Stories by Kristen Thometz

Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced Tuesday that he has appointed pediatrician Dr. Sameer Vohra to lead the state health department starting Aug. 1.

If Ald. Ed Burke decides to run for re-election in February 2023, he will do so before being brought to trial on charges he has faced for more than an entire term on the Chicago City Council.

The new variants, labeled BA.4 and BA.5, are offshoots of the omicron strain that has been responsible for nearly all of the virus spread in the U.S. and are even more contagious than their predecessors.

The new figures quantify what scientists, officials and activists have long called the inequity in national climate histories with the rich nations benefiting and the poor ones hurting from the production of greenhouse gas emissions.

Illinois officials head to Washington as the president signs gun safety legislation a week after the Highland Park tragedy. Maternal mortality is on the rise. And the artist behind Netflix’s “Grace and Frankie” series.

Illinois officials were on hand in Washington, D.C. to commemorate President Joe Biden’s recent signing of a bipartisan gun law.

A’ja Wilson, Breanna Stewart and the rest of the WNBA All-Stars wore Griner’s name and her No. 42 on the back of their jerseys for the second half of Team Wilson’s 134-112 victory over Team Stewart. It was another moment in the league’s continued push for Griner’s release from her detention in Russia.

Crain’s Chicago Business reporter Danny Ecker goes behind the latest business headlines.

It’s been about three years since we introduced you to the artist behind the artwork on the hit Netflix series “Grace and Frankie.” With the show’s final season officially out, it was time to go back to the artist’s studio in East Rogers Park for another visit.

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle spoke to WTTW News following Biden’s White House celebration of the passage of a federal gun safety law that was attended by elected officials, gun control advocates, gun violence survivors and the families of victims.

Some researchers say the Supreme Court’s move overturning Roe v. Wade could have a negative impact on maternal health.

The Chicago Police Department did not advise the WNBA to limit outdoor events held Saturday and Sunday in conjunction with the league’s all-star game, including a concert by Chicago-native Chance the Rapper, a department spokesperson told WTTW News.

The risk to Chicagoans from monkeypox remains low, according to Chicago Department of Public Health officials, who encouraged anyone who has developed a new or unexplained rash to see a health care provider.

The Ethics Committee plans to hold a hearing, and potentially a key vote, on Wednesday to consider a proposed overhaul of the city of Chicago’s Governmental Ethics Ordinance, without giving members of the public or the news media a chance to review its provisions.

The “celebration” Monday morning at the White House came a week after a gunman in Highland Park killed seven people at an Independence Day parade, a stark reminder of the limitations of the new law in addressing the American phenomenon of mass gun violence. 

The first payments began to flow nearly nine months after the Chicago City Council approved the program’s funding as part of its 2022 budget.

Two more people were killed in separate shootings early Monday morning and another man was wounded in a shootout inside a South Loop parking garage.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s office will host three “budget engagement forums” on July 21, July 23 and July 30 to give Chicago residents a chance to “share their priorities regarding city services” and “have a dialogue” with the mayor, budget director and other city officials.

Healing in the aftermath of the Highland Park mass shooting. Plus, the demand local food pantries are seeing. The push for transit-accessible housing. And a psychedelic soul band. 

The average U.S. price of regular-grade gasoline plunged 19 cents over the past two weeks to $4.86 per gallon.

The 2-block by 3-block area consists largely of small shops and restaurants. It had been blocked off with crime scene tape, barricades and uniformed officers since Monday as the FBI and other law enforcement agencies processed evidence.

A new revelation in the decades-old lynching of Emmett Till, what advocates are calling for. Plus, the nation's first Black attorney general joins us. And the Last Word on Africa and innovation.

Highlighting African innovation is the goal of the Field Museum’s new assistant curator of African anthropology, Foreman Bandama. 

In the basement of a Mississippi courthouse in late June members of the Minnesota-based Emmett Till Legacy Foundation discovered an unserved warrant. Now the foundation, which includes members of Till’s family, is demanding that the warrant be served.

A new ballet production made its debut at the Navy Pier Lake Stage. “Rita Finds Home” is a family-friendly production resulting from a collaboration between the Joffrey and Miami City Ballet telling the story of a young artist who is swept from her tropical island home by a hurricane and must make a new life for herself.

Eduardo Uvaldo, who would have turned 70 on Friday, was a native of Mexico who first moved to the United States when he was 15. In an obituary, he was remembered for his love of his large family — he was survived by his wife, Maria, four daughters, four siblings, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.