Stories by Patty Wetli

In a winter that hasn’t seen much in the way of snow, honey locust pods are picking up the slack in terms of blanketing lawns, parkways and sidewalks, and piling inches deep along curbs.

The former “Empire” star on Monday filed a petition to the state’s high court after an appellate court upheld his 2021 convictions on five counts of disorderly conduct.

Chicago Teachers Union-backed educators at two Instituto del Progreso Latino charter schools are going on strike after they say little progress was made during the latest round of contract negotiations over the weekend.

The emotional debate was over a resolution calling for a cease-fire in Gaza. Chicago became the largest city to pass such a resolution after Mayor Brandon Johnson cast a tie-breaking vote. 

A push to study how the Chicago Police Department deploys its officers. Concerns over artificial intelligence in the presidential election. And a City Council resolution on a cease-fire in Gaza. 

A 2024 edition of the classic four women sitcom, “Golden Girls,” has been making its way across the country, and soon they’ll be making their stop at Chicago’s Broadway Playhouse at Water Tower Place. 

The Chicago Police Department would be required to immediately launch a new study of whether officers are efficiently and effectively deployed across the city, under a measure set to be considered by a key City Council committee.

The president of the union that represents Chicago Public Schools principals and administrators says he’s concerned about recent comments from CTU President Stacy Davis Gates and other “incendiary language.”

An oversight board is criticizing Facebook owner Meta's policies regarding manipulated media as “incoherent" and insufficient to address the flood of online disinformation that already has begun to target elections across the globe this year.

The results of Department of Streets and Sanitation's snowplow naming contest are in and we can confirm that Chicago truly is a Tom Skilling kind of town.

According to Chicago Police Department data, 11 people were shot in 11 separate incidents between 6 p.m. Friday and 11:59 p.m. Sunday.

Jeff Award-winning director Elizabeth Margolius has interpreted and very subtly modernized the ever-remarkable musical “Fiddler on the Roof” for a new production at the Drury Lane Theatre.

The Field Museum’s rare copy of John J. Audubon’s “Birds of America” is now on public display, as part of an exhibit that doesn’t shy away from Audubon’s complicated legacy.

A contentious vote in City Hall to back a cease-fire in the war between Israel and Hamas. And a CPS principal files a police report over allegedly violent rhetoric by CTU President Stacy Davis Gates.

Secrets and lies hide in plain sight in “Highway Patrol,” a can’t-miss mystery at the Goodman Theatre, writes WTTW News reporter Marc Vitali. It tells a true story centered around a puzzle that seems easy enough to solve. As the mystery morphs and raises new questions, it makes for a riveting evening of storytelling.

Democratic leaders in the legislature appear ready to revive talks to reform the state’s Biometric Information Privacy Act, or BIPA, after business groups poured cold water on the majority party’s ideas last spring.

The Health Benefits for Immigrant Adults and Health Benefits for Immigrant Seniors programs provide state-funded Medicaid-like benefits to individuals aged 42 and over who would otherwise be eligible for the federal low-income health care program if not for their immigration status. 

At a cosmetology academy in Back of the Yards, Jaime Romero is using his entrepreneurial spirit to guide his students through the beauty industry. He also knows what it’s like to face obstacles because of undocumented status. 

For first-generation individuals, building wealth can be intimidating. And while learning how to navigate finances can be challenging, it is possible. Giovanna González has made it her life’s mission to teach others how to tackle their finances while unpacking cultural and systemic barriers.

Comfortable flexing his muscles on the big screen in “Action Jackson” as he was joking around on the small screen in such shows as “Arrested Development,” Carl Weathers was perhaps most closely associated with Creed, who made his first appearance as the cocky, undisputed heavyweight world champion in 1976’s “Rocky,” starring Sylvester Stallone.

With its theme of immigrant life in the largely Latino Washington Heights neighborhood in the 1980s, this show’s uncanny relevance to the immigration controversy now underway in this country could not be more ideal, writes WTTW News theater critic Hedy Weiss.

According to the Chicago Police Department, there were 31 homicides recorded through the first month of 2024. That’s the lowest total for any January since 2019 (23 homicides) and the third-fewest in the last decade.

Mayor Brandon Johnson suspended the 60-day shelter limit for migrants for the third time since November this week, saying in a news conference that the city’s plan for temporary emergency shelter “was never meant as a long-term housing solution.”

February marks Black History Month and cultural institutions around Chicago are hosting events celebrating the city’s art and culture scene. Here are a few events you should check out.

Neither groundhog saw its shadow, indicating an early spring.

“The City Council, if they’re going to talk about the challenge of war in the Middle East, you’ve got to make sure that you include all the perspectives,” Gov. J.B. Pritzker said. “They did not do that.”