Stories by Paul Caine

The U.S. Department of Energy and the FBI both assess that COVID-19 may have leaked from a lab in Wuhan, China. Yet the Energy Department has “low confidence” in its assessment, while FBI director Christopher Wray said the agency has “moderate confidence” in its.

In a new WTTW special, Geoffrey Baer takes viewers on a tour of some of Chicago’s most beautiful places. Some may be familiar, but others less so.

Starting in May, each of Chicago’s 22 police districts will be overseen by a three-person council. The goal is to help build trust in a beleaguered department that is under a court-ordered consent decree aimed at forcing reform.

While polling on the Chicago mayoral race has been somewhat inconsistent, what appears clear from multiple polls is that incumbent Mayor Lori Lightfoot and challengers Paul Vallas, Brandon Johnson and U.S. Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García have pulled clear from the pack.

Powerful AI models that can realistically simulate the style of virtually any artist have many in the art world worried. In fact, some artists believe the technology has for them become an existential threat.

“As you look across the country, there’s no other place that’s been able to secure as much funding as we have for the energy and equity project,” says Skyler Larrimore, chief of policy at the city of Chicago.

Political speechwriter, debate strategist and senior lecturer Jason DeSanto joins WTTW News to give his assessment of the state of play in the 2023 Chicago mayoral race.

The race for mayor is heating up and the attack ads are beginning to fly but in a nine-candidate field, how do you stand out from the crowd? Political analyst Jason DeSanto says math, message and money should be the focus. 

The Rev. Corey Brooks brought attention to his Woodlawn community and his cause when he camped out on a Chicago rooftop for almost a year to raise funds for a new community center.

Oil refineries are discharging toxic pollutants into our waterways and the Great Lakes with little oversight from regulators, according to a new report from the Environmental Integrity Project, a nonpartisan nonprofit group that advocates for enforcement of environmental law

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought mental health issues to the fore. But as more people have been willing to acknowledge their struggles, the provision of mental health services has become a major challenge.

Multiple county sheriffs across the state have said they won’t enforce it. On Friday, a circuit court judge in downstate Effingham County issued a temporary restraining order blocking the new law — although that ruling only applies to the 850 plaintiffs and four licensed gun dealers named in the case.

The historic LaSalle Street corridor has been an economic engine for the city since the turn of the last century. But in recent years, the once vibrant financial district has suffered as major banks that anchored the area moved elsewhere in the city.

In 2012, Heidi Heitkamp was a trailblazer, becoming the first woman to be elected to the U.S. Senate from North Dakota. She previously served as the state’s attorney general before an unsuccessful bid for governor. Now, she's taking on a new challenge right here in Chicago.

According to NASA, the comet would last have been seen in the night sky more than 10,000 years ago — millennia before the birth of human civilization — and it may never pass this way again.

On Monday evening, the Illinois state Senate passed an assault weapons bill with some changes to the version passed by the House on Friday. The bill will now return to the House for a concurring vote before heading to the governor’s desk.

The Chicago Bears are poised to get a top draft pick and have lots of money to spend to improve a last-place team, but can they use the draft well and spend wisely?

The key culprit appears to be the widespread availability of the powerful synthetic opioid fentanyl.

From a wide-open mayoral contest to major issues on the agenda statewide like guns and abortion, to the economic picture, and the outlook in local sports — we recap the year that was and look into our crystal ball to 2023.

Illinois lawmakers hold hearings on a possible assault weapons ban. Our politics team weighs in on that story and more.

Chuck Swirsky has been the radio play-by-play voice for the Chicago Bulls since 2008. A pioneer of Chicago sports talk radio, Swirsky has also covered many iconic moments in sports history – including L.A. Laker Kobe Bryant’s 81-point game against the Toronto Raptors in 2006.

NASA’s Ingenuity Mars helicopter is the first aircraft humankind has ever created that is capable of powered, controlled flight on another world. NASA’s team lead on the project discusses its significance. 

Pharmacies across the country are seeing surging demand for child-friendly versions of Amoxicillin, Tamiflu and other drugs. That demand has led at times to empty shelves and parents having to try multiple pharmacies to find their child’s prescription.

Pat McGann made a transition from sales to stand-up comedy and in the years since has appeared on late night television and in his own special. Next year, he will headline a show at the Chicago Theatre. 

Federally indicted Ald. Ed Burke finally calls it a career after 54 years. Lightfoot and García officially file their paperwork to run for mayor, Latino neighborhoods got socked with higher property taxes. And the SAFE-T act gets a revamp.

A new series of video shorts from the University of Chicago aims to highlight the role its researchers and scientists have played in transforming our understanding of the world — and indeed the cosmos.