that totaled more than 100 million worldwide sales and more than 1 billion online streams. She was a generous philanthropist and successful businesswoman.

“We cannot continue to govern by searching for loose change in the couch, or every time that there’s a budget challenge, we revert back to proclivities that have caused tremendous harm to working people in this city,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said.

Local and state officials are reassuring Illinoisans about the safety of mail-in voting, while also encouraging them to return their ballots early after a new ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court could cause “chaos” ahead of the November election.

These are the first U.S. deaths from measles reported in 2026 and the first in Pennsylvania in 35 years.

The Rev. Michael Pfleger has been reinstated at St. Sabina Catholic Church, more than a month after the longtime leader and vocal social justice was removed from the South Side parish amid new allegations of sexual abuse.

Less than 24 hours after Chicago officials recommended he be fired, Officer Joseph Vecchio was arrested and charged with a felony count of aggravated domestic battery and is being held in Cook County jail, records show.

It’s the first day of school for CPS students — how a new grant program is working to keep them in class. And power outages in Gary approach two weeks. A look at the impact they’re having on residents.

Thousands of kids flooded the hallways of Chicago Public Schools on Monday for the first day of school, but many of these students may become chronically absent as the school year continues — meaning they will miss 10% or more of classroom instruction.

Tuesday will mark two weeks since a derecho swept through Illinois and northwest Indiana, with winds damaging homes, uprooting trees and knocking out power for hundreds of thousands.

The Daily Herald News Guild has filed for a union election with the National Labor Relations Board, according to a news release. The union would represent 20 eligible staff members at the newspaper, according to the organizing committee.

“Chicago Tonight” anchor Brandis Friedman will moderate a panel of Jessica Biggs, Jennifer Custer, Hilario Dominguez, Victor P. Henderson and Sendhil Revuluri before a live studio audience of Chicago residents for an hourlong forum on Sept. 15.

Scientists have long warned that the world will experience more intense extreme weather events like heat waves, storms, floods and droughts. But what once seemed like the realm of fiction is now discussed as a possibility, even an inevitability.