Stories by WTTW News

The latest in our series WTTW News: A Safer City as Mayor Brandon Johnson makes his pick for police superintendent official. The role of public spaces in safety. And equitable transit-oriented development. 

Words from the Boss were few as the band barreled through song after song. Older songs brim with unbridled romanticism and recent songs address mortality and loss with a lifetime of wisdom.  

The promotions of more than 300 military officers are being stalled by Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville in protest of Pentagon reproductive health policies.

“This is an extremely important day for the city,” Snelling said Monday. “For people who grew up like I did — a resident of Englewood and a student of the Chicago Public Schools — I want you to know the possibilities are limitless.”

Starting this Tuesday and continuing through the spring of 2024, construction will be taking place in Grainger Plaza, the area of Millennium Park that houses the more formally named “Cloud Gate.”

For the Parliament of the World’s Religions, the week-long event marks a return to its roots – the organization was founded in Chicago in 1893. In the past 30 years, it has convened six times, most recently in Toronto in 2018.

Chance the Rapper will make the appearance at the retail store Wednesday during an event hosted by Today at Apple, which offers free in-store educational sessions for devices and programs.

Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas called the legislation “the most significant property tax reform legislation the General Assembly has approved in decades.”

According to Chicago Police Department data, 28 people were shot in 19 separate shooting incidents between 6 p.m. Friday and 11:59 p.m. Sunday.

Larry Snelling, a longtime Chicago Police Department insider with a decades-long career in law enforcement, has been tapped to lead the department as the city’s next top cop.

Pritzker on Saturday signed the Firearm Industry Responsibility Act, making Illinois the eighth state to approve legislation that rolls back legal protections for firearms manufacturers or distributors.

Earendel is so distant that the starlight glimpsed by the Webb telescope was emitted within the first billion years of the universe. The universe is estimated to be about 13.8 billion years old.

The Deeply Rooted Center for Black Dance and Creative Communities will be a state-of-the-art facility on the Washington Park State Street Corridor.

Dogs trained to find bodies sniffed through piles of rubble and ash as stunned survivors of deadly wildfires that killed at least 80 people on the Hawaiian island of Maui took stock of their shattered lives and tried to imagine rebuilding from nothing.

Dr. Allison Arwady was the public face of Chicago’s response throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. At the height of the pandemic, she hosted online question-and-answer sessions twice a week and frequently briefed the news media.

Black and Latino students in health care career paths recently shared their findings on past experiments during a summer internship program at Rush University Medical Center.

The city of Chicago and the Illinois Attorney General’s Office negotiated an agreement to shift oversight of CPD’s stop-and-frisk practices into a consent decree governing the department.

Texas has bused more than 30,000 migrants to Democratic-controlled cities across the U.S. since last year as part of Republican Gov. Greg Abbott’s sprawling mission on the border.

Not everyone agrees on new oversight for the Chicago Police Department’s stop-and-frisk policy. A history of medical experiments on people of color. And remembering the creator of the “Cha-Cha Slide.”

A holistic approach to gang violence. A former church in Pilsen on its way to landmark status. And a festival brings house music to Harrison Park.

Mayor Brandon Johnson set to select a new police chief. Nobody gets in to see the wizard, according to a federally charged top Madigan aide. State Supreme Court rules on assault weapons. And the sinking Sox.

The director of the Illinois Department of Public Health expressed support for the Illinois Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the state’s assault weapons ban.

The passed in May with three-fifths majorities in both legislative chambers, meaning that if all of the members that voted for it also support an override of the governor’s veto, it still could become law.

More than a quarter of students missed at least 10% of the 2021-22 school year, making them chronically absent, according to the most recent data available. Before the pandemic, only 15% of students missed that much school.

Pilsen residents can find a dancefloor in their backyard this weekend. The My House Music Festival is hosting house DJs for its eighth year.

The city’s Commission on Chicago Landmarks voted in favor of a preliminary landmark recommendation for St. Adalbert Church. This starts a lengthy eight-step approval process, which ends in a vote by City Council on the designation.