Stories by WTTW News

Joel Weisman and his panel of journalists further discuss the Sandra Bland case, why some police officers treat African-American citizens different than whites, and the effectiveness of video surveillance devices.

Stock up on caffeine at CoffeeCon to keep you fueled for a weekend agenda that includes animal adoptions, cocktail celebrations, book browsing and commemoration of a defining moment in Chicago history. 

This month Mayor Rahm Emanuel says he plans to wind down seven Tax Increment Financing Districts located near downtown. Critics of the move say he’s hanging downtown out to dry, but others say this is a first step toward taxing transparency. We’ll hear from Crain’s Chicago Business columnist Greg Hinz and Tom Tresser of the TIF Illumination Project.

He famously called television a “vast wasteland," but Newton Minow's influence goes far beyond that iconic phrase. Geoffrey Baer sat down with Minow to talk about some current political issues.

Fifty years ago, a number of white suburban residents started a fair-housing movement called the North Shore Summer Project, and their work caught the attention of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Chicago Tonight’s Brandis Friedman takes a closer look at the movement – then and now – to diversify the area.

Is food printing tipped to become the killer app that puts 3-D printers in every kitchen? Rabiah Mayas is back to discuss printed pizza and other developments in the world of science.

Ant expert Sean Menke reviews Marvel Studios’ new superhero movie Ant-Man, which follows ex-con Scott Lang (played by Paul Rudd) as he saves the day by harnessing a super-secret particle that allows him to shrink. Menke joins us to talk about Ant-Man, the science behind the movie, and his extensive studies on the small insects.

Renée Fleming, creative consultant for the Lyric Opera of Chicago, discusses the upcoming season at the opera house which will feature an opera curated by her.

The summer of 2015 has been rife with financial complications for Chicago Public Schools. The district has long been in a billion dollar budget hole, and school board members today voted to approve taking on just over a billion dollars in additional debt. Chicago Tonight's Brandis Friedman joins us Wednesday with details.

Filming for Spike Lee’s new film Chi-Raq has wrapped up, but the debate over the film’s working title rages on. Next week, the City Council is expected to hold hearings on the film's controversial moniker.

Illinois Senate President John Cullerton is a key player in the state budget standoff. Yesterday, Gov. Rauner told reporters that the state would have a budget if it was up to him, Sen. Cullerton, and Mayor Rahm Emanuel. Today, what remained of the goodwill between Rauner and Democratic leaders seems to have evaporated. Paris Schutz has more.

We talk with Crain's Chicago Business Deputy Managing Editor Ann Dwyer about some of the biggest business stories this week, from Aon Center being sold to Caterpillar looking to Cuba to boost sluggish sales. Also, find out when McDonald’s will begin serving breakfast all day. 

One hundred years ago today, the SS Eastland sank in the Chicago River. Nearly 100 newly found photos from the Chicago Tribune offer a new look at Chicago's deadliest tragedy.  

Chicago Tonight's Jay Shefsky talks with the founders of a local cycling movement that focuses on South and West Side neighborhoods. Meet the duo behind Slow Roll Chicago. 

A U.S. Appeals Court on Tuesday overturned five of the 18 convictions against former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who is currently serving a 12-year sentence in a Colorado federal prison.

Gov. Bruce Rauner on Tuesday held a press conference to lay blame for the weeks-long partial state government shutdown at the feet of House Speaker Mike Madigan, and to decry lawmakers for taking a pay raise when there's no budget in place. We'll get the latest Springfield news from Chicago Tonight's Amanda Vinicky.

In a city that has 50 aldermen, it might not come as a surprise that Illinois has the most units of government in the country, nudging out the competition with 6,964 governmental bodies, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. This fact isn’t lost on Gov. Bruce Rauner, who created the Local Government and Unfunded Mandates Task Force to come up with recommendations on how to trim down that number. We discuss the task force’s recommendations.

Need your car detailed or piano tuned? Whether you're looking for an event caterer or a portrait painter, dog groomer or furniture mover, Chicago magazine's just released list of the "Best of Chicago" highlights 72 shops, services, and activities that make the Windy City second to none.  

Chicago Sun-Times Theater Critic Hedy Weiss joins us to review the Steppenwolf’s Grand Concourse, Black Ensemble Theater’s Men of Soul, Lookingglass Theatre Company’s Moby Dick, and Chicago Shakespeare Theater’s The Little Mermaid.

This is week three of the partial state government shutdown. Carol Marin talks with four lawmakers about whether a compromise is in the foreseeable future.

Swimming safely in the Chicago River is now one giant step closer to reality, according to sanitary officials. Chicago Tonight details the new disinfection process making that possible.

Author and Basecamp founder Jason Fried joins Chicago Tonight for a conversation about changing the way we work – and why showing up to an office every day doesn't mean we're actually being productive.