Stories by WTTW News

A rundown of some big Election Day races. What you need to know about the constitutional amendment on the ballot. The mayor’s budget passes City Council. And a student walkout at a local high school.

A proposed tax increase to benefit the Forest Preserve District of Cook County met with little opposition. Will voters respond with support at the ballot box?

With just one incumbent on the ballot and four seats up for grabs, the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District Board of Commissioners is guaranteed to welcome a raft of new faces once votes are tallied Tuesday night.

Duckworth, 54, was elected to the Senate in 2016 after serving two terms in the U.S House. Salvi, 63, is a Mundelein lawyer who has never before held elected office.

Live updating election results for Senate, Congress, Illinois governor and other local races. 

Voters should receive a Ballot A and Ballot B but in roughly two dozen precincts, an unknown number of people were only handed Ballot A, officials said. The problem has been corrected.

The $2.04 billion prize is for a winner who chooses an annuity, paid annually over 29 years. Nearly all winners instead opt for cash, which was valued at $997.6 million. The odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 292.2 million.

A judge on Monday sentenced a man to life in prison for killing six members of his family, including two young boys, inside their Chicago home in 2016.

A rundown of some big Election Day races. What you need to know about the constitutional amendment on the ballot. The mayor’s budget passes City Council. And a student walkout at a local high school.

Illinois voters on Tuesday will decide races ranging from who will be the next governor and secretary of state, to whether the state will amend its constitution. We break down the races. 

The calls come following their principal’s response to a student who wore a military uniform costume on Halloween that was widely interpreted to represent a Nazi soldier. 

The so-called “Workers’ Rights Amendment” aims to codify in the state constitution the right to form a union and collectively bargain over a host of issues. It would effectively prohibit any future anti-union legislation, like right-to-work laws.

The budget takes effect Jan. 1, 2023, approximately two months before Mayor Lori Lightfoot is set to ask voters for a second term as Chicago mayor, does not include a property tax hike to keep up with the soaring rate of inflation, or any other tax or fee hikes.

Walgreens backs a deal to purchase a medical center company. The owners of a landmark hotel on Michigan Avenue are hunting for a buyer — again. And a new report finds Chicago’s affordable housing problem isn’t as bad as some other cities.

Brookfield Zoo is celebrating a big milestone. It was a century ago when construction on the grounds began.

The Field Museum renovated its Native North America Hall and drastically shifted its focus. The new approach emphasizes story-telling and contemporary art – as well as historical items from the collection. The exhibition space is called “Native Truths: Our Voices, Our Stories.”

Walgreens extended its push into more comprehensive health care with its VillageMD unit acquiring another urgent and primary care chain, Summit Health-CityMD, in a deal worth close to $9 billion.

Republicans are predicting a massive red wave as anxious Democrats defend their narrow majorities in Congress while struggling to overcome pervasive concerns about the economy, crime and President Joe Biden’s leadership.

Election Day 2022 will kick off with a pre-dawn total lunar eclipse. There won't be another like it until March 2025.

Those killed in separate shootings over the weekend included a 15-year-old boy shot in a drive-by shooting and a 30-year-old man killed outside a River North club.

Representatives of the city’s Department of Transportation and the Budget Office declined to provide WTTW News with a full breakdown of spending during 2021 and 2022 under the banner of Chicago Works.

Election disinformation targeted at Latinos. Disparities in prostate cancer outcomes. And a local playwright pays tribute to the community that raised him.

Through interviews with his grandfather and others who lived through the neighborhood’s rise and fall, filmmaker Steven Walsh shows what he says is the forgotten story of the area in his documentary “Southeast: a City Within a City.”

While issues like a lack of access to consistent health care as well as language and cultural barriers contribute to those numbers, modern prostate cancer care approaches have evolved to make screening and treatment more successful than ever.

A rise in anti-Black hate crimes in Chicago. In a follow-up to our Permanent Punishment series: the right to vote for people with criminal records. And art therapy for young people who’ve been incarcerated. 

Latinos are the fastest growing racial and ethnic group in the U.S. electorate since the last midterm elections. A total of 34.5 million Latinos are eligible to vote, making them a crucial demographic for politicians. Latinos are also increasingly the target for disinformation campaigns.