Stories by Heather Cherone

The City Council will also weigh paying $325,000 to resolve a separate lawsuit filed by a man who was shot and wounded by a Chicago Police officer in March 2018 while suffering a mental health crisis.

Ronnie Baker Brooks, son of blues legend Lonnie Brooks, is a soulful singer and guitarist. He just released “Blues In My DNA” on Chicago’s independent Alligator Records — his father’s home label for many years.

In all, Chicago taxpayers spent $201.8 million to resolve 43 lawsuits brought by more than three dozen people wrongfully convicted based on evidence gathered by the Chicago Police Department since 2019, according to an analysis of city data by WTTW News.

Chicago’s police misconduct agency identified a troubling pattern of traffic stops months before Dexter Reed’s death. And we visit a new brewpub in south suburban Homewood.

In 1966, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. came to Chicago’s West Side to protest against discriminatory housing practices. The neighborhood went into an uproar following his assassination in 1968, resulting in numerous riots and looting. “When the West Side Burned” outlines the destruction and struggle to recover.

A letter sent to police officials from COPA on March 27, six days after Reed’s death, shows that the agency had evidence that officers were routinely engaging in misconduct that violated Chicago Police Department rules and put Chicagoans at risk of a violent encounter with officers for at least a year. 

United Nations human rights investigators said in a statement: “These heinous alleged human rights violations appear to a significant extent to be rooted in systemic racism and have disproportionately affected people of African and Latin American descent.”

As scammers find new ways to steal money and personal information, consumers should be more vigilant about who they trust, especially online.

Devan Flax, 21, faces assault, robbery and firearm charges in the suburban Forest Park incidents from November 2023. He’s also charged in connection with the robbery of a Berwyn pizzeria employee that same month.

Chicago Stars FC will continue to use the Red Stars name and crest for the remainder of the season before fully transitioning to the new brand at the start of the 2025 season.

An impending fiscal cliff has led to calls from some lawmakers and transit advocates for reform — perhaps as drastic as merging CTA, Metra, Pace, and RTA into a new regional agency. That’s an idea the current transit agencies say is the wrong move.

Each Wednesday, WTTW News presents must-see shows from indie rock to jazz, country, hip-hop and more. 

Testimony gets underway in the historic corruption trial of ex-House Speaker Michael Madigan. And we sit down with leaders from the Chicago area’s transit agencies as they face a fiscal cliff.

“Are those who are accountable really going to be held to that responsibility of putting me into prison?” asked Jimmy Soto, who is believed to have served the longest wrongful conviction sentence in Illinois history. “I don’t know. But I hope people understand this is just one step towards trying to get justice for me.”

“People are realizing Election Day is now right around the corner and now taking advantage of these early voting options to get their civic duty out of the way,” said Max Bever, director of public information at Chicago Board of Elections.

Prisons in Illinois are currently facing a staffing crisis, according to a new report from the John Howard Association. It found understaffing greatly increases the amount of lockdowns and staff overtime and impacts the overall health, safety and well-being of staff and incarcerated people.

Tuesday marked the second day of opening statements in the landmark trial as Michael McClain’s defense team had its opportunity to present its opening statements to jurors inside the Dirksen Federal Building.

Rafael Yáñez, who ran unsuccessfully to represent the 15th Ward on the Chicago City Council in 2015 and 2019, is set to join the board.

To faculty, new protest rules threaten freedom of speech — and the freedom to think, both central to university life. This semester, some of the most visible demonstrations have involved professors speaking up for the right to protest itself.

TreeHouse Foods Inc., of Oak Brook, Illinois, said the updated recall includes all products made at a factory in Ontario, Canada, and sold at stores including Albertson’s, Aldi, Dollar General, Kroger, Publix, Target, Walmart and others. 

Sports betting is raking in record revenues across the United States as the industry skyrockets in popularity. This includes in Illinois, which represents the third-largest sports gambling market in the country.

A push to lower Chicago’s default speed limit. Counting the cost of sports gambling. And a restaurant fights to lift a century-plus ban on selling booze.

Selling alcohol has been banned in a section of the ninth precinct of the 47th Ward — between Montrose, Damen, Lincoln and Sunnyside avenues — since 1907.

Once eligibility is confirmed, city staff will deliver a free compost bin to residents’ homes, according to a news release announcing the initiative. Each ward will receive an initial allocation of 20 bins.

Chicago’s default speed limit could drop to 25 miles per hour from its current baseline of 30 after a panel of alderpeople on Monday backed the measure aimed at getting drivers to slow down.

Just when you thought it was safe to go outside, here come the ladybug swarms.