Stories by Shelby Hawkins

The Chicago Children’s Museum is now hosting the “Aim High: Soaring With the Tuskegee Airmen” exhibit, an interactive space that encourages play as a means to learn.

Robert Giacchetti, 59, of Crystal Lake, pleaded guilty to the federal charge of assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers.

Szustakiewicz was at a Panera Bread restaurant in the Chicago suburb of Downers Grove on Saturday “when she confronted and yelled expletives at a man regarding a sweatshirt he was wearing with the word Palestine written on it,” the DuPage County State’s Attorney’s Office and Downers Grove police said Monday in a statement.

If the mayor’s spending plan is approved by the City Council, 79 vacant positions charged with implementing the court order known as the consent decree would be eliminated, records show. Those cuts will make it impossible for the city to comply with the requirements of the court order, reform advocates said.

Chicago police agreed to judicial oversight in 2019. Since then, a series of mayors and police chiefs let efforts languish and no one in a position of oversight has pushed forcefully to keep the process on track, WTTW News and ProPublica found.

The latest on Chicago budget negotiations. Hear from The Onion’s executive editor. And the Forest Preserve District of Cook County is reaching a major milestone.

Satirical news publication The Onion won the bidding for Alex Jones’ Infowars at a bankruptcy auction last week, backed by families of Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims whom Jones owes more than $1 billion in defamation judgments for calling the massacre that killed 20 children and six adults a hoax.

On the last day ballots will be counted, unofficial totals in Chicago show where the vote shifted since 2020. Much like the United States, voters in Illinois were driven by factors including economics, immigration and education in the presidential race.

So far in 2024, the district has acquired 249 acres, the second most in any year since 1984, according to officials with the Forest Preserve District of Cook County.

Mayor Brandon Johnson called on members of the Chicago City Council to do their job and stop throwing tantrums. “It’s time to grow up,” he said. “People in Chicago don’t have time for that.”

The Chicago Plan Commission will meet Thursday to discuss approval for quantum computing campus on former South Works steel plant site. 

Michael Madigan, 82, and Michael McClain, 77, are charged with racketeering, bribery and wire fraud. They have each pleaded not guilty.

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

Dr. Mehmet Oz, who ran a failed 2022 bid to represent Pennsylvania in the U.S. Senate, has been an outspoken supporter of Trump and in recent days expressed support for Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s nomination for the nation’s top health agency, the Department of Health and Human Services.

That growth in chargers is important as Illinois aims to rapidly transition toward having more electric vehicle drivers. As of last week, there were about 120,000 EVs on Illinois roads, while the state’s goal is to have 1 million on the road by 2030.

“The idea was to provide this experience of being like a scuba diver — you come in and you’re at the bottom of the lake looking up,” artist David Franklin said. “Then you rise up through the fish into that Grand Hall, which is so fantastic. It had to hold up to that standard.”

Devontay Shields, 35, of Danville, Illinois, has been charged with one count of attempted kidnapping, according to a criminal complaint filed over the weekend in Chicago’s federal court.

Santa and his elves are returning to CTA buses and trains for the holiday season. The holiday tradition will return starting the week of Thanksgiving and will run through late December, the Chicago Transit Authority announced Tuesday.

To gain insight into the impact of prison closures, WTTW News looked back on the last prison the state shut down: Dwight Correctional Center. We spoke to both currently and formerly incarcerated women and correctional workers, as well as researchers and lifelong residents in the surrounding village.

Hundreds gather to remember slain CPD Officer Enrique Martinez. Many after-school programs say they’re at risk of losing funding. And meet some of the members of Chicago’s first elected school board.

The Chicago Board of Education is in the midst of massive change. Residents just voted in 10 members of the city’s first elected school board.

Illinois lawmakers previously approved $50 million for after-school and summer programs, but that funding hasn’t reached schools yet. This delay leaves Chicago Public Schools and local organizations facing difficult budget cuts.

Artist, scientist, engineer and philosopher — titles that only scratch the surface of what 15th century Italian Leonardo da Vinci achieved. A new two-part PBS documentary series from Ken Burns, Sarah Burns and David McMahon dissects da Vinci’s life in an effort to make sense of his work and the impact he has to this day.

Disgruntled X users are again flocking to Bluesky, a newer social media platform that grew out of the former Twitter before billionaire Elon Musk took it over in 2022. While it remains small, it has emerged as an alternative for those looking for a different mood, lighter and friendlier and less influenced by Musk.

A funeral service was held Monday morning for Chicago police Officer Enrique Martinez, who was fatally shot while conducting a traffic stop earlier this month. “The willingness to give your life for the safety of others is the most noble thing you can do,” said Chicago Police Supt. Larry Snelling.

Spirit, the biggest U.S. budget airline, filed a Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition after working out terms with bondholders. The airline has lost more than $2.5 billion since the start of 2020 and faces looming debt payments totaling more than $1 billion in 2025 and 2026.