Stories by Patty Wetli

All signs point to a cicada-induced vitamin deficiency as the cause of a mystery disease that affected some birds during a 2021 emergence and now again in 2024.

CPS on Tuesday announced the CPS CEO Pedro Martinez had informed network and school leaders the final draft of its FY25 budget would now be presented in July as the district continues “finalizing the total budget.”

The U.S. has been thrashed with 11 extreme weather disasters with costs exceeding $1 billion so far this year, with a total price tag of $25.1 billion, according to an updated tally from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. It’s tied for the second-most such disasters on record and doesn’t even include the extreme weather in the second half of May, said Adam Smith, an applied climatologist with NOAA.

Jurors found Hunter Biden guilty of lying to a federally licensed gun dealer, making a false claim on the application by saying he was not a drug user and illegally having the gun for 11 days.

The figures are the latest evidence of the surging popularity of the WNBA since it added prominent rookies including Indiana’s Caitlin Clark, Chicago’s Angel Reese and Los Angeles’ Cameron Brink, all of whom drew big audiences playing in college.

A controversial push to make Chicago’s downtown curfew for teens even earlier. How updating identifying documents could become easier for transgender people. And a look at Illinois’ gun laws in our latest installment of WTTW News Explains. 

The bill allows Illinois residents to get a judicial order to alter the name and sex on birth certificates and other documentation issued in another state. Currently in Illinois, the process no longer requires certification from a health professional, making it easier to request this change.

Ald. Brian Hopkins (2nd Ward) came up with the idea following a violent attack on May 31 when a group of teenagers allegedly assaulted a couple in the Streeterville neighborhood. The man was hit in the head several times, and the woman was kicked in the stomach, which she said caused her to suffer a miscarriage.

Three-quarters of the patients served by the Carbondale clinic have come from out of state, the organization said in numbers released Monday. Of those out of state patients, 88% reside in states where abortion access is restricted, including Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana and Missouri.

The Chicago Park District also received nearly $1.5 million to conduct an inventory. Morton Arboretum's Chicago Region Trees Initiative is administering the grants on behalf of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.

The former president shook hands with construction workers and signed a beam that will be used in the ongoing construction of the center in Jackson Park.

Food and Drug Administration advisers voted unanimously that the drug’s ability to slow the disease outweighs its risks, including side effects like brain swelling and bleeding that will have to be monitored.

The CTU announced the sides have agreed to schedule an open contract bargaining session Friday from 5-7 p.m. at Marquette Elementary School, 6550 S. Richmond St., in the Chicago Lawn neighborhood.

An 18-year-old woman fatally shot as she sat in a vehicle early Sunday morning in West Englewood was among eight people killed by gunfire over the weekend across Chicago.

Chicago has a reputation as the City of Big Shoulders. For rough-and-tumble politics. And for having a lot of crime, despite strict gun laws. But what are those laws? WTTW News explains.

The Prairie Band Potawatomi are now headquartered in northeast Kansas. But they once had a reservation in what is now DeKalb County, a reservation that officials now agree was illegally sold out from under them in 1850.

David Kwong is a magician who also constructs crossword puzzles. As he puts it, “I combine the two nerdiest hobbies into one.” In his one-man show “The Enigmatist,” Kwong asserts that the disciplines of puzzle-making and magic-making share DNA.

“We aren’t rising to the occasion,” said Doug Schenkelberg, executive director of the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless. He called the survey results “disheartening but not surprising.”

Chicago police learn new tactics to handle mass protests ahead of the DNC. And could the president’s new border policy mitigate migrants coming to the city?

After Saturday, the Field Museum’s newest dinosaur fossil will be off display until fall while staff works on building a permanent exhibit for the Chicago Archaeopteryx.

Paris will be hosting the Olympic Games this summer, but if you are in search of what might easily be dubbed the Olympics of French classical music, you have no need to purchase an airline ticket. Simply head to Orchestra Hall, writes WTTW News theater critic Hedy Weiss.

The NASCAR Chicago Street Race will take place July 6-7. Setting up and tearing down for the race is expected to take 19 days.

An Illinois appellate court this week ruled that Chicago Public Schools did not violate a moratorium on school closures when it voted down charter renewals for a pair of South Side high schools.

People marched the streets in Bronzeville to demand that elected officials and law enforcement authorities do more to resolve missing persons and murder cases. Black girls and women are overrepresented in missing persons cases in Chicago, according to reports.

The nominees cover a diverse range of cuisine and chef experience, a recent shift following turbulent, pandemic-era years for the James Beard Foundation. The most-anticipated categories include awards for outstanding restaurateur, chef and restaurant.

Chicago’s Latino lesbian, gay, bisexual and queer communities are embracing the city’s progress toward equality, while recognizing there’s still work to be done. Particularly when it comes to providing safe and welcoming environments for today’s LGBTQ+ youth.