Stories by WTTW News

We share what you had to say about the ongoing battle over the site of the Barack Obama Presidential Library and the renewed focus on community colleges.

The governor gave a speech today he’s given many times, calling for lawmakers to pass his "turnaround agenda" that includes local right-to-work zones.

The picks are all in, and after three days of festivities and thousands of fans pouring into Grant Park, the 2015 NFL Draft in Chicago has concluded. Crystin Immel grades the NFL on the overall fan experience they provided in Grant Park.

Crystin Immel returned to Auditorium Theatre to cover rounds two and three of the NFL Draft on Friday. But things didn't go as smoothly as she planned. 

Citing the district's $1.1 billion deficit, Interim CEO Jesse Ruiz announced that the district is proposing a $160 million capital budget for fiscal year 2016 -- a significant decline compared to FY2015's approved budget of $509 million.

The Friends of the Parks says it won’t rule out a lawsuit against the Barack Obama Presidential Library even as Gov. Bruce Rauner is expected to sign a bill aimed at squashing potential legal hurdles for the library and the George Lucas museum.

Crystin Immel is an Assistant Producer and the assignment desk editor for Chicago Tonight. She’s also a big NFL fan. We thought it would be fun to send her to the NFL Draft at the Auditorium Theatre to see the draft through her eyes. 

Joel Weisman and his panel of local journalists break down the week's top political, business, and sports stories.

Joel Weisman and his panel of journalists weigh in on the media coverage of the Baltimore riots. 

Don your best derby hats for charity; go fly a kite with your kid; and laugh with Chicago's own Jeff Garlin. Chicago Tonight has your weekend picks.

The new, supersized NFL Draft gets underway in Chicago this evening. Just what does it mean for the city? Paris Schutz has the latest.

With nearly 800 special funds operating outside the state budget, it might be a daunting task to oversee. Gov. Bruce Rauner is sweeping about $1.3 billion out of these funds to balance the budget. Who benefits from these funds and how are they being impacted? Eddie Arruza sits down with several budget watchdogs.

The Art Institute of Chicago last week announced a historic gift -- 42 works of pop and contemporary art have been given to the museum. We'll speak with museum President Douglas Druick about this unprecedented windfall of art.

Chicago is already offering free community college tuition to local students, and nationwide, President Barack Obama is proposing a similar plan. We talk to experts about why community colleges have received a renewed focus.

One in five parkway trees in Chicago is threatened by the Emerald Ash Borer beetle. So what can people do to stop the shrinking of the region's tree canopy? The Morton Arboretum's CEO, Gerry Donnelly, joins us to talk about reversing tree loss.

We share what you had to say about our talk with Charles Preston of the Black Youth 100’s protests in solidarity with Baltimore, the new City Council as coalitions begin to develop, and Mayor Rahm Emanuel's blueprint to Chicago's fiscal solvency. 

Mayor Rahm Emanuel lays out a plan to rescue the city’s financial and debt crisis. Paris Schutz explains why that could cost taxpayers hundreds of millions more in the short term.

A new City Council will be sworn in next month, and aldermen are quickly organizing into both new and old coalitions to push their political agendas. But how exactly will this new council take shape? And will it become less of a rubber stamp and more independent from the mayor’s office?

Charles Preston is a member of the Black Youth Project 100 in Chicago. BYP has organized this week's protests in solidarity with Baltimore to show their support and also highlight structural problems in their own community. 

Tuesday, a team of federal health officials arrived in southern Indiana to evaluate a recent surge in HIV cases, which the director of the National Center for HIV/AIDS called one of the worst outbreaks of the last 20 years. We talk with John Peller, president and CEO of the AIDS Foundation of Chicago, to see how Chicago’s infection rate compares to Indiana, what the underlying causes are, and how to stem the tide of cases.

Jay Shefsky visits a Chicago family that has added goats to the chickens, ducks, and bees in their backyard farm.  

Geoffrey Baer visits a towering turtle, diamonds in River North, and a vanishing south side lake.

Former Gov. Dan Walker died at age 92 at his home in California. Walker, a Democrat, served a single term as governor from 1973-1977.