Stories by Heather Cherone

For four decades, Chicago has held the designation of a sanctuary city — but what does it mean, and how has Chicago’s status endured? WTTW News explains.

By the end of the year, users of iPhones or Apple watches should also be able to store a digital version of their Illinois driver’s license or state ID in their Apple wallet.

Lia Merminga has been the director of Fermilab in suburban Batavia since 2022. FermiForward Discovery Group, the lab’s new management and operations contractor, said in a message to staff it was immediately launching a search for its new director.

Former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan takes the stand in his own defense. And a battle over hemp regulation has the mayor and governor on opposing sides.

Nearly 70% of those revenues came from the $44 million in flat fees Bally’s agreed to pay in 2023 and 2024 as part of the deal approved by the City Council in 2022 that ended a 30-year effort to bring casino gambling to Chicago.

To get straight to the point: “Hitt Records,” the musical revue now receiving its world premiere at the Black Ensemble Theater, is an absolute knockout, writes WTTW News theater critic Hedy Weiss.

Voting is open online through Jan. 21. Chicago residents can vote for as many as six names, and the top vote getters will represent one snowplow in each of the city’s six snow districts.

Billing itself as a farm-to-fable tale, “Shucked” reminds audiences that it’s OK to have a great time at the theater. It has hilarious and surprisingly heartfelt songs to go along with the bushels of cornball humor.

Ald. Daniel La Spata (1st Ward) said he would ask his colleagues to vote Wednesday on the measure advanced by the Pedestrian and Traffic Safety Committee in October after working for months behind the scenes to marshal support.

On Monday night, the year’s first full moon will pass in front of Mars and cause the planet to momentarily disappear from view.

Voters can choose from 10 designs for a new flag, the current flag, the 1918 centennial flag or 1968 sesquicentennial flag.

The bill prohibits an employer from firing someone for missing quotas because of these bathroom and meal breaks and ensures that if the employee believes they're wrongly disciplined, they have a right to sue.

Under a measure that cleared the General Assembly this week, departments would have until July 1 to put the new rule in place. It still needs a signature from Gov. J.B. Pritzker to become law.

The bill comes as several state officials warn that Illinois is falling behind on its clean energy goals. The state’s main funding mechanism for renewable energy projects also faces a potential $3 billion budget shortfall in the coming years.

It’s the first time in recorded history that the planet was above a hoped-for limit to warming for an entire year, according to measurements from four of the six teams. Scientists say if Earth stays above the threshold long-term, it will mean increased deaths, destruction, species loss and sea level rise from the extreme weather that accompanies warming.

The decision is the Biden administration’s latest in support of Temporary Protected Status, which he has sharply expanded to cover about 1 million people. TPS faces an uncertain future under Donald Trump, who tried to sharply curtail its use during his first term as president.

The court’s 5-4 order clears the way for Judge Juan M. Merchan to impose a sentence Friday on President-elect Donald Trump, who was convicted in what prosecutors called an attempt to cover up a $130,000 hush money payment to porn actor Stormy Daniels.

Some alderpeople push to weaken Chicago’s sanctuary city ordinance. And we explore why a Pilsen church is moving its masses online.

As Inauguration Day approaches, President-elect Donald Trump’s declaration to launch the “largest deportation operation in American history” is spreading fear across immigrant communities around the country.

Karina’s Bill seeks to protect domestic violence victims by creating uniform processes for removing guns from alleged abusers who are subject an order of protection.

The showdown over whether to amend the Welcoming City ordinance, set for Wednesday, will come less than a week before President-elect Donald Trump takes office. He has promised to immediately launch the “largest domestic deportation operation in American history.”

According to recently released information, bird collision deaths have dropped by as much as 95% at McCormick Place Lakeside Center after bird-friendly window film was installed on the convention center’s glass.

The Illinois Department of Public Health announced Thursday that patients diagnosed with endometriosis, ovarian cysts, uterine fibroids and female orgasmic disorder can now register under the state’s compassionate use of medical cannabis program — bringing the total number of qualifying conditions to 56.

Nearly two centuries after losing its reservation in Illinois in a land sale that most people now concede was illegal, the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation could soon get its land back.

Starting Thursday, three overnight lane closures will be required on the inbound and outbound Kennedy and Edens Expressway to remove the work zone and apply new pavement markings, according to Illinois Department of Transportation.

All of Carter’s living successors were in attendance, with President Joe Biden, the first sitting senator to endorse his 1976 run for the White House, delivering a eulogy. Biden and others took turns praising Carter’s record and extolling his character.