Stories by WTTW News

The ballooning cost of police overtime — we’ll tell you just how much it’s costing. And Illinois’ latest efforts to stop organized retail theft.

The Chicago White Sox may have won five of their last six games, but it was all too little, too late. The 2024 White Sox officially set a new record for Major League Baseball futility Friday in their 4-1 loss to Detroit, which became their 121st loss of the season.

The city is on pace to spend at least $258 million on police overtime by the end of the year, even as officials imposed limits on overtime for all city departments, except for police and the Chicago Fire Department, amid a massive budget crunch.

Organized retail theft has been a felony in Illinois since 2023, through a law dubbed the INFORM Consumers Act, which broadly characterizes the crime as when someone knowingly steals at least $300 in merchandise from one or more stores with the intent of reselling it.

The radio company’s court appearance comes after it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in January, and when it disclosed it was entering a restructuring agreement to reduce debt from about $1.9 billion to $350 million. 

Verizon has confirmed an outage affecting some of its mobile phone customers that sparked a flurry of complaints on social media about disruptions to calls, texts and their ability to access the internet.

American Blues Theater sets the bar high for Halloween season, delivering a tightly focused fever dream version of Stephen King’s novel “Misery.” The psychological thriller is made more unnerving by the humorous touches in this stage adaptation by William Goldman (“Marathon Man,” “The Princess Bride”).

Despite the increased awareness of the term among Latinos — 47% have heard of it — only 4% or 1.9 million people use “Latinx” to describe themselves, an increase of 1 percent since 2019, according to the study by the Pew Research Center.

Judge Andrea R. Wood wrote that the court found a probable risk of irreparable harm from falling concrete attributed to the deteriorated masonry walls, ceilings, steel beams and window lintels at Stateville Correctional Center.

Chicago taxpayers have paid $74.4 million since 2019 to resolve lawsuits involving police pursuits, with the city’s insurance coverage paying an additional $25 million, according to a WTTW News analysis.

The new numbers show murders from January to June dropped 23% compared with the same period in 2023, while violent crime fell 10% and reported rapes decreased by 18%. Aggravated assaults during that period decreased 8% year over year, according to the data, while robberies fell 14% and reported property crime was down 13%.

“America. Oasis is coming. You have one last chance to prove that you loved us all along,” the Britpop band known for timeless hits like “Wonderwall” and “Don’t Look Back in Anger” shared in a statement.

Halloween is still a month away but Christmas is already making headlines.

According to the Chicago Police Department, 30 people were shot in 25 separate shootings between 6 p.m. Friday and 11:59 p.m. Sunday.

The schedule of DuSable Lake Shore Drive closures the week of Sept. 29 will ping-pong between northbound and southbound lanes, and a half marathon on Sunday brings added chaos for motorists on South DLSD.

The Chicago Archaeopteryx, unveiled this past May, is one of the most important fossils in the Field Museum's vast collection. It now has a permanent exhibit in the museum's Hall of Dinosaurs.

A new front in the battle for control of Chicago Public Schools. And the high stakes of corruption in City Hall.

Having missed the opening, I saw the glowing reviews for this Chicago-area premiere and trekked up to Writers Theatre in Glencoe. I went with a skeptic’s eye and my arms folded. “Critics think it’s good, huh? What do they know?” Well, they know enough to have the good sense to embrace this irresistible production.

Donald Trump’s speeches for years have hewed to divisive “us” versus “them” messaging, but tying those themes to specific religious Americans who oppose him is out of line and even dangerous, according to rhetoric experts, religious leaders and academics.

Maggie Smith, the masterful, scene-stealing actor who won an Oscar for 1969 film “The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie” and gained new fans in the 21st century as the dowager Countess of Grantham in “ Downton Abbey” and Professor Minerva McGonagall in the Harry Potter films, died Friday. She was 89.

The National Weather Service is forecasting the worst to hit late Friday afternoon. Expect strong wind gusts from the northeast, reaching 45 to 55 miles per hour.

The 6-0 vote by the board overseeing the Chicago Public Schools came two days after CEO Pedro Martinez announced he had refused Mayor Brandon Johnson’s request to resign, an unprecedented show of public defiance by the head of a city agency toward the mayor.

What comes next for migrant care as three shelters are set to close next month. And some Pilsen residents are pushing back on a plan they say would further gentrify the area.

Shelters in Pilsen and in the West Loop will close Oct. 1, while a shelter in Hyde Park will close Oct. 24. All of the residents will be offered space in one of the 14 shelters the city will continue to operate, officials said.

Those in favor of the expansion believe the TIF district could help fix economic and developmental challenges, while those opposed think it may further gentrify the community and push long-standing residents out of the beloved enclave.

The website has been reopened on the heels of a summer COVID-19 virus wave and heading into the fall and winter respiratory virus season, with health officials urging Americans to get an updated COVID-19 vaccine and their yearly flu shot.