Stories by Abena Bediako

In 2008, Marcel Brown was arrested for murder at the age of 18. He spent a decade in prison before being exonerated. A federal jury awarded him a record-setting $50 million when he sued the city over his wrongful conviction.

What data says about crime versus the public’s perception. And a jury awards a wrongfully convicted man $50 million. He shares his story.

Even though statistics show improvement, a 2023 Gallup poll revealed that three-quarters of Americans believe crime has worsened across the country, including in their hometowns.

Quantum computers operate significantly faster, which backers promise will yield astonishing breakthroughs in medicine, finance and science.

The judge’s ruling is another striking dissent to a practice that has been hailed as one of the greatest public health achievements of the last century. Fluoride strengthens teeth and reduces cavities by replacing minerals lost during normal wear and tear, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Mauro Glorioso, a former chair of the Illinois Property Tax Appeal Board who later became its executive director, sued the newspaper in 2021, alleging he was defamed by the Sun-Times’ coverage of the board’s handling of a property tax appeal for Trump Tower in downtown Chicago. 

The number of women in construction industry apprenticeship programs has remained mostly steady in the state, going from 3% to 5% since 2009, according to Illinois Department of Labor data. While there has been some progress in more women going into the trades, there’s more work to be done to help women stay in the trades, according to leaders in the industry.

“Borrowing to pay for operating expenses in a business, in a government, etc., is not a great idea unless you know how you’re going to pay for that, because it’s going to come due,” Gov. J.B. Pritzker said, “speaking as a businessperson.”

Fall means it’s time for just about everybody to get up to date on their flu and COVID-19 vaccines – and a lot of older adults also need protection against another risky winter virus, RSV.

DuSable Lake Shore Drive overnight closures for resurfacing work will extend this week from Irving Park Road to LaSalle Drive in all southbound lanes.

Escalating tensions at Chicago Public Schools as the pressure on its CEO grows. And the latest on a scam targeting elderly residents around Chinatown.

“We’ve been sharing a lot about phone and text scams, but people are less on guard when they talk to a real person,” said Grace Chan McKibben, the executive director of the Coalition for a Better Chinese American Community.

During the past week, CPS CEO Pedro Martinez has written three times to parents, staff and students, and in each letter, he has promised that he will not close any schools while at the helm of CPS, even as he acknowledged compiling a list of schools that could be closed as part of an effort to compile a five-year strategic plan.

Overall, 667 people have alleged they were sexually abused as children at youth facilities in Illinois through lawsuits filed since May. The most recent complaints detail alleged abuse from 1996 to 2021, including rape, forced oral sex and beatings by corrections officers, nurses, kitchen staff, chaplains and others.

The complaint says San Francisco-based Visa penalizes merchants and banks who don’t use Visa’s own payment processing technology to process debit transactions, even though alternatives exist. Visa earns an incremental fee from every transaction processed on its network.

The state’s highest court ruled Illinois can revoke a person’s FOID card once they’ve been charged with a felony and that patients in hospital rooms don’t have a universal expectation of privacy from police searches.

Biden used his wide-ranging address to speak to a need to end the Middle East conflict and the 17-month-old civil war in Sudan and to highlight U.S. and Western allies’ support for Kyiv since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. He also raised concern over artificial intelligence and its potential to be used for repression.

Mayor Brandon Johnson burned a significant amount of political capital to convince the Chicago City Council in April to appropriate an additional $70 million, which the city did not need after a feared surge of migrants failed to materialize.

What’s next for public safety after the ShotSpotter contract comes to a close. And the Chicago Teachers Union on the future of CPS leadership.

Nearly a week after the Chicago School Board approved a new five-year plan for Chicago Public Schools, tensions among CPS CEO Pedro Martinez, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and the Chicago Teachers Union are mounting.

Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago President and CEO Austan Goolsbee said the U.S. is currently on what he calls a “golden path.” Inflation has cooled from historic highs without the country going into a recession, and the unemployment rate is at what economists generally consider a sweet spot. Now the key is staying there.

Deputy Mayor of Community Safety Garien Gatewood told WTTW News’ “Chicago Tonight” program on Monday that city officials are excited to see what kind of technology is available.

Former Ald. Ed Burke is in the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons at Federal Correctional Institution Thomson in Thomson, Illinois, nearly 150 miles west of his beloved hometown. He will begin his two-year prison sentence.

Three lawsuits filed Monday detail abuse from 1996 to 2021, including rape, forced oral sex and beatings by corrections officers, nurses, kitchen staff, chaplains and others. Overall, 667 people have alleged they were sexually abused as children at youth facilities run by the state and Cook County in lawsuits filed since May.

The 60th annual Chicago International Film Festival runs Oct. 16-27. Screenings and programs are set to take place at the festival’s hub theater in AMC NEWCITY 14 in addition to the Music Box Theatre, the Gene Siskel Film Center and more.

An independent diversity study found that while Illinois has awarded more licenses to women and people of color than any other regulated market in the United States, white men are still the demographic most likely to have a cannabis license in Illinois.