Stories by WTTW News

New information on how the city says it addressed health concerns at a Pilsen migrant shelter. Jimmy Soto comes home after serving Illinois’ longest wrongful conviction sentence. And the opportunities and challenges of buying your first home.

With rising home prices, living costs and more, saving for that next step can be intimidating. It’s causing many young adults to delay their purchase. The average age of first-time homebuyers has reached 36, according to the National Association of Realtors.

In December, Jimmy Soto saw the sunrise over Lake Michigan for the first time in 42 years. He is now discovering a completely different world from the one he left.

One Rogers Park resident is making it her mission to help migrants by giving them knitted and crocheted winter hats. She reached out to local and online crafting groups asking if others wanted to do the same.

Experts said the pest’s eggs, which will hatch in spring, are able to withstand the recent arctic blast.

In April 2020, a smokestack implosion in Little Village blanketed the community in dust, endangering the health of residents during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, eligible Little Village residents have until March 26 to file claims for compensation.

The 44,000-square-foot, $42 million facility will be dedicated to chocolate and nut testing and research, according to a company press release.

Chicago rules require unscheduled one-way buses from outside the Chicago area to get advance approval from the city to drop people off. Violators can be fined $3,000 and have their vehicles impounded, the mandate says.

Thousands of delegates, journalists and likely protestors will descend on Chicago for the DNC from Aug. 19-22 — tying up traffic and hotel rooms while also giving the city and its bars, restaurants and shops an opportunity to show off.

Mayor Brandon Johnson will not evict migrants from city shelters until at least Feb. 1, suspending the 60-day limit he imposed for the second time in less than a week, a city spokesperson said.

The new code of conduct prohibits pushing, waving a gun at someone, harassment and “acts of public indecency.”

One on one with the newest leader of the city’s public health department. Supporting Chicago’s unhoused as temperatures continue to plummet. And bringing paradise to everyday life ahead of Chicago Restaurant Week.

Most of us can avoid Chicago’s frigid temperatures just by staying home. But for those experiencing homelessness, the solution is not that simple. Local organizations work directly with those individuals, hoping to provide relief and find long-term solutions.

Chicago Restaurant Week kicks off Friday. But don’t be fooled by the annual event’s name — it’s actually a 17-day celebration of the city’s diverse and delicious culinary scene.

The city of Chicago has a new public health commissioner filling this high-profile role after the ousting of Dr. Allison Arwady in August. Dr. Olusimbo “Simbo” Ige is the first Black woman to lead the Chicago Department of Public Health on a permanent basis.

Mayor Brandon Johnson’s office responded to a Tuesday WTTW News report that members of his administration were made aware of concerns about unsanitary conditions at a migrant shelter in Pilsen weeks before a 5-year-old-boy fell ill at the shelter and later died at a hospital.

The board would be tasked with assessing high-cost drugs, like ones used to treat cancer, auto-immune disease and diabetes, as well as other drugs that might impact the state health care system.

The Illinois Underground Railroad Task Force met for the first time this week to begin devising a strategy for sharing, growing and celebrating the history of the Underground Railroad in Illinois.

The Chicago Board of Education will take public comments on proposed changes to the district policy. That move comes weeks after CPS Inspector General Will Fletcher published investigatory results showing that $23 million worth of electronic devices had been unaccounted for.

The proposed change by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau would potentially eliminate billions of dollars in fee revenue for the nation’s biggest banks, which were gearing up for a battle even before Wednesday’s announcement. 

The law, named the Protecting Illinois Communities Act (PICA), has banned the sale of hundreds of specific guns and types of guns since Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed it in early 2023.

A WTTW News exclusive: What did the mayor know about migrant shelter conditions where several have fallen ill? Why Chicago says it’ll take 15 years to make crosswalks accessible for blind pedestrians. And how winter storms are contributing to a nationwide blood shortage.

Illinois lawmakers return to Springfield with migrants top of mind. Bad weather prompts Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson to suspend his policy evicting migrants from city shelters after 60 days. And a plea from Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.

The number of people donating blood has dropped by 40% over the last two decades, according to the American Red Cross.

Fewer than 2% of Chicago’s signalized intersections have an accessible pedestrian signal that provides auditory and tactile guidance to blind, low-vision and deafblind pedestrians — despite more than two decades of requests and years of internal acknowledgement from city staffers about the need for such accommodations.

Emails from late October exclusively obtained by WTTW News shine new light on the timeline of when Mayor Brandon Johnson and his administration were made aware of conditions at a migrant shelter in Pilsen and what exactly those conditions were.