Stories by Heather Cherone

The lawsuit filed by 22-year-old Esael Morales claims that he was sitting in his car with his girlfriend watching Netflix and eating takeout wings near her home when Officer Joseph Cabrera pulled up in his personal vehicle and confronted the couple, according to Morales’ lawsuit.

Several dozen more criminal convictions tied to Ronald Watts have been tossed out, bringing the total number of dismissals tied to the disgraced ex-Chicago police sergeant and his team in recent years to more than 200.

The big-ticket items are an entire new “global” terminal, two new satellite concourses for Terminal 1, and a complete makeover of the existing Terminal 5 – but the plan includes almost 100 separate projects, many of which are smaller but functional improvements.

Federal prosecutors in Chicago have charged Michigan brothers Donald Henkel, 61, and Mark Henkel, 66, along with 59-year-old Raymond Paparella, with mail fraud or wire fraud.

They want authorities to launch a kidnapping prosecution against the woman who set off the lynching by accusing the Black Chicago teen of improper advances in 1955.

The maximum fine for violating the city’s ethics ordinance would jump from $5,000 to $20,000 under a proposal set to be unveiled by Ald. Michele Smith that has the support of the Chicago Board of Ethics.

Construction of the Obama Presidential Center is underway in Jackson Park, and residents on the South Side are bracing for what it will mean for their communities — benefits or displacement. 

New questions about Ken Griffin’s connections to Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin. The latest on refugee resettlement from Ukraine. And Geoffrey Baer previews the new season of The Great Chicago Quiz Show.

Host Geoffrey Baer tests contestants on all things Chicago. This time around, he’ll be talking to guests like anchorman Bill Curtis, jazz legend Kurt Elling and Tonika Lewis Johnson of the Folded Map Project.

An international art fair with roots in major cities across the country is making its return to Chicago in an effort to support independent artists. The Other Art Fair returns to Chicago for its fourth year. The exhibition will feature 110 artists, roughly half of them Chicago-based. 

The new package includes $800 million in military aid for much-needed heavy artillery, 144,000 rounds of ammunition and drones for the escalating battle in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine. It builds on roughly $2.6 billion in military assistance that Biden previously approved.

WTTW News previously reported that communications company Scientel Solutions and its employees have given more than $135,000 to Richard Irvin’s mayoral campaign, a PAC run by his mayoral campaign manager, and his former private practice law partner Brittany Pedersen’s judicial campaign.

Department of Water Management Commissioner Andrea Cheng said federal funding will “jump-start” Chicago’s efforts to remove the lead service. Cheng acknowledged logistical challenges have meant the program has failed to achieve what Lightfoot promised in September 2020, when she vowed that the city would remove 650 pipes by the end of 2021.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Amarjeet Bhachu said former Ald. Danny Solis is one of the most significant government informants and witnesses of the last several decades. 

Some people understandably roll their eyes at the very thought of seeing "The Sound of Music" again. But Marriott’s production’s naturalistic yet fully theatrical quality, along with its subtle sense of dramatic rhythm, creates a level of profound emotion that too often is lost in revivals of this show.

Joe Biden’s most sweeping proposals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions remain stalled on Capitol Hill despite renewed warnings from scientists that the world is hurtling toward a dangerous future marked by extreme heat, drought and weather.

A casino does not belong so close to Chinatown, where it will have “human costs,” state Rep. Theresa Mah told WTTW News on Thursday.

Monty the piping plover has once again seemingly defied physics and returned to Chicago a mere day after reportedly leaving his wintering grounds in Texas.

Jobless claims fell by 2,000 to 184,000 last week, the Labor Department said Thursday. The four-week average of claims, which levels out week-to-week volatility, rose by 4,500 to 177,250.

Rates were close to 94% for measles, whooping cough and chickenpox vaccinations for the 2020-21 school year. That was down 1% from a year earlier and means 35,000 U.S. children entered kindergarten without evidence that they were vaccinated for extremely contagious diseases, the CDC said in a report.

The Fourth District Appellate Court on Wednesday tossed out a temporary restraining order that had prevented CPS from taking employment action against a half dozen CPS educators who refused to comply with the school district’s vaccine requirements.

Nearly two-and-a-half years after recreational cannabis became legal to sell in Illinois, state Rep. La Shawn Ford (D-Chicago) says Illinois has failed to live up to the promise of the law.

Mask confusion over new public transit guidelines. Plus, the mayor’s gas giveaway plan moves forward, why youth mental illness is soaring, and a battle of three billionaires in the governor’s race.

“Like any good gardener, when you plant the seeds, you till the soil, you watch the shoots rise up from the garden, you want to be there to reap the harvest,” Mayor Lori Lightfoot said this week as mayoral challengers begin to line up.

State and local officials offered some mixed messaging Monday on whether or not public transit riders would be required to wear mask after a federal court ruling. The day ended with Gov. J.B. Pritzker lifting his executive order.

Public health officials are sounding the alarm about an increase in mental health issues among young people, saying the pandemic aggravated what was already a crisis.