Stories by WTTW News

Law enforcement is sounding the alarm on guns that are still in the hand of residents who shouldn’t legally have them. A City Council battle around ShotSpotter. And the cicadas are finally here — what you need to know.

Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart is seeking $10 million from state lawmakers to tackle what he calls in a recent report “A Firearm Regulation Crisis.” 

The Illinois Department of Natural Resources has announced its plan to host a cicada-themed art show during the Illinois State Fair and is seeking entries from the public, looking for interpretations of cicadas or broods.

The chief prosecutor of the world’s top war crimes court sought arrest warrants Monday for leaders of Israel and Hamas, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, over actions taken during their seven-month war.

From his entertaining pitching style to his trips to Dunkin' Donuts — “Either I order a small iced latte or a medium,” he said — Shota Imanaga has moved with a purpose in his acclimation to the big leagues. And he is making it look easy at the moment.

The massive emergence of 17-year cicadas has started in Chicago and the surrounding region. Here's what to look for next.

According to Chicago Police Department figures, 45 people were shot, 1 fatally, in 31 separate shooting incidents recorded between 6 p.m. Friday and 11:59 p.m. Sunday.

Ald. David Moore told WTTW News he will force a vote on an order that accuses Mayor Brandon Johnson of having “usurped the will of the City Council and their ability to represent constituents” by canceling the city’s contract with SoundThinking, which operates the ShotSpotter gunshot detection system.

In the world premiere play “Turret,” humans dwell at the bottom of the food chain, and their days at the top are a distant memory.

The Victor Wong fellowship involves three months of intensive training in sketch comedy writing, performing and improv. The “Youth in Asia (Are You Proud of Me Yet?)” showcase, written and performed by Second City’s latest cohort of fellows, is a culmination of the program.

Lawmakers passed more than 200 bills this week ahead of their scheduled May 24 adjournment. Many of the measures will soon head to Gov. J.B. Pritzker, including a bill that changes how damages accrue under Illinois’ first-in-the-nation biometric data privacy law.

In 2022, the General Assembly created a task force to research the state of journalism in Illinois. Data from Northwestern University showed one-third of local outlets have closed since 2005, creating an 86% decline in newspaper jobs over that span.

In the middle of Mental Health Awareness Month, Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton hosted a panel in Springfield at which he pledged to expand the state’s behavioral health services.

In 2024, Illinois can’t be beat for periodical cicadas. Here’s everything you need to know about these fascinating creatures, and what to expect between now and July.

One year into Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration. Campus encampment cleared at DePaul. And will Springfield help Chicago Public Schools close its deficit?

Larissa FastHorse is the first Native American woman to have a play produced on Broadway. “The Thanksgiving Play” is now onstage at Steppenwolf Theatre. It’s a satire about earnest theater folks who attempt to stage a historically accurate Thanksgiving play.

In a recent performance with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, German pianist Martin Helmchen displayed fabulous speed-of-light fingering at one moment and lyrical grace the next, writes WTTW News theater critic Hedy Weiss.

Another mild winter and other favorable factors likely means the 2024 tick population will be equal to last year or larger, some researchers say.

Six people are accused of staging fake robberies at various restaurants and businesses in and around Chicago in an effort to help make the purported “victims” eligible for U.S. visas.

And for the third consecutive year at Grant Park’s Hutchinson Field, the Sueños Music Festival is set to celebrate reggaeton and Latin music artists during the Memorial Day holiday weekend.

The journalists filed a class-action lawsuit against the Chicago Tribune, the Tribune Publishing Company and Alden Global Capital, alleging they’ve faced pay discrimination based on gender, race and ethnicity as a result of the defendants’ “centralized policies and practices.”

Officers and workers in yellow vests cleared out tents and camping equipment at the student encampment, leaving behind yellow squares of dead or dying grass where the tents had stood. Front-loaders were being used to remove the camping equipment.

What’s behind the city’s joblessness rates among Black and Latino youth. Meet the powerful women of an ancient Mexican civilization. And Sueños Music Festival returns.

Femme fatales and goddesses play for keeps at a new exhibit at the National Museum of Mexican Art. These deities and grande dames — etched in rock or molded from clay — are in Pilsen through July.

Mighty men and well-toned women paraded through the lobby of the Copernicus Center in Jefferson Park last Saturday, crossing paths with fans, supporters and vendors. The muscled masses were competitors in the Illinois State Championship of the National Physique Committee.

“Nature education is a big part of what we do here, but you gotta find a way to make it interesting so that people actually watch it,” said Jonathan Mullen, part of the team behind the viral video.