Stories by WTTW News

After almost two years of confusion, the Chicago Infrastructure Trust is coming into focus. Paris Schutz has more on what it plans to fund, and how it purports to help the city’s bleak financial situation.

Rising tensions within the Chicago City Council bring warnings of a new round of council wars. All at a time when a watchdog group says the city is teetering on the brink of a fiscal crisis. We hear what some aldermen have to say.

The doctor-patient relationship can sometimes become a tricky one, and health care professionals are working towards improving the process and outcome of patient care. What are some of the key issues facing patients, health care professionals and ethics? We talk with Dr. Peter Angelos, the Associate Director of the MacLean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics.

We speak with stand-up comic and Twitter sensation Rob Delaney about life in comedy, his past struggles with addiction, and his new book. Watch a web extra video.

The director and star of an adventurous documentary join us to recount the five-year trip that traversed six continents and 37 countries. Athlete Serge Roetheli and filmmaker John Davies discuss The 25,000 Mile Love Story, a film that details the impossible journey of one endurance athlete’s desire to help children throughout the world. Watch video footage from their journey and read an interview with a producer and editor of the film.

Prosecutors respond to Rod Blagojevich's appeal, asking that he serves his entire 14-year sentence. Elizabeth Brackett has the story.

A pension reform bill for Chicago Park District employees awaits Gov. Pat Quinn’s signature. We hear how compromise was reached on the hot button issue. SEIU Local 73 President Christine Boardman joins us.

A bill introduced in Congress today would expand access to high-quality preschool for 4-year-old children from low and moderate income families. Read a summary of the bill and a fact sheet.

New guidelines were released Tuesday that will alter how doctors treat patients at risk for stroke and heart disease. 

Throughout the 1950s, south suburban families saddled up and rode to the Oak Lawn Round-Up Days. What happened to the festival? Geoffrey Baer rustles up the answer in this week’s edition of Ask Geoffrey.

Chicago's Department of Streets and Sanitation says that requests for rat control services are down 15 percent this year. One reason, they say, is that city crews have done 30 percent more rodent control inspections and baiting jobs than in this period last year. That got Jay Shefsky wondering about the people who do those inspections and baiting jobs. He tagged along with a crew and showed us what he found. We revisit the story. Read an article and a web extra interview.

A Chicago painter pays tribute to ships lost at sea.

Gov. Pat Quinn introduces Paul Vallas to be his "second banana." Paris Schutz has the story. View a graphic of all of the candidates for Illinois governor along with their chosen running mates.

Embattled Cook County Assessor Joseph Berrios joins Elizabeth Brackett for a one-on-one interview. View a timeline of his political career.

A new ruling says New York's One World Trade Center will be the nation's tallest building when it is opens next year, swiping the title from Chicago's Willis Tower. Geoffrey Baer has the story.

The FDA proposed a ban Thursday of partially hydrogenated oils that create the byproduct trans fat. Large restaurant chains and manufacturers have been limiting the trans fat content in their products for years, but some question whether a ban is the most effective approach to preventing heart disease. Read an interview.

An increasing number of old churches are for sale in Chicago, but what should buyers do with them? We tell you about the debate over reuse versus demolition. View a slideshow.

Science catches up with science fiction as we talk to Professor John Rogers, the inventor of epidermal electronics -- tiny, bendy computer chips that can be placed on or in the human body to monitor critical health data. Watch web extra videos.

Dignitaries and top chefs come together to celebrate Charlie Trotter. Paris Schutz has the story.

Boarded up homes; distressed neighborhoods -- Chicago is struggling to deal with the fallout of the foreclosure crisis on top of depopulation on the south and west sides. The city is tearing down abandoned properties that are magnets for crime. But what else can be done to reshape troubled areas? We talk with Cook County Commissioner Bridget Gainer, who spearheaded the creation of the Cook County Land Bank, and Marshall Brown, an architect, urban planner and professor at the Illinois Institute of Technology.

We take a look at a documentary that follows five war veterans, and their new mission to heal after combat through fly fishing. Not Yet Begun to Fight airs tonight on WTTW World. We speak with the documentary's Executive Producer, Steve Platcow.

A well-known adult with autism and one of the world’s most prominent speakers on the subject visited Chicago to speak at the Chicago Humanities Festival this past weekend. Temple Grandin is a best-selling author, professor of animal science at Colorado State University, and also has an HBO movie based on her life starring Claire Danes which won seven Emmy Awards. She joins us. Watch a web extra video and read an excerpt from her book.

James “Big Cat” Williams joins Ann Kreiter to discuss the Bears’ loss to the Lions, coach Marc Trestman’s decision to keep an injured Jay Cutler in the game, and how the Bears can regroup in time to face the Ravens. Watch a web extra conversation with Big Cat.

We share what you had to say about Native American sports mascots and more in tonight’s viewer feedback.

Joel Weisman and his panel of journalists discuss the week’s top headlines.

Joel Weisman and his panel discuss Dominick’s exit from Chicago, and the roughly 5,600 employees about to get pink slips. Many of the Dominick’s stores anchor entire shopping centers. What impact will the vacancies have? And what effect will the gay marriage bill have on the next Republican primaries? Watch the web extra conversation.