Stories by Patty Wetli

Walking along Lake Michigan or the Chicago River, it’s difficult to imagine an underwater world teeming with life. But it’s there, promises Karen Murchie, a research biologist at the Shedd Aquarium, and we have to protect it.

A growing number of Republican lawmakers are joining President Donald Trump’s extraordinary effort to overturn the election, pledging to reject the results when Congress meets next week to count the Electoral College votes. 

Vandals lashed out at the leaders of the U.S. House and Senate over the holiday weekend as Congress failed to approve an increase in the amount of money being sent to individuals to help cope with the coronavirus pandemic.

The number of homicides and shootings in Chicago spiked dramatically in 2020, ending with more bloodshed than in all but one year in more than two decades, statistics released by police on Friday revealed.

COVID-19, civil unrest, a chaotic election, spiking homicides and the walls close in on House Speaker Madigan. Looking back at a year nobody will ever forget, and what lies ahead in 2021.

State driver service facilities will reopen on Tuesday for the first time since mid-November.

Hurricanes, wildfires, a destructive derecho and more: it was a banner year for intense weather events around the world and right here in the Midwest. 

Watch the Dec. 31, 2020 full episode of “Chicago Tonight.”

Former Bears offensive lineman James “Big Cat” Williams previews the Bears matchup Sunday against the Packers.

In the first year since Illinois legalized recreational marijuana, the Illinois State Police expunged 492,192 non-felony cannabis arrest records, Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s office announced on Thursday.

The Illinois Department of Public Health on Thursday announced an additional 8,009 confirmed and probable coronavirus cases, the highest single-day total in two weeks.

Overworked, underfunded state public health departments are scrambling to patch together plans for administering vaccines. Counties and hospitals have taken different approaches, leading to long lines, confusion, frustration and jammed phone lines. 

A top legislator who in 2010 came close to becoming Illinois’ governor and who had only a couple of weeks left as the Senate’s top Republican is instead stepping down from the General Assembly, effective Friday.

Authorities arrested a suburban Milwaukee pharmacist Thursday suspected of deliberately ruining hundreds of doses of coronavirus vaccine by removing it from refrigeration for two nights.

Inspector General Joseph Ferguson told aldermen on Thursday that his office “has initiated and is proceeding with a formal inquiry into aspects of the search warrant” that authorized a botched raid in February 2019 that left Anjanette Young handcuffed while naked and pleading for help.

Chicago employers who are required to give their workers two weeks’ notice of their schedules in an effort to reduce the stress caused by unpredictable shift work can be sued when the law takes full effect Friday after a six-month delay caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

The Sinopharm vaccine had already been given to groups such as health care professionals and essential workers under emergency-use guidelines as part of China’s program to inoculate 50 million people before the Lunar New Year holiday in February.

Both Brookfield and Lincoln Park zoos will temporarily close during January and February, but they have plenty of online content in the works to remain connected with the public.

Alden sent a letter to the Chicago Tribune on Dec. 14, according to a regulatory filing posted Thursday, offering $14.25 per share for the stock of Tribune it doesn’t already own. Alden owns 31.6% of Tribune shares.

Winter programs have been suspended due to mitigations in place to stem the spread of the coronavirus, but people are still welcome to enjoy park trails and outdoor spaces.

Ten months into quarantines and working from home because of the pandemic, household pets’ lives and relationships with humans have in many cases changed, and not always for the better.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s office releases emails related to the wrongful raid of Anjanette Young’s home following calls for more transparency about the botched raid. Our politics team takes on that story and more in this week’s roundtable.

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the opioid crisis has worsened in Cook County, with more than 1,500 opiate-related deaths this year. To try and bring these numbers down, some groups see telehealth as an accessible way to bring treatment to people. 

At some point, Christmas trees get brown, the needles fall off, and it’s time for them to go. But that doesn’t necessarily mean tossing your tree in the trash.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell all but shut the door Wednesday on President Donald Trump’s push for $2,000 COVID-19 relief checks, declaring Congress has provided enough pandemic aid.

The sound of hoofs pounding the pavement along the Magnificent Mile will be a thing of the past starting Friday, as a ban on horse-drawn carriages takes effect after a yearslong effort by animal welfare advocates.