Stories by Patty Wetli

The Park District Board of Commissioners voted Wednesday to rename the plovers’ Montrose Beach meeting spot the Monty and Rose Wildlife Habitat.

Actor and Paralympic athlete Katy Sullivan portrays the ruthless Richard III at Chicago Shakespeare Theater.

Hospitals have shifted their use of online technology to support everything from telehealth to medical devices to patient records. Today, they are a favorite target for internet thieves who hold systems’ data and networks hostage for hefty ransoms.

The Board of Education next week will vote on whether to replace Aramark with seven other vendor companies to provide custodial and professional services for district schools.

As questions about age resurface in the presidential race, what you should know about brain health. Johnson moves to end the city’s controversial ShotSpotter contract. And a Chicago-area baker shows us how she makes hundreds of paczki at home.

“Aging is not a uniform phenomenon that happens equally,” said Jay Olshansky, professor of public health at the University of Illinois Chicago.

The evening roll call proved tight, with Speaker Mike Johnson’s threadbare GOP majority unable to handle many defectors or absences in the face of staunch Democratic opposition to impeaching Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, the first Cabinet secretary facing charges in nearly 150 years.

Chicago will stop using the ShotSpotter technology by Sept. 22 — one month after the Democratic National Convention takes place in Chicago and after the summer months that are often the most violent period of the year, Mayor Brandon Johnson announced.

Illinois’ assault weapons ban passed after a July 4, 2022, mass shooting in suburban Highland Park. The law banned the sale of AR-15s and scores of other guns beginning in January 2023. People who previously owned guns subject to the law are allowed to keep them, but the weapons must be registered.

The unions are calling Tuesday’s protests a national day of action. It is not a strike — federal law makes it difficult for airline unions to conduct legal strikes.

Millions of people deal with COVID-19 symptoms long after their initial infections. Two new studies give a better look at the burden from this health problem that doctors say often goes under the radar.

Of the 1,189 creatures listed by the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals, more than one in five are threatened. They include species from all sorts of animal groups — whales, sharks, elephants, wild cats, raptors, birds and insects, among others.

During a hearing Tuesday, Fitzgerald’s attorney Dan Webb argued that the case would have to go to trial later this year in order for Fitzgerald to have any chance of getting a job during the next coaching cycle ahead of the 2025 college football season.

The paczki many Polish Americans grew up eating, made with plum, rose or raspberry fillings, aren’t the only kind available these days. We take a look at the Fat Tuesday tradition. 

Aster Hasle, a conservation scientist at the Field Museum, said, “Our role in the Midwest is to build that population back up. There is a lot that we can do here to provide habitat that’s going to help.”

Under a new proposal introduced last week in Springfield, all tipped workers in the state would have to be paid the equivalent of the Illinois’ regular minimum wage through a combination of wages and tips. If the tips fall short, their employers would have to make up the difference.

A WTTW News analysis finds the city has spent just 29% of the COVID-19 relief money meant to transform Chicago. The push to eliminate subminimum wage expands to Illinois. And why you can’t buy cars on Sundays. 

His lawyers have indicated they will file an emergency appeal with the court, just four days after the justices heard Trump’s separate appeal to remain on the presidential ballot despite attempts to kick him off because of his efforts following his election loss in 2020.

Former state Sen. SamMcCann’s trial has been delayed numerous times since his February 2021 indictment on fraud, money laundering, and tax evasion charges.   

U.S. District Judge John Kness will hand down the sentence during a hearing in a Chicago courtroom Monday — more than five months after Mapes was convicted of making false declarations and attempted obstruction of justice.

Bob Edwards began his 30-year tenure at NPR in 1974, when the network was still in its infancy. He co-hosted “All Things Considered,” NPR’s evening show, before spearheading “Morning Edition” as its inaugural host in 1979, a position he held until 2004.

Kenya’s Kiptum was 24 and one of the most exciting prospects to emerge in road running in years, having broken the world record in only his third appearance in an elite marathon. His record, set at last year’s Chicago Marathon, was ratified by international track federation World Athletics just last week.

“Some people feel it’s a stigma, and I don’t want people to feel like it’s a stigma,” state Sen. Cristina Castro said. “There’s great treatment out there. We’re just trying to help lower the barrier to that treatment.”

Chicago spent less than $160 million on a host of programs including affordable housing, mental health, violence prevention, youth job programs and help for unhoused Chicagoans through Dec. 31, 2023, according to reports to the federal government.

According to a report from the New York Federal Reserve Bank, the real net worth of white individuals outgrew that of Black and Hispanic individuals by 30 percentage points and 9 percentage points respectively, from the first quarter of 2019 through the second quarter of 2023.

On Saturday, Asian American communities around the U.S. will ring in the Year of the Dragon with community carnivals, family gatherings, parades, traditional food, fireworks and other festivities.