Stories by Patty Wetli

Just days after Brookfield Zoo issued the exciting announcement of the first bottlenose dolphin born at the zoo in more than a decade, staff is mourning the sudden death of the calf on Wednesday night.

The settlement set to be considered by the Chicago City Council’s Finance Committee Monday would avoid a high-stakes trial for the city in one of the last cases that names Jon Burge, a former police commander who city officials admit tortured and beat more than 100 Black men during his career.

There’s always much to do in a place voted Best Big City in the U.S. eight years in a row. So find a show and get a ticket — it’s a vote of confidence in our priceless shared culture.

The mayor says the city is ready for large-scale protests this weekend. And exploring the challenges facing many Black fathers.

A new report found that fathers’ participation in peer groups positively impacted their mental well-being, communication skills and motivation to be involved in their children’s lives.

Ahead of the group’s annual conference this weekend, the Rainbow PUSH Coalition is planning a protest Thursday at the downtown Target on State Street.

A space rock the color of coal and no larger than a pebble you’d shake from a shoe just arrived at the Field Museum, where scientists will spend the next two months probing this extraordinary specimen for clues to the origin of life on Earth.

With the endorsement of the City Council’s License and Consumer Protection Committee, the measure is set for a final vote by the full City Council on June 18.

The board on Wednesday voted to approve Macquline King, Mayor Brandon Johnson’s senior director of education policy and a former CPS principal, as Chicago Public Schools’ interim CEO.

President Donald Trump’s plan to cut taxes by trillions of dollars could also trim billions in spending from social safety net programs, including food assistance for lower-income people.

The EPA also proposed weakening a regulation that requires power plants to reduce emissions of mercury and other toxic pollutants that can harm brain development of young children and contribute to heart attacks and other health problems in adults.

“I am counting on all of Chicago to resist in this moment,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said. “Whatever particular vulnerable group is being targeted today, another group will be next.”

Chicago Transit Authority Acting President Nora Leerhsen said the agency has entered a “new phase” after the Illinois General Assembly failed last month to pass a measure tackling a $770 million budget gap for Chicago-area transit.

The Beach Boys rank among the most popular groups of the rock era, with more than 30 singles in the Top 40 and worldwide sales of more than 100 million.

From Seattle and Austin to Chicago and Washington, D.C., marchers have chanted slogans, carried signs against the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency and snarled traffic through downtown avenues and outside federal offices.

Each Wednesday, WTTW News producer Josh Terry presents must-see live music shows from indie rock to jazz, country, hip-hop and more.

Gov. JB Pritzker is preparing to testify before Congress on Illinois’ protections for undocumented immigrants. And Cook County reaches a new milestone with medical debt relief.

According to recent data from the Kaiser Family Foundation, 41% of adults in the U.S. have medical debt. That equates to more than 100 million Americans who owe upwards of $220 billion in health care costs.

U.S. District Judge John Blakey rejected Michael Madigan’s motion for acquittal or a new trial, setting the stage for Madigan’s sentencing to go ahead Friday.

Emil Jones III, a Chicago Democrat, stands accused of agreeing to take bribes from red-light camera entrepreneur-turned-government cooperator Omar Maani in 2019, then lying to FBI agents about it.

Lawmakers and labor unions have both expressed concern that benefits for Tier 2 employees are inadequate and that some workers in that category are in line to receive benefits out of compliance with federal law.

Gun rights advocates once again are asking a federal appeals court in Chicago to overturn Illinois’ ban on assault-style firearms and large-capacity magazines in a case that may be destined for the U.S. Supreme Court.

President Donald Trump called protesters in Los Angeles “animals” and “a foreign enemy” in a speech at Fort Bragg on Tuesday as he defended deploying the military on demonstrators opposed to his immigration enforcement raids.

R. Kelly was convicted in two separate trials — one in New York, another in Chicago — of racketeering conspiracy and child pornography charges.

Chicago native Natasha Olguin has been named deputy commissioner of the Chicago Film Office.

“The people of Los Angeles and surrounding areas have taken a courageous stand against Trump’s reign of terror targeting immigrant families,” according to organizers in a social media post about the planned protest.