Stories by Patty Wetli

Ald. James Cappleman has joined the chorus of supporters lobbying the Chicago Park District to set aside a section of Montrose Beach as protected habitat for Monty and Rose, Chicago’s beloved pair of Great Lakes piping plovers.

A Loretto Hospital emergency room technician who appeared Tuesday on “Chicago Tonight” said he witnessed what he calls “VIP” lines of patients coming in to be vaccinated at the West Side hospital.

A mass shooting in Atlanta last week has left Asian women across the country heartbroken and scared for their safety. We discuss a rise in racial and gender-based violence — and resources for those in need.

The latest on the Loretto Hospital controversy. Aldermen weigh in on proposed new rules for industrial developments. Evanston makes history with reparations. And bringing pedestrians back to downtown.

Two Democratic senators lashed out Tuesday at the lack of Asian American and Pacific Islander representation in President Joe Biden’s Cabinet and even vowed not to support nominations until the White House better promotes diversity — moves that could stymie their own party’s administration in filling key posts.

A picture of the victims of Monday’s shooting began to emerge a day later, when the suspect in the killings was booked into jail on murder charges after being treated at a hospital.

Aldermen are sharply divided on the issue after a proposal from Mayor Lori Lightfoot was significantly revised. Alds. Jason Ervin, Maria Hadden, Byron Sigcho-Lopez and George Cardenas weigh in.

Police on Tuesday identified a 21-year-old man as the suspect who opened fire inside a crowded Colorado supermarket, and court documents showed that he purchased an assault weapon less than a week before the attack that killed 10 people, including a police officer.

The one-year anniversary of the pandemic has come and gone, but its impact on mental health will linger. We meet Chicago printmaker Beth Adler, who found refuge in art therapy — and whose work is now part of a new exhibit in Evanston.

Opening statements and testimony began Tuesday in the burglary trial of Glenn Whitmore, one day after the court selected its first jury for a criminal trial since March 2020.

Sundays on State would shut down the thoroughfare from Lake to Madison streets on Sundays for up to 12 weeks, starting in July. It’s just one part of the Chicago Loop Alliance’s efforts to bring pedestrian traffic and retail dollars back to the city center as Chicago’s COVID-19 recovery continues.

Using tax money from the sale of recreational marijuana, the Chicago suburb of Evanston has become the first U.S. city to make reparations available to its Black residents for past discrimination and the lingering effects of slavery.

Dr. Allison Arwady, the commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health, said the uptick in virus cases in Michigan is of special concern because it appears to be driven in part by the spread of more transmissible variants of COVID-19.

A jury has been seated for the trial of a former Minneapolis police officer in George Floyd’s death, with opening statements set for March 29 in a case that led to weeks of protests and a national soul-searching about racial justice.

Confirmed cases of the coronavirus have risen 23% in Chicago during the past seven days, prompting Chicago’s top health official, Dr. Allison Arwady, to say Tuesday she is “really worried” the city could be on the cusp of another surge of the pandemic.

Following months of negotiations, a coalition of local legal groups on Tuesday announced it had agreed to settle its lawsuit after state officials agreed to improve the Illinois Department of Correction’s use of existing release options for medically vulnerable inmates with expiring sentences.

The ordinance drew fierce opposition from cultural and preservation groups and those working to turn the homes of civil rights icon Emmett Till and blues legend Muddy Waters into museums, who said it could block their efforts. 

Results from a U.S. trial of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine may have included “outdated information” and that could mean the company provided an incomplete view of efficacy data, American federal health officials said early Tuesday.

Vaccine eligibility in Illinois will open up to everyone by April 12, but there are a lot of different windows of eligibility leading up to that date.

The Chicago City Council and Mayor Lori Lightfoot are set to face off over an effort to create an elected police oversight body.

Sharone Mitchell Jr. is coming in at a turbulent time: Jury trials resumed Monday with a massive backlog of cases, and a controversial criminal justice bill was signed by the governor last month. All of this, of course, comes against the backdrop of COVID-19.

A Chicago neighborhood is preparing to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Greek independence. And while traditional festivities have been canceled for the second year due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Greektown community has still found a way to brighten area streets.

Aldermen endorsed a measure Monday that would allow the city to expand the number of banks authorized to hold its cash — even as city officials vowed to keep pressuring financial institutions to do a better job lending to Black and Latino Chicagoans.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot says that a proposal requiring museums to get special permission from city officials before opening in residential neighborhoods is “highly problematic.” Her criticism makes it unlikely that the measure, which has drawn fierce opposition, will advance this week.

True to its title, this lavish production traces the evolution of Broadway scores from the 1960s until now, and explores the many ways in which pop music (as well as modern life) has expanded and altered the sound of musical theater.

Property owners and developers who want to demolish existing buildings in Pilsen and near the 606 trail would be required to pay a fee that would be used to fund affordable housing projects across the city, under a proposal set for a final vote Wednesday.