Stories by WTTW News

A ban on extremist police officers is set to go into effect in Chicago. The dangers facing American democracy in 2024. And the history of dibs, Chicago’s tradition of saving parking spots.

Saturday marked the third anniversary of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of then President Donald Trump.

The ban on Chicago police officers belonging to extremist groups takes effect Saturday. The U.S. Supreme Court took a pass on the latest challenge to Illinois’ assault weapons ban. And why it took decades to prove former Ald. Ed Burke's corruption and abuse of power.

Chicago Public Schools was among 67 winners of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s first Clean School Bus Program.

The second of two rounds of storms is still expected to dump significant amounts of snow in the northwest portions of the greater metro area Tuesday afternoon and early evening, according to the weather service.

Nanoplastics are so teeny they can migrate through the tissues of the digestive tract or lungs into the bloodstream, distributing potentially harmful synthetic chemicals throughout the body and into cells, experts say.

“Those schools, the presidents that were up there testifying, while they were saying, ‘oh you know we preserve freedom of speech, we value freedom of speech,’ they in fact do have records of suppressing speech,” says Tom Ginsburg of the Forum for Free Inquiry and Expression. 

In a foreign policy address to ambassadors accredited to the Holy See, Pope Francis lamented that 2024 had dawned at a time in which peace is “increasingly threatened, weakened and in some part lost.”

The internet radio conglomerate — among the biggest radio companies in the country — was saddled with substantial debt and faced slowed-down advertising revenue. Audacy said it is entering into a restructuring agreement to reduce its debt from about $1.9 billion to $350 million.

In addition to a special four-day celebration of Millennium Park, city officials announced dates for major summer events including an earlier-than-usual Air and Water Show.

Those findings were among numerous cases highlighted in an annual report published Tuesday by CPS Inspector General Will Fletcher, which examined investigations undertaken by his office between July 1, 2022 and June 30, 2023.

His story — chronicled by his nephew on now-viral videos — has generated a firestorm of criticism about rental conditions at the dilapidated low-income apartment complex in Harvey, Illinois. People are also debating who's to blame; and Mayor Christopher Clark has promised an investigation.

The push to create a permanent board to oversee the Chicago Police Department begins. An attorney trying to disqualify former President Donald Trump from the ballot in Illinois. And free expression on college campuses. 

A legal challenge from five voters has made Illinois the 18th state forced to grapple with whether former President Donald Trump should be disqualified from the 2024 ballot.

Every winter, Chicago stands divided around a practice commonly known as “dibs” – when car owners use janky household objects to reserve their precious shoveled-out parking spaces. So how did it begin? 

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday denied to take up a petition filed by state Rep. Dan Caulkins, R-Decatur, that sought to overturn a ruling on a related case he’d brought before the Illinois Supreme Court.

Parts of the Chicago region could get socked with upwards of 8 inches of snow while areas closest to the lake could see just an inch or two, forecasters said.

The Courage Fund’s first grant comes from the Ford Foundation, which announced a $1 million donation on Dec. 13. A Long Walk Home and A Call to Men, national organizations focused on sexual-violence prevention and education for two decades, will lead the effort.

Applications are now open to serve four-year terms on the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability, which is designed to give Chicagoans real control of the police department as part of an effort to build trust in officers and police brass and put an end to repeated allegations of misconduct. 

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

“I’d like to think it will serve as a deterrent,” Elmhurst University professor Constance Mixon said. “But none of the other 37 convictions served as a deterrent. It ought to make people think twice. But I don’t know. I’d like to be optimistic.”

The 18-year-old Connor Bedard has been Chicago’s best player, living up to the hype after he was selected with the No. 1 overall pick in last year’s draft.

Amid five straight years of record overdose deaths in Illinois, a new state program aims to alleviate a shortage of professionals who work to prevent substance use disorders.

The FAA said the planes must be parked until emergency inspections are performed, which will “take around four to eight hours per aircraft.” The order impacts 171 Boeing 737 Max 9 jets, the agency approximates.

President Biden on the campaign trail — but it’s not just any campaign speech. And Chicago’s suburbs seek to block buses of migrants.

The court will be considering for the first time the meaning and reach of a provision of the 14th Amendment barring some people who “engaged in insurrection” from holding public office. The amendment was adopted in 1868, following the Civil War.