Stories by Heather Cherone

U.S. District Court Judge Sara Ellis ordered Border Patrol chief Greg Bovino to appear in her courtroom at the Dirksen Federal Building in downtown Chicago at 10 a.m. Tuesday.

According to charging documents, he stabbed a 17-year-old male passenger in the shoulder and another 17-year-old male passenger in the back of the head with a metal fork following meal service.

Starting Saturday, cards that SNAP beneficiaries use to buy groceries will not be reloaded after the Trump administration said last week it won’t use a roughly $5 billion contingency fund to keep funding the program next month.

An Illinois jury has begun deliberations in the first-degree murder trial of a sheriff’s deputy who shot Sonya Massey, a Black woman in her home who had called 911 for help and was later killed because of the way she was handling a pan of hot water.

WTTW News recently explored some of Chicago’s independent costume shops that are open year-round and can help outfit any customer’s dreams — or nightmares.

Here’s a look at the history of tear gas and why it remains so controversial.

The Chicago crackdown, dubbed “Operation Midway Blitz,” began in early September. Masked, armed agents in unmarked trucks patrol neighborhoods, and residents have protested in ways big and small against what they see as their city under siege.

What to know about a court-ordered study on how Chicago police officers are being deployed. And a look at how local law enforcement is responding to federal agents in the city.

“States, generally speaking, are not allowed to limit what federal officers do,” DePaul University law professor David Franklin said. “The federal government, federal law definitely limit what federal officers can do.”

Required by the terms of the consent decree, the federal court order designed to compel CPD to change the way it trains, supervises and disciplines officers, the study is on track to be completed on time, by the end of the year, Chicago Police Supt. Larry Snelling said.

The scariest thing about Halloween is the number of pumpkins that wind up in landfills every year. Enter the pumpkin smash. Collected gourds will be taken to compost facilities.

The once-every-two-year spectacle is the formal kickoff to campaign season, with candidates for state, federal and judicial offices filing hundreds to thousands of signatures to secure their place on the March 17 primary ballot.

It was an absolutely brilliant evening at Chicago Symphony Hall Oct. 16 as a full audience was clearly enthralled by two major works by the superb French composer Hector Berlioz

A federal complaint unsealed Monday shows Nathan Griffin has been charged with a single count of assaulting a federal agent during the performance of their official duties.

Nine plants were just added to Illinois’ exotic weeds list — making it illegal to buy, sell, distribute or plant them in the state.

President Donald Trump has ramped up pressure on Republican governors to draw new maps that give the party an easier path to maintain control of the House in the midterms.

Four members of the 1863 tactical team named in COPA’s letter have been stripped of their police powers, according to a department spokesperson.

The state starts tracking immigration agents accused of abusing their power. And Chicago City Council members start kicking the tires on Mayor Brandon Johnson’s proposed budget.

It's been 125 years since the Chicago River was famously reversed by creating the 28-mile Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal. Voting is open to give the canal a new, less sewage-adjacent name.

In an October interview with a downstate radio station, state Sen. Terri Bryant said she gave a list of undocumented individuals currently being held in Illinois state prisons to Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem.

The judge’s order came less than 24 hours after Border Patrol Chief Greg Bovino fired tear gas at a crowd during an aggressive raid in Little Village.

City crews are going to have to sharply increase efforts to remove the lines from homes and two- and four-flats to comply with state and federal requirements, Department of Water Management Commissioner Randy Conner said.

Nearly all the mpox cases in Chicago this year have been among males, and most who have provided their sexual orientation identify as gay or bisexual, according to the Chicago Department of Public Health.

The incident, which took place in the heart of one of Chicago’s wealthiest and most tourist-friendly neighborhoods, marks the second straight day that federal agents have deployed tear gas against Chicagoans and the sixth time in 21 days.

Documenting alleged abuse by federal immigration agents. The latest on an immigration raid in Little Village. And Stacy Davis Gates on her new role as head of a statewide teachers union.

Stacy Davis Gates was unanimously elected president of the Illinois Federation of Teachers (IFT) on Saturday. The organization is one of two major statewide umbrella teachers unions in the state.