Stories by Heather Cherone

Mayor Brandon Johnson called on members of the Chicago City Council to do their job and stop throwing tantrums. “It’s time to grow up,” he said. “People in Chicago don’t have time for that.”

The Chicago Plan Commission will meet Thursday to discuss approval for quantum computing campus on former South Works steel plant site. 

Michael Madigan, 82, and Michael McClain, 77, are charged with racketeering, bribery and wire fraud. They have each pleaded not guilty.

Each Wednesday, WTTW News producer Josh Terry presents must-see live music shows from indie rock to jazz, country, hip-hop and more.

Dr. Mehmet Oz, who ran a failed 2022 bid to represent Pennsylvania in the U.S. Senate, has been an outspoken supporter of Trump and in recent days expressed support for Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s nomination for the nation’s top health agency, the Department of Health and Human Services.

That growth in chargers is important as Illinois aims to rapidly transition toward having more electric vehicle drivers. As of last week, there were about 120,000 EVs on Illinois roads, while the state’s goal is to have 1 million on the road by 2030.

“The idea was to provide this experience of being like a scuba diver — you come in and you’re at the bottom of the lake looking up,” artist David Franklin said. “Then you rise up through the fish into that Grand Hall, which is so fantastic. It had to hold up to that standard.”

Devontay Shields, 35, of Danville, Illinois, has been charged with one count of attempted kidnapping, according to a criminal complaint filed over the weekend in Chicago’s federal court.

Santa and his elves are returning to CTA buses and trains for the holiday season. The holiday tradition will return starting the week of Thanksgiving and will run through late December, the Chicago Transit Authority announced Tuesday.

To gain insight into the impact of prison closures, WTTW News looked back on the last prison the state shut down: Dwight Correctional Center. We spoke to both currently and formerly incarcerated women and correctional workers, as well as researchers and lifelong residents in the surrounding village.

Hundreds gather to remember slain CPD Officer Enrique Martinez. Many after-school programs say they’re at risk of losing funding. And meet some of the members of Chicago’s first elected school board.

The Chicago Board of Education is in the midst of massive change. Residents just voted in 10 members of the city’s first elected school board.

Illinois lawmakers previously approved $50 million for after-school and summer programs, but that funding hasn’t reached schools yet. This delay leaves Chicago Public Schools and local organizations facing difficult budget cuts.

Artist, scientist, engineer and philosopher — titles that only scratch the surface of what 15th century Italian Leonardo da Vinci achieved. A new two-part PBS documentary series from Ken Burns, Sarah Burns and David McMahon dissects da Vinci’s life in an effort to make sense of his work and the impact he has to this day.

Disgruntled X users are again flocking to Bluesky, a newer social media platform that grew out of the former Twitter before billionaire Elon Musk took it over in 2022. While it remains small, it has emerged as an alternative for those looking for a different mood, lighter and friendlier and less influenced by Musk.

A funeral service was held Monday morning for Chicago police Officer Enrique Martinez, who was fatally shot while conducting a traffic stop earlier this month. “The willingness to give your life for the safety of others is the most noble thing you can do,” said Chicago Police Supt. Larry Snelling.

Spirit, the biggest U.S. budget airline, filed a Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition after working out terms with bondholders. The airline has lost more than $2.5 billion since the start of 2020 and faces looming debt payments totaling more than $1 billion in 2025 and 2026.

Mariam Paré is part of a small community of people who paint with their mouths or feet. Paré was an aspiring art student when a 1996 shooting left her quadriplegic. “I wasn’t ready to change everything that I wanted to be,” Paré said.

Beyond the renown of being named White's unofficial body double, the winner walked away with $50 and a pack of cigarettes in recognition of the puff-prone character White plays in the series — Carmen “Carmy” Berzatto — a young, award-winning chef from the glittery world of fine dining who returns to the Windy City to captain his family's dive sandwich shop.

The U.S. Justice Department is demanding records related to the shooting of an Illinois woman who was killed in her home by a sheriff's deputy as it investigates how local authorities treat Black residents and people with behavioral disabilities.

Johnson had planned to be in attendance at Martinez’s funeral Monday, but changed course Saturday, saying he’d “heard from the family and am honoring their request.”

Donald Trump's choice of Matt Gaetz to be attorney general has many Justice Department employees reeling, worried not only about their own jobs but the future of the agency that the Trump loyalist has railed against.

President-elect Trump starts planning his return to Washington — and picking his Cabinet. And the City Council unanimously votes down Mayor Johnson’s proposed property tax hike.

As President-elect Donald Trump moves to set up a more forceful presidency than in his first term, he is choosing loyalists for his Cabinet and considering a tool known as recess appointments to skip over Senate confirmations for even some of the most powerful positions in U.S. government.

The holiday-related activities such as holiday markets and tree lighting ceremonies begin this month and run through early January.

Of the billions of birds on the planet, a lone osprey with a unique ID band was found in Colombia and linked to Cook County.