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During press interviews held after WTTW's mayoral forum Tuesday evening, challengers to Mayor Lori Lightfoot pledged to reestablish a Department of Environment — disbanded in 2011 under Rahm Emanuel — if elected.

The Chicago Auto Show, now in its 115th year, is the largest auto exhibition in North America. This year, there’s a big focus on electric vehicles and letting drivers get behind the wheel.

Mike Pence is the latest in a string of former top U.S. officials who have been found in possession of sensitive records after leaving the White House — including former President Donald Trump and former Vice President, now President, Joe Biden.

WTTW News probes Paul Vallas’ suburban residency as his campaign closes in on the final two weeks. Meanwhile, candidates get testy with each other and moderators at numerous debates this week. And tax breaks back on the table for the Bears.

Early voting sites for Chicago’s municipal election will open in all of the city’s 50 wards on Monday, running through Election Day Feb. 28.

It was an evening to remember at Orchestra Hall this Thursday with sublime and exceedingly fresh performances of works by two Russian musical geniuses: Sergei Prokofiev and Sergei Rachmaninov.

Road salt runoff is making its way into Great Lakes waterways. Wisconsin has pending legislation that could encourage contractors to use less.

Chicago mayoral candidate Paul Vallas properly claimed a home in south suburban Palos Heights as his legal permanent residence, entitling him to tax breaks, according to the results of a brief probe by the Cook County Assessor’s Office.

The production is set in a South Philadelphia bar in March, 1959 — about five months before Billie Holiday died of drug and alcohol abuse at the age of 44. And the Mercury Theater’s intimate Venus Cabaret space serves as an ideal backdrop.

You might call Dan O’Conor an amateur authority on cold water immersion. Since June 2020, the 55-year-old Chicago man has plunged into Lake Michigan almost daily, including on frigid winter mornings when he has to shovel through the ice.

Since the 1980s, it’s been illegal for car dealerships to operate on Sundays in Illinois. WTTW News explains why.

Paul Vallas is a front-runner to be mayor of Chicago, but does he actually live in the city? We have exclusive new details. The fiscal crisis in Cook County's south suburbs. And a local reverend turned published author.

A new report from the Cook County Treasurer's Office said property tax collection rates are historically low in low-income and mostly minority south suburbs.

The Commission on Chicago Landmarks has given Promontory Point preliminary landmark status. But the Park District board needs to consent to the designation as the next step in the process. 

Unlimited contributions to political action commitees exploit what campaign finance experts told WTTW News is a loophole in laws governing the role of money in Chicago’s elections.

Vallas, who has been registered to vote in Chicago at an apartment in Bridgeport for less than a year, declined to answer questions about his residency directly from WTTW News.

Restaurant specials, a ski jump competition and an orchid show usher in the weekend. Here are five things to do in Chicago.

The Civilian Office of Police Accountability on Thursday said it is “unclear, nor has it been determined” by the office whether the man discharged his firearm at two officers before being fatally shot by police.

A U.S. district judge in Chicago on Wednesday sentenced Olaniyi Nasiru Ojikutu, 39, to 88 months in prison after he pleaded guilty last year to a count of wire fraud. He and nine others were charged as part of “Operation Gold Phish” — an investigation into cyber scams that primarily targeted elderly victims.

The lawsuit comes nine months after Tyshon Brownlee allegedly robbed and shot 24-year-old Dakotah Earley, who was walking in the 1300 block of West Webster Avenue in the early morning hours of May 6.

An analysis by The Associated Press, Stanford University’s Big Local News project and Stanford education professor Thomas Dee found an estimated 240,000 students in 21 states whose absences could not be accounted for. These students didn’t move out of state, and they didn’t sign up for private school or home-school, according to publicly available data.

As the consent decree prepares to enter its fourth year, progress has been anything but rapid, with the city in full compliance with 3% of its requirements, according to data released by the Chicago Police Department. Meanwhile, the future of Chicago policing has taken center stage in the mayoral race. 

Recapping last night's WTTW News mayoral forum and assessing where the race stands now. The latest on an officer-involved shooting. And a south suburban forest preserve transformed into a bird sanctuary faces new threats.

“There are places you walk where you see sky touching the earth, and you can imagine this as the gateway to the Grand Prairie,” site steward Pat Hayes said of Orland Grassland.

Things got heated between the candidates at the WTTW News mayoral forum this week. Our politics team weighs in on that story.

A visual look at the WTTW News Mayoral Forum. On topics ranging from police reform and crime to Chicago Public Schools and affordable housing, candidates shared their views on the biggest issues facing the city.