Stories by WTTW News

Don your best derby hats for charity; go fly a kite with your kid; and laugh with Chicago's own Jeff Garlin. Chicago Tonight has your weekend picks.

The new, supersized NFL Draft gets underway in Chicago this evening. Just what does it mean for the city? Paris Schutz has the latest.

With nearly 800 special funds operating outside the state budget, it might be a daunting task to oversee. Gov. Bruce Rauner is sweeping about $1.3 billion out of these funds to balance the budget. Who benefits from these funds and how are they being impacted? Eddie Arruza sits down with several budget watchdogs.

The Art Institute of Chicago last week announced a historic gift -- 42 works of pop and contemporary art have been given to the museum. We'll speak with museum President Douglas Druick about this unprecedented windfall of art.

Chicago is already offering free community college tuition to local students, and nationwide, President Barack Obama is proposing a similar plan. We talk to experts about why community colleges have received a renewed focus.

One in five parkway trees in Chicago is threatened by the Emerald Ash Borer beetle. So what can people do to stop the shrinking of the region's tree canopy? The Morton Arboretum's CEO, Gerry Donnelly, joins us to talk about reversing tree loss.

We share what you had to say about our talk with Charles Preston of the Black Youth 100’s protests in solidarity with Baltimore, the new City Council as coalitions begin to develop, and Mayor Rahm Emanuel's blueprint to Chicago's fiscal solvency. 

Mayor Rahm Emanuel lays out a plan to rescue the city’s financial and debt crisis. Paris Schutz explains why that could cost taxpayers hundreds of millions more in the short term.

A new City Council will be sworn in next month, and aldermen are quickly organizing into both new and old coalitions to push their political agendas. But how exactly will this new council take shape? And will it become less of a rubber stamp and more independent from the mayor’s office?

Charles Preston is a member of the Black Youth Project 100 in Chicago. BYP has organized this week's protests in solidarity with Baltimore to show their support and also highlight structural problems in their own community. 

Tuesday, a team of federal health officials arrived in southern Indiana to evaluate a recent surge in HIV cases, which the director of the National Center for HIV/AIDS called one of the worst outbreaks of the last 20 years. We talk with John Peller, president and CEO of the AIDS Foundation of Chicago, to see how Chicago’s infection rate compares to Indiana, what the underlying causes are, and how to stem the tide of cases.

Jay Shefsky visits a Chicago family that has added goats to the chickens, ducks, and bees in their backyard farm.  

Geoffrey Baer visits a towering turtle, diamonds in River North, and a vanishing south side lake.

Former Gov. Dan Walker died at age 92 at his home in California. Walker, a Democrat, served a single term as governor from 1973-1977. 

There’s a renewed push for redistricting reform in Illinois. Independent Maps, a nonpartisan statewide coalition, is starting a campaign for a constitutional amendment creating a non-partisan independent commission responsible for drawing Illinois General Assembly districts. Paris Schutz has the latest on the coalition’s efforts.

U.S. Supreme Court justices were deeply divided during oral arguments on the issue of same-sex marriage. The key question: Does the Constitution guarantee gay and lesbian couples the right to marry? Four former clerks weigh in.

Chicago Police Detective Dante Servin was acquitted earlier this month in the shooting death of Rekia Boyd. What lessons can be learned from the case, and what needs to change going forward?

Two is a new book of photographs of people and things accompanied by essays by successful authors. It's a collaboration between Evanston-based photographer Melissa Ann Pinney and acclaimed novelist Ann Patchett (Bel Canto).

The World Health Organization warns that the rise of antibiotic-resistant bacteria or "superbugs" means that we could be on the brink of a "post-antibiotic era" in which common infections and minor injuries can once again kill. They say the situation is "so serious that it threatens the achievements of modern medicine." We talk with two experts about the scale of the threat and what we can all do to try and contain it.

Last year, 11,000 neighbors gathered around 1,000 tables to share a meal on one evening as part of the Chicago Community Trust’s initiative, On The Table. We hope you’ll join us for another meal together on May 12, 2015 – and this time, the conversations will focus on honoring and inspiring the philanthropist in each one of us.

Marisa Eve Girawong, a graduate of Chicago’s Malcolm X College, died in an avalanche resulting from the massive earthquake that struck Mount Everest on Saturday. As the death toll continues to rise, a local medical group is raising money for its partner hospital, Nepal Orthopedic Hospital, in the country's capital of Kathmandu. 

Is Gov. Bruce Rauner balancing the budget on the backs of Illinois towns and municipalities? Dozens of Illinois mayors have come together to fight the governor’s proposal. Paris Schutz has the details.