Stories by WTTW News

Voter outreach efforts as Election Day approaches for the primary. Plus, raising awareness for missing women. Calls for safer prisons. And from the crowd to the stage, meet blues artist: Melody Angel.

Juneteenth will be recognized as a federal, state and local holiday for the first time this year. The day recognizes the freeing of the last enslaved people in Texas, two years after the Emancipation Proclamation in 1865. 

The nature conservation group Openlands and search engine Ecosia are hoping to boost the number of trees in underserved areas through their TreePlanters Grant Program. 

Civic engagement groups are ramping up efforts to get voters to the polls for the Illinois primaries on June 28. The effort comes as 73 Chicago precincts remain without a designated polling place due to pandemic-related closures.

The Lake Michigan Rescue Equipment Act, signed into law by Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Thursday, means lifesaving equipment like life rings are mandated at all access points to the lake, as well as warning signs in more dangerous areas. 

Several organizations are teaming up for the fifth annual We Walk for Her event. Organizers say they hope the walk brings a sense of urgency to the dozens of cold cases and disappearances.

The Lucy Gonzalez Parsons apartments opened in May near the Logan Square Blue Line station. The seven-story complex, which features retail space and 100 affordable units. In Pilsen, the Pilsen Housing Cooperative offers a blueprint for community-led affordable housing. 

The Republican and Democratic parties have dominated politics in America since the 1850s. These days, they’ve staked out sharply opposing positions on gun control, abortion rights, policing, climate change and much more, leaving a lot of middle-ground opportunities for independent and third-party candidates.

As a candidate for president, Joe Biden was not shy about calling out dictators and authoritarian leaders as he anchored his foreign policy in the idea that the world is in a battle between democracy and autocracy. But Biden’s governing approach as president has been far less black and white as he tries to balance such high-minded principles with the tug toward pragmatism.

Donald Trump was at the center of primetime hearings on the Jan. 6 insurrection. Mayor Lightfoot makes it official — she wants another term. And a new poll shows a seismic shift in the GOP race for governor. 

Consumer prices surged 8.6% last month from a year earlier, faster than April’s year-over-year increase of 8.3%, the Labor Department said Friday. The new inflation figure, the highest since 1981, will heighten pressure on the Federal Reserve to continue raising interest rates aggressively.

The next round of hearings won’t take place in prime time like the debut on Thursday, but lawmakers will go into greater detail about specific aspects of the insurrection. Here’s a snapshot of what the committee says is ahead.

A Chicago man was arrested this week some 200 miles away from the city in connection with a Christmas Day shooting that left a 24-year-old man dead.

More than 200 people across the country, including 11 in Illinois, have become ill after coming in contact with poultry in backyard flocks, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  

The Biden administration is lifting its requirement that international air travelers to the U.S. take a COVID-19 test within a day before boarding their flights, easing one of the last remaining government mandates meant to contain the spread of the coronavirus.

Irving Park on Chicago’s Northwest Side is a spacious community area with a variety of local businesses and provides easy access to transportation. 

Early voting is underway in Chicago and primary election day is less than three weeks away. Voters in Illinois’ newly drawn 3rd Congressional District will have four candidates to choose from in the Democratic primary. There is also one Republican candidate running. 

A local singer-songwriter has been going to the festival since her mother took her in a stroller. Now she’ll be onstage, and mom will be watching from the wings. Melody Angel – yes, that’s her real name – has blues in her DNA. 

Thursday’s prime-time hearing will open with eyewitness testimony from the first police officer pummeled in the mob riot and from a documentary filmmaker tracking the extremist Proud Boys, who prepared to fight for Trump immediately after the election, and led the storming of the Capitol.

Recapping tonight’s prime-time congressional hearing on Jan. 6. Plus, meet the Democrats running in the hotly contested race for Illinois’ 3rd District, and live from Irving Park.

On Monday, he got off at a stop on the Chicago Transit Authority’s Red Line when he noticed a nearly unconscious man on the electrified third rail of the tracks. He jumped down onto the tracks and pulled the man to safety.

Chicago’s effort to address reparations for the descendants of enslaved people stalled as suburban Evanston became the first city in the nation to offer reparations.

Winners will be announced in late July and will receive $500, plus bragging rights. For every eligible contest entry received, the association will donate $25 to South and West Side community gardens. 

Dolostone beat out sandstone and limestone for the honor of state rock. Never heard of it? Join us for a deep dive.

A New York City jury found Kelly guilty of racketeering and multiple other counts last year at a sex-trafficking trial. Prosecutors alleged that the entourage of managers and aides who helped Kelly meet girls — and keep them obedient — amounted to a criminal enterprise.

“The defendant has shown that he’s a loose cannon, whose behavior is erratic and unpredictable,” Assistant State’s Attorney Sean Kelly said Thursday. “He creates a significant risk to the community at large.”