Stories by Patty Wetli

The Environmental Protection Agency confirmed the “reddish-orange discharge” that poured into Lake Michigan on Sunday from a steel plant in Portage, Indiana, was caused by high levels of iron, and says there’s no indication of health risks for people who may come into direct contact with the water.

Flu season is right around the corner and new COVID-19 variants are expected to emerge in the coming months. Dr. Ngozi Ezike joins us to discuss the latest COVID-19 developments in Illinois as cases continue to climb due to the highly contagious delta variant. 

A Bears season ticket holder, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said she would approach negotiations to keep the Bears in Chicago not as a fan but as the steward of taxpayer funds and as a “business decision.”

Research shows Black and brown-led nonprofits receive less funding than their white counterparts. Now, a new program by the United Way of Metro Chicago is working to address this disparity.

Rescued ruins and a virtual tour of a lost masterpiece of Chicago architecture — we speak with the city’s cultural historian and a noted artist who were part of a team exploring a long-lost theater and more.

The former Chicago Public Schools CEO is taking over a scholarship organization that’s promising to “redefine the education landscape” in Chicago.

The Chicago Bears took a major step toward moving out of their longtime home at Soldier Field — one of the most recognizable stadiums in the United States — and into the suburbs by signing a purchase agreement for Arlington Park.

The Bears ink a deal for Arlington Park. The state’s top doc on COVID-19 rates in children. Former CPS CEO Janice Jackson on her next move. And a virtual tour of a long-lost theater.

His government overhaul plans at stake, President Joe Biden appeared unable to swiftly strike agreement with two wavering Democratic senators trying to trim back his potentially historic $3.5 trillion measure that will collapse without their support.

College athletes who earn millions for their schools are employees, the National Labor Relations Board’s top lawyer said in guidance released Wednesday that would allow players at private universities to unionize and negotiate over their working conditions.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot acknowledged that she cannot force alderpeople to get vaccinated against COVID-19 since they are independently elected and do not report to the mayor.

The case began in November 2019 when Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez (25th Ward) filed a complaint with the Illinois State Board of Elections against his disgraced predecessor, former Ald. Danny Solis.

As if a cup of coffee wasn’t expensive enough, a confluence of factors is driving up farmers’ costs to grow the beans and it could begin filtering down to your local cafe before the end of the year.

The Lyric Opera production of Giuseppe Verdi’s “Macbeth” — which marks both the ongoing pandemic-era reopening of the company’s renovated 3,200-seat theater, and the official start of Enrique Mazzola’s tenure as the company’s music director — is no standard witches’ brew. 

For the second time in less than a month, customs officials working at O’Hare International Airport have seized packages containing several counterfeit COVID-19 vaccination cards shipped from overseas.

A pride celebration, neon lights, fairy houses and talented teens usher in the weekend. Here are 10 things to do in Chicago.

Death’s come knocking a last time for the splendid ivory-billed woodpecker and 22 more birds, fish and other species: The U.S. government on Wednesday declared them extinct.

We check in on the national debt ceiling battle and more. What’s next for R. Kelly after Monday’s guilty verdict? Why the Shedd is researching a mantis shrimp. And Geoffrey Baer talks trash.

Tiny fragments from an asteroid could shed light on the early development of the solar system, thanks to the unique capabilities of Argonne National Laboratory.

There are hundreds of species of mantis shrimp — crustaceans measuring anywhere from 1-12 inches long. The peacock mantis shrimp, indigenous to the waters of Indonesia, has a specific trait that humans are trying to replicate. 

Speaking out against sexual assault and violence is fraught for anyone who attempts it. Those who work in the field say the hurdles facing Black women and girls are raised even higher by a society that hypersexualizes them from a young age.

Republican senators blocked a bill to keep the government operating and allow federal borrowing, but Democrats aiming to avert a shutdown pledged to try again — at the same time pressing ahead on President Joe Biden’s big plans to reshape government.

After five years of legal battles, gentrification concerns and a federal review, Barack and Michelle Obama dug shovels into the ground Tuesday during a celebratory groundbreaking on their legacy project in Jackson Park.

President Joe Biden is canceling plans to travel to Chicago on Wednesday in order to continue leading crucial negotiations in Washington over his legislative agenda, a White House official told CNN.

Dr. Allison Arwady said investigators have not found any evidence that COVID-19 had been transmitted to students or teachers at Jensen Elementary School. “I know people are worried,” Arwady said. “The desire when something tragic like this happens is to pin blame on someone or something. But the blame here really belongs to the virus.”

A Lake County man in his 80s who awoke to a bat on his neck in mid-August is the first person to have contracted the disease in Illinois in more than 65 years, according to state health officials.