Stories by Heather Cherone

Buckner told WTTW News he decided to run for mayor because Chicago needs a leader who is “fearless and compassionate.”

Much of Chicago is defined by its residential buildings, a beautiful mishmash of styles, sizes, and ages. Now, preservationists are calling attention to a style of home known as workers cottages – an original form of affordable housing.

The problems began last year as the COVID-19 pandemic led to disruptions in labor, transportation and raw materials — economy-wide issues that didn’t spare the formula industry. Inventory was further squeezed by parents stockpiling during COVID-19 lockdowns.

Ten reputed members of the Four Corner Hustlers street gang have been arrested and charged with conspiring to sell heroin and cocaine at open-air drug markets on Chicago’s West Side following a massive undercover investigation.

John Corona, 25, is being held without bail after he was arrested and charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the killings of 35-year-old Antwon Gee and 34-year-old Devel Jones.

The coronavirus has killed more than 999,000 people in the U.S. and at least 6.2 million people globally since it emerged in late 2019, according to figures compiled by Johns Hopkins University. Other counts, including by the American Hospital Association, American Medical Association and American Nurses Association, have the toll at 1 million.

The combination of high temperatures and humidity sent heat indices soaring above 100 degrees Wednesday. Thursday will see more of the same.

“The sheer number and political stature of the Illinois elected officials and business leaders who were implicated, indicted or convicted in the 2020 is staggering,” University of Illinois at Chicago professor and former 44th Ward Ald. Dick Simpson said.

President Biden hits town. Plus, an exclusive report on House Speaker Chris Welch’s influence on his wife’s judicial campaign. And Northwestern launches a first-of-its-kind study on lung disease.

An international team of researchers say they have found fossilized remains of fish and a dinosaur in North Dakota at a site that they believed died on the very day of an asteroid impact. That story is told in a new documentary called “Dinosaur Apocalypse” airing on WTTW.

Nearly 40 cities across the country are recruiting 4,000 young adults ages 25-35 to participate in a study that will track and analyze their lung health over their lifetime to better understand how environment, lifestyle and physical activity impact respiratory health.

A local music prodigy began studying in his native Ukraine before he moved to Chicago with his family. The community of musicians he found here – and music itself – have helped sustain him during an uneasy time. 

Much of judicial candidate ShawnTe Raines-Welch’s campaign cash comes thanks to the largesse of Democratic elected officials who work under the political leadership of her husband, Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch.

Lead service lines connect approximately 400,000 Chicago homes with water mains buried under city streets, and can leach a brain-damaging chemical into drinking water. 

The $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill approved in November 2021 includes $15 billion to fund lead service line replacement efforts and $3 billion is set to flow to states and cities in 2022. A Biden administration plan calls for all of the lead service lines to be removed in a decade. That would cost $45 billion.

Throughout this play, Lynn Nottage explores the notion of intimacy in a multitude of ways, suggesting how different social classes, different ethnicities, and different sexes can connect, confide in, and also betray each other. Overall, “Intimate Apparel” is as meticulously crafted as its main character’s creations.

An organic plant sale, total lunar eclipse, migratory birds and a writers festival usher in the weekend. Here are 10 things to do in and around Chicago this weekend.

Months of spot shortages at pharmacies and supermarkets have been exacerbated by the recall at Abbott, which was forced to shutter its largest U.S. formula manufacturing plant in February due to contamination concerns.

The provisional 2021 total translates to roughly one U.S. overdose death every 5 minutes. It marked a 15% increase from the previous record, set the year before. The CDC reviews death certificates and then makes an estimate to account for delayed and incomplete reporting.

Police Superintendent David Brown said one teen was killed and four others were wounded in a Back of the Yards shooting Tuesday afternoon that investigators believe was the result of escalating gang violence between two factions in the area.

Council members sound off on the ward remap and casino deals. Former U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on Russia-Ukraine. The Greater Chicago food depository ramps up calls for donations. And more.

While Mayor Lori Lightfoot and her administration have touted the proposal from Bally’s as the most lucrative proposal the city received and said the casino would be an “iconic” addition to Chicago’s riverfront, members of the City Council continue to greet those claims with skepticism.

Anyone who’s bought groceries lately can tell inflation continues to push the cost of food to record highs. And people who can’t afford the higher prices are showing up at food pantries across Chicagoland.

Chicago city council members say that — after a lot of haggling — they have an agreement on a new ward map. This means there are likely 41 votes in council to confirm what the wards will look like for the next ten years, and it will not be put to the voters in a public election. But some good government groups have blasted the proposal as another typical backroom deal.

Chuck Hagel served as the United States Secretary of Defense under the Obama administration from 2013 to 2015, after two terms as a Republican senator from Nebraska. Hagel is visiting Chicago to speak on national security and global geopolitics at the University of Chicago. 

As part of Mental Health Awareness Month, CPS will begin the “Please Stay” initiative, which is focused on suicide prevention and prioritizing the mental health of students dealing with increased levels of anxiety and stress.