Stories by Patty Wetli

For the first time in at least six months, Chicago recorded zero weekend homicides due to gun violence, according to police.

The contest is a long way from being settled, with an additional 54,191 outstanding mail-in ballots from Chicago that will be counted if they are received by elections officials by April 2. There are also outstanding mail-in ballots from suburban Cook County that will be counted in the coming days.

Beginning in October 2020, LaSalle Veterans Home experienced a COVID-19 outbreak that sickened nearly 200 people. A whopping 85% of residents and 35% of staff tested positive for the virus, which eventually killed three dozen residents.

Among the most recent issues, a chunk of outer aluminum skin was discovered to have fallen off the belly of a United Boeing 737 after it landed in Oregon. Earlier this month, a United jet suffered an engine fire during takeoff from Houston, and a tire fell off another United jet as it left San Francisco.

The CSO invariably generates pure musical magic, and it is undeniably one of the greatest cultural treasures of this city, and far beyond, writes WTTW News theater critic Hedy Weiss.

The Newberry Library is raising a glass to the Chicago nightclub that helped shape American music and comedy. The new exhibition “A Night at Mister Kelly’s” is a swinging selection of artifacts and eye-opening information about the famous hotspot.

Too close to call in the race for Cook County state’s attorney. Johnson doubles down on his progressive agenda. And Arlington Heights sweetens a property tax deal for the Bears.

After 12,634 mail-in ballots were counted by Chicago election officials late Friday, the results were essentially unchanged. Approximately 53% of voters rejected Ballot Question No. 1, better known as Bring Chicago Home, according to unofficial totals.

The mayor has touted the proposal as a fulfillment of a promise he made during the 2023 campaign to make Chicago a more equitable place to live by “investing in people” and expanding the city’s economic capacity — without raising taxes on Chicago property owners.

The injury-depleted Wildcats recovered after squandering a nine-point lead late in the second half. Brooks Barnhizer’s driving layup tied it with nine seconds left.

The princess described her diagnosis as a “huge shock” in a video statement released on social media. The news comes two months after she had temporarily stepped away from public life following what Kensington Palace said at the time was surgery for a non-cancerous abdominal condition.

From its home in Oak Brook, the Lizzadro Museum spotlights a captivating collection of stones, both hand-carved and in their natural state. Jade carvings, cameos and dioramas live side-by-side with fossils and rough minerals.

Allergy season is here — and it’s earlier and stronger than expected. The level of misery people will face depends on where they live and what they’re allergic to, but there are things you can do to feel better.

The campaign highlighted the lack of Latino representation on the state’s top court — which has long been a concern of many in the Latino legal community and beyond. 

Challenger Sharon Waller holds a slight lead over incumbent Daniel “Pogo” Pogorzelski in the race to claim a seat on the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District’s board of commissioners, with more than 100,000 outstanding vote-by-mail ballots still uncounted.

Chicago Police Supt. Larry Snelling blasted Civilian Office of Police Accountability Chief Administrator Andrea Kersten for treating Chicago Police officers so unfairly that he says they are at risk of suicide and compromise public safety.

A look at Latino representation in government and the courts. The latest on evictions at Chicago migrant shelters. And a body-inclusive dance studio. 

During the day, Lexi Longsworth is a speech pathologist. By night, she runs DivaDance Chicago, a dance studio focused on building confidence and community.

Since city officials began enforcing the 60-day limit on shelter stays, eight people were evicted on Sunday and Monday, with another seven evicted on Wednesday, according to city data.

The Democratic race between retired judge Eileen O’Neill Burke and former prosecutor Clayton Harris for Cook County state’s attorney remains too close to call.

Police said three people were fatally shot following a Feb. 25 altercation inside a Chatham home: two men, ages 20 and 36, and a 14-year-old boy. A 16-year-old boy was also shot and seriously wounded.

Judge Michael Mullen’s decision, which is subject to appeal, upholds the effort backed by the city’s largest police union to upend the system used for 60 years to punish officers.

With inflatable tanks, radio trickery, costume uniforms and acting, the American military units that became known as the Ghost Army outwitted the enemy during World War II. Among them was Bernard Bluestein, now 100, of Hoffman Estates.

The cause was an outage in the “national network that connects driver’s license facilities,” a network run by the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators. That outage resulted in the system having to shut down across the country.

Democrats were largely able to swat back hundreds of policy mandates and some of the steeper budget cuts that House Republicans were seeking to impose on nondefense programs, though House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., highlighted some policy wins. 

A federal judge on Wednesday dismissed a lawsuit filed by a Chicago police officer that alleged sexual assault by former police Superintendent Eddie Johnson, who was out drinking with her the night he was found asleep behind the wheel of his SUV.