Stories by Heather Cherone

In all, Chicago spent $202 million on a host of programs including affordable housing, mental health, violence prevention, youth job programs and help for unhoused Chicagoans through March 31, records show.

Robert Smigel may be best known as the breeder behind Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, the crass canine puppet whose jokes make Don Rickles look housebroken. We sit down with him before his Chicago show. 

The Illinois Legislative Staff Association, which formed in the fall of 2022, claims House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch’s refusal to engage in collective bargaining since then is a violation of the Workers’ Rights Amendment.

Pride Month, the worldwide celebration of LGBTQ+ culture and rights, kicks off Saturday with events around the globe. But this year’s festivities in the U.S. will unfold against a backdrop of dozens of new state laws targeting LGBTQ+ rights, particularly transgender young people.

A bill banning what unions refer to as employer-sponsored “captive audience” meetings about religion and politics has cleared the General Assembly. It was one of 466 measures to do so during the Illinois legislature’s spring session, including a bill allowing for digital driver’s licenses.

Marian Shields Robinson's death was announced by Michelle Obama and other family members in a statement that said “there was and will be only one Marian Robinson. In our sadness, we are lifted up by the extraordinary gift of her life.”

A New York jury finds Donald Trump guilty on 34 counts. What’s in the state’s biggest-ever budget. And is Chicago ready for this summer’s DNC?

Cynthia Yeh, who has been the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s principal percussionist since 2007, can make wonderfully expressive music by playing on nothing more than a bunch of clay flowerpots, writes WTTW News theater critic Hedy Weiss.

Protestors denounced the second inauguration of El Salvador’s controversial president, Nayib Bukele. He will be entering his second term after an overwhelming victory in February — a move against El Salvador’s constitution, which prohibits presidential reelection.

The egg is the product of a recent pair bond between native-born Imani, who hatched at Montrose Beach in 2021, and Searocket, one of the 5-week-old captive-reared piping plover chicks released at the beach last year.

Javier Galindo and Lidia Galindo Corral have welcomed artists from all over the world to the Apollo’s 2000 Theater in Little Village for nearly 35 years. The building is now being designated a Chicago landmark.

The “Plow the Sidewalks” campaign sought to convince officials that the city has an obligation to ensure people with disabilities and other vulnerable residents can get around safely even in the worst winter weather.

Angel Reese is ensuring some of the glare from the bright spotlight on the WNBA shines squarely on the Chicago Sky. The seventh overall draft pick will remind anyone who will listen that there is a group of rookies helping boost soaring WNBA ratings, attendance and revenue, not just the one who plays in Indiana.

Latinos are starting businesses at over twice the rate of the general U.S. population. But getting there as a first-time business owner comes with its own set of challenges.

For low- and middle-class families feeling the pressures from the rising costs of living, the passing of a state-level child tax credit is a “big win,” said Ameya Pawar, a senior advisor at Economic Security Project and former alderperson of Chicago's 47th Ward.

Donald Trump was charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records at his company in connection with an alleged scheme to hide potentially embarrassing stories about him during his 2016 Republican presidential election campaign.

A historic Little Village Theater gets landmark status. A child tax credit passes as part of Illinois’ new budget. And meet a group of Latinos embracing the entrepreneurial spirit.

Chicago Transit Authority President Dorval Carter took the fight to foes of his leadership – including the 29 alderpeople who signed on to a resolution calling for him to be replaced – at a lengthy City Council hearing on Thursday.

Andrew Bird migrated back to Chicago last night, launching his new tour with a pair of shows at the Green Mill Lounge in Uptown. He led a trio of musicians performing jazz standards and a few favorites from his catalog.

Gen Zers, who were born between the late 1990s and the early 2010s, have almost never known a world without social media. As adults, they’re now unraveling the effects of having their childhoods documented online.

The end of the outbreak comes after nearly six weeks, or two incubation periods, without any new measles cases, according to a news release. The last measles case was reported April 20.

Mayor Brandon Johnson announced plans to reopen the city-run Roseland Mental Health Center by the end of this year, and open two other mental health service sites at the Legler Regional Library on the West Side and at the Chicago Department of Public Health’s Lower West Side vaccine clinic in Pilsen.

 In declining to step aside from two high-profile Supreme Court cases, Justice Samuel Alito on Wednesday provided a rare window on the opaque process by which justices decide to step aside from cases.

Chicago police are better prepared to handle the large protests and crowds expected during the upcoming Democratic National Convention, but concerns still exist around the police department’s ability to put those preparations into action, a new watchdog report found.

The measure is part of a broad package of election-related legislation which also includes a provision loosening restrictions on what political parties can do with campaign funds and a state-level response to a controversy in the south suburbs. 

Residents push back on a proposed trucking hub in North Lawndale. A landmark study seeks to know more about cancer risks and outcomes in Black women. And remembering the founder of a pioneering Chicago theater company.