Stories by WTTW News

Vaccination eligibility expands in Chicago. President Biden is expected to unveil his infrastructure plan — what’s in it for Illinois? New buyers for the Tribune emerge. We explore powerline fishing.

City officials announced Monday they will open a vaccination site for union workers—the first of its type in the nation, they say—designed to administer 1,200 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine per day.

Federal officials announced Monday a mass vaccination site will be opening in Gary, Indiana, as they warned of rising coronavirus cases across the country and urged residents to wear masks, social distance and limit travel.

A joint World Health Organization-China study on the origins of COVID-19 says that transmission of the virus from bats to humans through another animal is the most likely scenario and that a lab leak is “extremely unlikely,” according to a draft copy obtained by The Associated Press. 

One man is dead and another is in custody following a police shooting early Monday morning on the city’s Southwest Side.

Approximately 84% of all Chicagoans are now eligible for the vaccine, as Chicago enters the third phase of the vaccination effort that began in mid-December. 

A year after COVID-19 upended life for millions of Americans, there are troubling signs that the coronavirus may have also slowed progress against another deadly health threat: smoking.

Evanston makes history by passing a reparations ordinance for Black residents. A “professional troublemaker” joins us for this week’s Black Voices Book Club. Remembering broadcaster Bill Campbell.

Evanston has become the first city in the country to offer reparations for Black residents. Last week, aldermen voted to distribute $10 million over the next 10 years, using tax money from the sale of recreational marijuana. We discuss the local and national outlook.

From jumping out of airplanes to zip-lining through the jungle, Luvvie Ajayi Jones has become an expert at challenging fear — but not all of her daring adventures involve leaving the ground. She tells us about her new book, “Professional Troublemaker: The Fear-Fighter Manual.”

In this 1981 clip from “The Week in Review,” Bill Campbell, who was then in his third year as editorial director at WLS, talks with host Joel Weisman about his signature on-location editorials and deriving meaning from his work.

Jurors at all trials feel pressure, knowing their decisions will alter lives. But the weight on jurors in Minneapolis is in a whole different category as they’ll be asked whether to assign guilt in the death of a Black man that prompted some of the largest protests in U.S. history.

Not even the fervent prayers of Sister Jean Dolores Schmidt could help Loyola deal with the Beavers and the constantly changing defenses that coach Wayne Tinkle rolled out. The Ramblers, who played with such poise and perfection in toppling top-seeded Illinois, wound up shooting 33% from the field and 5 of 23 from beyond the arc.

Can industry and healthy neighborhoods coexist? Puerto Ricans weigh independence and statehood. And an organization helps the visually impaired maintain their independence.

The Puerto Rico Self-Determination Act calls for the creation of a “status convention” of delegates elected by Puerto Rican voters to determine the island’s long-term territorial status, whether that be statehood, independence, or perhaps a variation on the current arrangement.

The Chicago Lighthouse offers children’s education, vision care, rehabilitation and job training for the blind, visually impaired, disabled and veteran communities and employs them in a variety of capacities. 

In recent months, the tension between industry and community has escalated as protests erupted against metal scrapper General Iron’s proposed relocation to the Southeast Side. And while activists say the area has been overburdened with industry, the need for jobs with low barriers to entry is still high.

The theme of this year’s International Women’s Day (March 8) had a theme of “Choose to Challenge,” and data engineer Lorena Mesa wants to challenge your career aspirations. Here, she gives us the last word on Latino representation in tech.

From shopping in person or going to the gym to bigger milestones like visiting family, the people who were once most at risk from COVID-19 are beginning to move forward with getting their lives on track. More than 47% of Americans who are 65 and older are now fully vaccinated.

Baltimore City State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby says the city will no longer prosecute for prostitution, drug possession and other low-level offenses.

Staff and volunteers directly caring for children at new emergency sites don’t have to undergo FBI fingerprint checks, which use criminal databases not accessible to the public and can overcome someone changing their name or using a false identity.

When it comes to what scientists know about the effects of climate change on the Great Lakes, research to date has only scratched the surface. A new study shows that Lake Michigan is warming — even its greatest depths. “This is a large effect, not just something superficial,” scientists say.

A Loretto Hospital executive resigns amid growing controversy. Mayor Lightfoot sidelines a vaccine contractor over more improper vaccinations. Evanston passes the nation’s first reparations law. Chicago homicides are on the rise.

The move comes a day after the city of Chicago loosened restrictions on outdoor businesses and social gatherings.  

Sales sponsored by Openlands and the West Cook Wild Ones chapter are now both taking orders online for native plants, including some that are hard to find at area garden centers and nurseries. 

Chicago police have released surveillance footage of a vehicle that’s being sought in connection with a shooting on the West Side last Friday that left one man dead and a child and woman injured.