Stories by WTTW News

From filling your trunk with groceries to filling your car with gas, the price is going up. A new report on climate change was released — and it’s not pretty. And what genealogists can learn from just-released U.S. census records from 1950.

Last week, the U.S. National Archives released U.S. census records from 1950, granting public access to files that documented more than 150 million people and the areas they lived, the jobs they had, and much more.

According to the latest report on climate change, we’re still not doing enough to curb greenhouse gas emissions. There’s a way forward, but action can’t wait, scientists say.

Last year, shoppers paid roughly 6% more for their groceries than the year before. But it’s the cost of meat in particular that is behind much of the rise in our grocery bills. Beef is now some 20% more expensive than it was, while pork is up 14% and chicken around 7%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The senators from Alaska and Utah announced their decisions ahead of a procedural vote to advance the nomination and as Democrats pressed to confirm Jackson by the end of the week. 

The officer is a member of the department’s SWAT Team, who are not equipped with body-worn cameras, according to a statement from the agency known as COPA, which is charged with investigating police misconduct.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced a series of new initiatives to improve public safety, including a new Home and Business Protection Rebate Program through which residents can get rebates to defray the cost of security cameras and video storage.

The event was part of Shermann “Dilla” Thomas’ “Let’s Get Dilla A Bus” fundraiser to raise $200,000 for the his Chicago Mahogany Tours. It’s an opportunity that came to Thomas after be gained recognition on social media for his informative TikTok’s that educate the public on Chicago’s history.

President Joe Biden’s comments to reporters came after Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited Bucha, one of the towns surrounding Kyiv where Ukrainian officials say the bodies of civilians have been found. Zelenskyy called the Russian actions “genocide” and called for the West to apply tougher sanctions against Russia.

Since the pandemic started, experts have warned of a mental health crisis facing American children. That is now playing out at schools in the form of increased childhood depression, anxiety, panic attacks, eating disorders, fights and thoughts of suicide at alarming levels.

A fight for transgender lives. The LGBTQ community speaks out after two Black trans women are found dead. And a preview of “Fire Shut Up In My Bones,” now playing at Lyric Opera.

“Fire Shut Up In My Bones” is based on a memoir by longtime New York Times columnist Charles M. Blow. Composed by Terence Blanchard, the story explores how Blow works to heal from traumatic incidents of abuse in his childhood. 

The state recently announced a $17 million grant to build the first state-funded network of Freedom Schools in the country. The schools date back to the 1960s when volunteers traveled to Mississippi to teach Black students how to read and write, along with lessons on constitutional rights and African American history.

Tatiana LaBelle, also known as “Tee Tee,” was found in a trash can, beaten to death in the Chatham neighborhood on March 18. Her death was ruled a homicide. One day later, transgender activist Elise Malary was found dead along the lakefront in Evanston, a week after she was reported missing.

JoAnn Cunningham, 39, of Crystal Lake, claimed in her petition for post-conviction relief that she did not receive adequate counsel. She claimed to have been seeing demons and believed her son was possessed by a demon, and said she sought an exorcism from a priest, a chaplain and AJ’s father. 

The relationship between law enforcement and Latino communities. Health care benefits for immigrant adults over 55. And local recovery workers on how the pandemic has affected substance abuse.

In March 2021, the city was sent reeling when Chicago police officers shot and killed Adam Toledo and Anthony Alvarez just a few days apart. We look at where the relationship between law enforcement and Latino communities stands.

In December 2020, Illinois expanded Medicaid to provide health coverage to immigrant adults ages 65 and older. Now, another expansion offers health care benefits to low-income immigrants ages 55 to 64 starting May 1. 

The Illinois Overdose Action Plan offers new and expanded resources to help treat substance abuse and addiction.

Maestro Riccardo Muti and the musicians of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra featured three very different and extremely challenging works Thursday night that, as always, showcased the brilliance of both the composers and their interpreters.

Artist Ben Miller uses a unique technique called fly cast painting. He’ll be demonstrating it Sunday on the Riverwalk as he creates a portrait of the Chicago River.

Chicago has a new Inspector General. Lightfoot floats gas tax relief. WTTW investigates a high-profile gubernatorial candidate’s big donations from contractors. And the new 11th Ward alderperson on the Week in Review. 

With a week to go before the Illinois legislature’s planned April 8 adjournment, Democrats in the state Senate on Friday introduced an election-year “inflation-busting” plan offering tax breaks to low-income workers, homeowners, parents, teachers, drivers and even volunteer first responders. 

The city’s commitment of $6 million to the Englewood Nature Trail is part of a total of $15 million announced by the mayor to jump-start a number of “green infrastructure” projects throughout Chicago.

“Many of these guns have been linked to shootings in the Chicago area in which multiple people have been injured and several killed,” U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said Friday.

The new Visceral Dance Center is an ultra-modern, elegant, rectangular structure in tones of gray and black with six state-of-the-art studios. A stunningly performed program by Visceral Dance Theater is now inaugurating the building’s Ann Barzel Theater. This mightily impressive contemporary dance company deserves just such a home.