Stories by WTTW News

A remap fight begins in Chicago’s wards. Promise and controversy over a newly approved Alzheimer’s drug. The history-making new head of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, and more.

Meet artist and hair braider Mo G and learn how she’s using braids to push against cultural biases that consider the look unprofessional.

Christina Shutt will be the fifth executive director of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum and the first person of color to hold the title.

The 13-member Chicago Ward Advisory Redistricting Commission is charged with drawing a ward map “that is truly reflective of the diversity of Chicago,” organizers said.

The Food and Drug Administration said it granted approval to the drug from Biogen based on results that seemed “reasonably likely” to benefit Alzheimer’s patients. It’s the only drug that U.S. regulators have said can likely treat the underlying disease, rather than manage symptoms like anxiety and insomnia.

Construction quietly began on the $95 million facility in West Garfield Park in January and is set to be completed in the fall of 2022, officials said.

The White House has launched a monthlong blitz to combat vaccine hesitancy and a lack of urgency to get shots, particularly in the South and Midwest, but it is increasingly resigned to missing the president’s vaccination target. 

The visit to Mexico capped off Harris’ first foreign trip as vice president, a brief foray focused on dealing with the root causes of migration that brought her first to Guatemala on Monday.

Overall, the richest 25 Americans pay less in tax — an average of 15.8% of adjusted gross income — than many ordinary workers do, once you include taxes for Social Security and Medicare, ProPublica found. 

An operation known as Trojan Shield led to police raids in 16 nations. More than 800 suspects were arrested and more than 32 tons of drugs — including cocaine, cannabis, amphetamines and methamphetamines — were seized along with 250 firearms, 55 luxury cars and more than $148 million in cash and cryptocurrencies.

Of the 3,913 children, 1,786 have been reunified with a parent, mostly during Trump’s tenure, parents of another 1,695 have been contacted and the whereabouts of 391 have not been established.

The Senate report released Tuesday is the first — and could be the last — bipartisan review of how hundreds of former President Donald Trump’s supporters were able to violently push past security lines and break into the Capitol that day, interrupting the certification of President Joe Biden’s victory.

This is a clear sign that Tokyo Olympic planners and the International Olympic Committee are moving forward despite public opposition, warnings about the risks of the games becoming a spreader event, and Tokyo and other parts of Japan being under a state of emergency until June 20.

Dating apps now allow users to share vaccination status. The outlook for new relationships as Illinois prepares to reopen.

At the end of June, Illinoisans will no longer hear the words “Asian carp.” After several years and hundreds upon hundreds of millions spent trying to keep them from the Great Lakes, how can that possibly be? We explain.

Starting Friday, Chicago and the state of Illinois will fully reopen. It’s a day that many people have longed for, but if you’re experiencing anxiety about a return to something like normal, you’re not alone.

A massive buyout of a Chicago-area medical supply company. Crain’s Chicago Business editor Ann Dwyer takes us behind the headline of that story and more.

“I want to emphasize that the goal of our work is to help Guatemalans find hope at home,” Vice President Kamala Harris said. “At the same time, I want to be clear to folks in this region who are thinking about making that dangerous trek to the United States-Mexico border: Do not come, do not come.”

“Trees need care like streets need repairing,” said Malcolm Whiteside, deputy commissioner for Chicago’s Department of Forestry, who threw his support behind the creation of an Urban Forestry Advisory Board.

Thirty-four Urban Prep Charter Academy teachers walked off the job Monday morning, weeks after a unanimous vote to strike over pay raises and an alleged refusal by the charter operator to provide some legally-mandated special education services.

Firms have until July 30 to submit their pitch to operate and manage the electric distribution system that serves residents and businesses in Chicago, officials said. 

The Spanish government hopes to welcome 14.5 million to 15.5 million visitors between July and September. That’s about 40% of the tourists in the same period of 2019 but twice as many as last summer, when only EU visitors could enter Spain.

How to manage anxiety about reopening after more than a year of a pandemic. The push to reopen travel between the U.S. and Britain. Plus, more headlines from Crain’s. Pandemic dating and Asian carp.

A contest meant to inspire civic pride gets knocked off course after accusations of political scheming. But hey, this is Chicago.

Across the U.S., more children than ever before could be in classrooms for summer school this year to make up for lost learning during the outbreak, which caused monumental disruptions in education.

More than 450 free programs are scheduled this summer at parks as a way for Chicagoans to reconnect with the city's arts and culture offerings in their own communities.