Stories by Paul Caine

“The new name is the Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures, West Asia and North Africa,” said Theo van den Hout, the museum’s interim director.

Many of the flags waving from civic buildings aren’t just representing Chicago, they’re made in the city’s South Shore neighborhood, by Chicago residents, who work for a company known as W.G.N.

Chicago will elect a new mayor and voters in 14 wards will also elect a new alderperson to the Chicago City Council. 

Former President Donald Trump returned to New York from his Florida estate Monday for his historic booking and arraignment on hush money charges related to allegations of sexual encounters.

“It is an absurd denial that lacks human generosity,” journalist Jamie Kalven said.

The Wall Street Journal cited an internal email from the Chicago fast-food giant saying U.S. corporate staff and some employees overseas should work from home while the company notifies people of their job status.

A 36-year-old Chicago Public Schools teacher is charged with two felony counts of stalking after a confrontation with officers outside of Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s home earlier this week.

Three-time Golden Gloves champion Jorge Pacheco became dedicated to boxing as a teenager. He now applies lessons learned in the ring to his business.

According to the Chicago Board of Elections, only 3% of voters ages 18 to 24 voted in the Feb. 28 Chicago municipal election.

A new exhibit from the Glencoe Historical Society explores the town’s beginnings as an unusually integrated community and takes a stark look at how the Black members of that community were pushed out.

Americans are discovering family secrets every day thanks to DNA testing and online genealogy. But not everyone learns they have a luminary of Black American history as an ancestor.

Latino voters could be the crucial swing vote that decides who will be Chicago’s next mayor, but according to a recent poll, many Latinos said they haven’t heard from either of the candidates ahead of Tuesday’s runoff election.

The National Museum of Mexican Art launched its annual Sor Juana Festival, an event series featuring Mexican and Mexican-American artists. The festival’s name honors 17th century Mexican nun, mathematician, writer and activist Sor Juana Ines de La Cruz.

The initial program issued payments of $25,000 for housing benefits like mortgage assistance or renovations. Black residents who lived in Evanston during a 50-year period of discriminatory zoning laws and their direct descendants receive priority for eligibility.

As Election Day approaches, top issues on the minds of voters. A local congregation helping migrants. The Golden Gloves turns 100. And “Adventures with Abuelita.”

Engaging the city’s youngest voters ahead of the mayoral election. Cash payments for Evanston’s reparations program. A local author traces her lineage back to Benjamin Banneker. And Glencoe's once-thriving Black community.

In Belvidere, Illinois, a tornado collapsed the roof of the Apollo Theatre as 260 people attended a heavy metal concert, killing one person and injuring 40, officials said.

Illinois congressmen react to former President Trump’s indictment and the mishandling of classified documents. Friction is growing within the CTU over campaign spending. And Transgender Day of Visibility celebrations in the city.

An airport destroyed in the middle of the night by the government. It may sound like the plot of an exotic spy thriller, but it happened in Chicago 20 years ago this week.

On Friday, people around the world came together for the annual Transgender Day of Visibility, a day to celebrate the resilience of transgender and nonbinary people.

Both Brandon Johnson and Paul Vallas will spend the final days of what is expected to be the closest election in Chicago history scrambling for any possible advantage – and trying to make sure their supporters cast a ballot.

U.S. Representatives Darin LaHood (R-Ill.) and Mike Quigley (D-Ill.) recently introduced legislation that would implement stronger enforcement to protect classified documents and impose civil penalties for officials who mishandle those documents.

A group of teachers has filed legal action against the CTU, alleging union leaders are wrongly spending dues money on political organizations supporting Brandon Johnson for mayor. They said it’s not about politics, but about their contention that their own union has deceived them.

Trump indictment sets the national political world on fire. Vallas and Johnson race toward the finish line. “ComEd Four” trial peels the curtain back on the Madigan machine. And Cubs and Sox are undefeated.

Researchers at Northwestern University found that people who live directly next to Lake Michigan or along one of the major interstate highways running through Chicago are regularly exposed to more air pollution than residents in the rest of the city.

Violinist Joshua Bell and pianist Daniil Trifonov dazzled an Orchestra Hall audience Wednesday night, writes WTTW News theater critic Hedy Weiss. The musicians, in top form, even treated the enthusiastic crowd to two encores.