Stories by WTTW News

How Black history is being taught in schools. Life after prison in this week’s Black Voices Book Club pick. A look back at WTTW’s “Our People” with Jim Tilmon, and teaching young men to be gentlemen.

The founder of a nonprofit that mentors young men in the Chicago area tells us what it means to be a gentleman.

The comedian and actor known for his sardonic take on culture and society shares his thoughts on policing and crime in Chicago in this interview with Jim Tilmon from the WTTW show “Our People.”

https://news.wttw.com/2021/02/08/ctu-delegates-ok-deal-allow-person-learning-resumeMembers of the Chicago Teachers Union are reviewing the framework of a deal that would allow in-person learning to resume at Chicago Public Schools for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic forced schools to close in March 2020 — and avert the second strike in 15 months.

The 79-year-old civil rights leader was admitted to Northwestern Memorial Hospital for abdominal discomfort on Jan. 29, according to a statement from the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, the Chicago-based organization that he heads.

It’s not just their health that’s at risk: COVID-19 is threatening Latinos struggling to keep their homes. Plus: Distribution centers are growing fast, but so are concerns about their impact.

Latino communities have been at a heightened risk of infection and death throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. But the coronavirus has not only endangered their health, it’s also harming their finances and making them more likely to lose their homes.

A shooting early Saturday during a large gathering at the Indian Lakes Hotel in Bloomingdale left one man dead and several other people wounded, police said.

The nation’s top health officials sounded the alarm this week about the Super Bowl being a potential superspreader event, and they urged people to gather with friends over Zoom, not in crowds.

Arguments begin Tuesday in the impeachment trial of Donald Trump on allegations that he incited the violent mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. 

Anyone who’s left so much as a hat on a Chicago Transit Authority train knows that whatever leaves the station without its owner often is gone forever. Except, apparently, a $22,000 gold and silver flute.

Temporary workers at food manufacturing, distribution and logistics facilities in Illinois keep supply chains moving — even during a global pandemic. But many feel their concerns about COVID-19 and workplace safety are often ignored, according to a new report.

After heated negotiations this week, there’s still no deal between Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Teachers Union. Meanwhile, Chicagoans scramble for COVID-19 vaccinations as complaints mount against the sign-up process.

Chicago Teachers Union President Jesse Sharkey accused Mayor Lori Lightfoot of cutting off negotiations by issuing a “final offer.” He said the union is “deeply disappointed” by that decision.

A Wisconsin judge will hold a hearing next week on whether to arrest or increase bail for an Illinois teen accused of opening fire during a police brutality protest in Wisconsin last summer after he allegedly failed to update his address with the court.

The stakes for the country and economy were amplified on Friday morning by the release of the government’s jobs report for January, which showed that hiring had stalled to a pace that could hinder a return to full employment for several years. 

Each year advertisers pull out all the stops to entertain the crowd of 100 million viewers expected to tune in to the CBS broadcast on Sunday. This year there are more than 20 newcomers as well as old favorites. 

More than 153,000 residents of the country’s nursing homes and assisted living centers have died of COVID-19, accounting for 36% of the U.S. pandemic death toll, according to the COVID Tracking Project. 

The tepid increase followed a decline of 227,000 jobs in December, the first loss since April. The unemployment rate for January fell sharply from 6.7% to 6.3%, the Labor Department said Friday.

The coronavirus means Sunday’s Super Bowl will be different this year. But something else about this year’s matchup is new: You don’t have to travel to Las Vegas to legally bet on it. 

Gage Park sits within two ZIP codes that have consistently seen some of the highest COVID-19 positivity rates in the city, yet the vaccine rollout has been criticized for not reaching the Southwest Side like it has the North Side.

The Obama Presidential Center can be built in Jackson Park after a federal review that lasted nearly four years concluded the $500 million project will have “no significant impact” on the federally protected park.

Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine was safe and offered strong protection against moderate to severe COVID-19, according to preliminary results from a massive international study. 

Dianne Durham, the first Black woman to win a USA Gymnastics national championship, died Thursday in Chicago following a short illness, her husband said. She was 52.

Located roughly 7 miles southwest of the Loop, many of Gage Park’s bungalows were built between 1924 and 1927. 

The variant, known as B.1.1.7, was identified in samples of COVID-19 positive tests taken outside of Chicago and suburban Cook County for the first time, according to a spokesperson for the Illinois Department of Public Health.