Stories by Heather Cherone

Dr. Allison Arwady said “preliminary conversations” were taking place with representatives of business groups about requiring proof of vaccination or a negative test for diners or revelers, but no decision had been made.

The Illinois State Museum is planning a “Growing Up Gen X” exhibit and has put out a call for contributions of photos, memories and objects that define the youth of this often-overlooked cohort of Americans.

The U.S. and many other nations already were urging adults to get booster shots to pump up immunity that can wane months after vaccination, calls that intensified with the discovery of the worrisome new omicron variant.

Restaurants and cafes could continue to serve customers outdoors through 2022 under a proposal set to be considered at Wednesday's City Council meeting.

Alphonso Joyner, 23, was ordered held without bail during a court hearing Thursday following his arrest on charges including first-degree murder and aggravated unlawful use of a weapon stemming from the brazen killing of 71-year-old Woom Sing Tse.

The agenda for the meeting of the City Council’s Finance Committee set for 10 a.m. Monday does not identify the amount the city would pay Anjanette Young and her attorneys to resolve the case, an indication that a final agreement is close, but is not yet final, sources told WTTW News.

Bison once roamed Illinois’ tallgrass prairies in some of the largest herds east of the Mississippi, but they’re so rare in these parts today, a single escapee from a Lake County farm is creating a social media stir.

Live from South Shore. In-stadium sports betting debate. A top Biden administration official on the latest with COVID. Justin Fields returns to take on the Packers. And WFMT celebrates a milestone.

All bets are in. The state’s gaming commission chose which developers will be allowed to build new suburban casinos — and where. This comes nearly two-and-a-half years after the state’s gambling expansion law passed.

A public health advisory from the U.S. surgeon general’s office details how the pandemic has disrupted the lives of children, teens and young adults, causing them anxiety, depression and suicidal thoughts.

Which suburbs are betting on casinos, plus the odds on sports betting at stadiums in Spotlight Politics. A mental health crisis for young people. And the holiday season is here for small businesses.

Sports betting, casinos, and COVID-19 bills in Springfield. Our politics team weighs in on that and more.

Citing investigations from the Environmental Protection Agency, local residents and activists say their neighborhood cannot withstand the pollution they believe the new Southside Recycling facility will bring.

The holiday shopping season is underway and U.S. sales are on track to surpass spending records. Some small business owners say they hope the season will provide a much-needed boost to revenue as retailers large and small face supply chain issues and inflation more than a year and a half into the pandemic.

The deliberations began after a roughly one-week trial in which two brothers testified that Jussie Smollett recruited them to fake the attack near his home in downtown Chicago in January 2019.

A major outage in Amazon’s cloud computing network Tuesday severely disrupted services at a wide range of U.S. companies for hours, raising questions about the vulnerability of the internet and its concentration in the hands of a few firms.

New cases in the U.S. climbed from an average of nearly 95,000 a day on Nov. 22 to almost 119,000 a day this week, and hospitalizations are up 25% from a month ago. 

Pfizer and its partner BioNTech said that while two doses may not be protective enough to prevent infection, lab tests showed a booster increased by 25-fold people’s levels of virus-fighting antibodies. 

Charleston Harris, 37, was ordered held without bail Wednesday following his arrest on a single count of first-degree murder stemming from the fatal July shooting of 44-year-old Theodore Smith.

It’s been 268 days, and counting, since Chicago recorded its last measurable snow. The record of 290 days is within reach.

Superheroes and villains, a reimagined “Nutcracker,” vision boards and holiday plays usher in the weekend. Here are 10 things to do in Chicago.

With tens of thousands of Russian troops massed on the Ukraine border, the highly anticipated call between the two leaders came amid growing worries by the U.S. and Western allies about Russia’s threat to its neighbor.

“We envision a city where every resident, no matter age, income, identity, ability, has the opportunities and the resources to lead comfortable lives in the communities they call home,” Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Monday.

This time last year, many people celebrated the holidays virtually, as the COVID-19 vaccine was not yet widely available. But this year, the faithful can plan some in-person gatherings to celebrate the holidays.

Boeing’s former CEO defended the company’s safety record after a pair of deadly crashes, and implied some of the blame lay with insufficiently trained pilots. But a new book argues changes in corporate culture and government oversight led Boeing to prioritize profit over safety.

One bill would require all unvaccinated individuals who are hospitalized or need other medical treatment because of COVID-19 to pay any related costs out of pocket. The other would forbid discrimination against anyone who chooses not to be vaccinated out of religious or personal beliefs.