Stories by WTTW News

Following up on our series, Permanent Punishment, a look at the legal routes to clearing a criminal record. Young Steppenwolf artists remember the tragedy that touched off the Chicago race riots of 1919. And nailing art.

A quinceañera is all about the details. A family-run business in Little Village has been playing a part in the quinceañeras of area girls for years.

Slow and Low: Chicago Lowrider Festival, a celebration of lowrider culture, community and art is returning next weekend at Navy Pier. 

The Haitian American Museum of Chicago, in collaboration with the North Lawndale Pop Up Spot and Crossing Borders Music, are hosting an upcoming traveling exhibit kicking off Oct. 16 in North Lawndale.

Applications are now open for a guaranteed income program in Cook County. The Low-rider Festival drives back to town. And trying on quinceañera dresses.

Through the month of October, a series of events called “Journey Chicago” is taking place at cultural heritage centers across the city and suburbs. 

The protests erupted Sept. 17, after the burial of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, a Kurdish woman who had died in the custody of Iran’s feared morality police. Amini had been detained for an alleged violation of strict Islamic dress codes for women. Since then, protests spread across the country and were met by a fierce crackdown.

Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first Black woman on the Supreme Court and its newest justice, said before the term began that she was “ready to work.” She made that clear during arguments in the opening cases.

Gubernatorial candidates sling mud in their first televised debate. No property tax hikes in Mayor Lightfoot’s election year budget. Homeless advocates press Lightfoot for more funding. And the White Sox head into an offseason full of questions.

Friday’s government report showed that hiring fell from 315,000 in August to the weakest monthly gain since April 2021. The unemployment rate fell from 3.7% to 3.5%, matching a half-century low.

Whether you plan to watch the Chicago Marathon from your couch, are excited to join the cheering throng of spectators or just want to steer clear of traffic jams, here's what you need to know.

Black film festival, scarecrows, wine tastings and more fun surprises usher in the weekend. Here are 10 things to do in and around Chicago.

Live from Hyde Park. Plus, gubernatorial candidates go head-to-head. The final part of our Permanent Punishment series exploring how criminal records are expunged. And a new report finds HIV/AIDS plummeting in Chicago during the pandemic.

Early voting begins in Chicago on Friday, but voters will have fewer opportunities to be informed about the positions of those on the ballot because there are fewer debates. It’s a national trend, though one that’s difficult to measure.

The community’s 53rd Street is home to many locally-owned shops, nightlife spots and restaurants. There’s been some turnover during COVID, but a lot of the small businesses have hung on — even though they’re still facing challenges. 

The person behind the new sound is Chicagoan Aesha “Eesh” Dominguez. She’s a classically trained pianist and vocalist and is one of the few female sound engineers in town.

It’s the sixth year in a row the city has landed in the top spot. More than 240,000 Condé Nast Traveler readers from all over the country ranked Chicago as their favorite city to visit.

HIV diagnoses in Chicago during 2020 were the lowest reported since 1987, according to the Chicago Department of Public Health’s latest HIV/STI data report.

Though there are about 1,300 permanent punishments on the books in Illinois — and countless more that aren’t — there are only a handful of ways to get around them. They often involve a complicated mix of paperwork and expenses. The records sealing or expungement process, for example, involves filing a petition in court, costing around $157 per charge. 

Chief Financial Officer Jennie Huang Bennett faced pointed questions from members of the City Council’s Budget and Government Operations Committee on Thursday about the "advanced pension payment" proposal.

President Joe Biden is pardoning thousands of Americans convicted of “simple possession” of marijuana under federal law, as his administration takes a dramatic step toward decriminalizing the drug and addressing charging practices that disproportionately impact people of color.

Travelers who have been in Uganda at any point during the past 21-days, which is the incubation period for the virus, will be redirected to one of five American airports for Ebola screening, including O'Hare International Airport. 

The panel — comprised of seven Democrats and two Republicans — has not yet provided an agenda, but Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said recently that the hearing would “tell the story about a key element of Donald Trump’s plot to overturn the election.”

Lack of rainfall in recent weeks has left the Mississippi River approaching record low levels in some areas from Missouri south through Louisiana. The U.S. Coast Guard said at least eight “groundings” of barges have been reported in the past week, despite low-water restrictions on barge loads.

Isaias Salas, 20, was arrested this week and charged with first-degree murder, murder via other forcible felony and armed robbery stemming from the May 3, 2022 killing of 21-year-old Julbert Hernandez.

Early voting sites will open to all Chicago voters and voter registration services will be available.