Stories by Angel Idowu

“You deserve to be happy.” That’s the message artist Myron Laban believes people really need to hear in the midst of today’s uncertainties. We check out one of his latest murals on Chicago’s West Side.

Eco House is planting the seeds for a homegrown flower industry on vacant lots in Englewood, Woodlawn and West Garfield Park. We learn about the mission behind this slow flowers movement.

A Chicago public high school on the Northwest Side has voted to remove its school resource officers amid a nationwide push to rethink police in schools following the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

International students will be forced to leave the U.S. or transfer to another college if their schools offer classes entirely online this fall, under new guidelines issued Monday by federal immigration authorities.

Watch the July 8, 2020 full episode of “Chicago Tonight.”

United Airlines is warning 36,000 employees — nearly half its U.S. staff — they could be furloughed in October, the clearest signal yet of how deeply the virus pandemic is hurting the airline industry.

A national coalition of labor unions, along with racial and social justice organizations, will stage a mass walkout from work this month, as part of an ongoing reckoning on systemic racism and police brutality in the U.S.

The Chicago Park District has turned the water on at some, but not all, of its splash pads.

Testifying before a U.S. House committee on Wednesday, Gov. J.B. Pritzker outlined steps the federal government can take to respond to the worsening coronavirus pandemic, including a mandate on wearing face masks.

Five weeks after two explosions rattled General Iron, city officials allowed the North Side metal recycler to partially reopen June 24 — but its shredding facility remains shut down as investigations continue into the May 18 blasts.

A federal program designed to soften job losses from the coronavirus also benefited wealthy, well-connected companies and some celebrity owned firms. Which companies benefited in Illinois?

Activity in the U.S. services sector rebounded strongly last month, but those gains are now being threatened by the resurgence of coronavirus cases in many parts of the country. Local economists weigh in.

Advocacy groups are calling on Gov. J.B. Pritzker to move residents from nursing homes and other congregate care settings into community settings, like hotels, to allow for proper social distancing and to stop the spread of COVID-19.

As the city mourns victims of gun violence, we talk with Charles Woodhouse Jr., a survivor calling for healing.

A community art center is making sure kids have an outlet to express themselves as the pandemic not only limits their activities, but also their resources. We visit the nonprofit SkyArt.

Since 2017, the number of white nationalist hate groups has increased by 55%, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center. What’s behind the resurgence? We ask a former skinhead.

After a long spring indoors, many kids are ready to get back outside. But the pandemic means this year, the boys and girls of summer are practicing social distancing along with catching and hitting.

Watch the July 7, 2020 full episode of “Chicago Tonight.”

Reginald Merrill will be held in jail on charges of first-degree murder and aggravated battery following his first appearance in court on Tuesday, three days after a shooting that left 7-year-old Natalia Wallace dead and another man injured.

July is a great month for planet watching. Jupiter, Saturn, Venus, Mars and Mercury will all make an appearance.

The personal protective gear that was in dangerously short supply during the early weeks of the coronavirus crisis in the U.S. is running low again as the virus resumes its rapid spread and the number of hospitalized patients climbs.

Before the coronavirus pandemic, the Illinois Tollway projected its revenues in 2020 would reach $1.5 billion, a 3% increase from 2019. But with people staying at home, that means fewer drivers on the roads – including the tollways.

There is renewed interest in a children’s book written and illustrated by a couple of Chicagoans. We speak with author Michael Tyler and illustrator David Lee Csicsko.

It was clear as soon as the coronavirus was classified as a pandemic that it was going to take a heavy toll on the finances of many individuals and businesses – and therefore on their governments’ finances, too.

From San Francisco to South Carolina, a spate of shootings claimed the lives of people celebrating or just taking a drive over the Fourth of July weekend. Chicago saw one of its bloodiest holiday weekends in memory.

If you’ve ever marveled at archive footage of old Chicago in a WTTW documentary, chances are good it came from Walt Keevil’s north suburban basement.