Stories by Patty Wetli

This latest seismic activity was centered near the small town of Waltonville (population 432), roughly 110 miles south of Springfield.

According to Chicago Police Department data, 18 total people were shot in 17 separate shooting incidents between 6 p.m. Friday and 11:59 p.m. Sunday.

Ten years ago this month, a spectacular Nativity set called a crèche debuted at the Art Institute of Chicago. A gift from an Italian collector, the crèche was made in Naples and dates from the mid-1700s. It’s a traditional Nativity scene in a non-traditional setting.

About 7 million fewer adults have gotten their flu shot so far this season compared with the last virus season. Vaccination coverage for COVID-19 is also low, with just 17% of adults and about 8% of children getting the latest shot, according to CDC data through Dec. 2.

Closing arguments are wrapping up in the corruption trial of former Ald. Ed Burke. And the Chicago Public School board votes on a move away from charters and selective enrollment schools.

The final migrants to be moved into one of 27 city-run shelters was a group of approximately 100 people who had been living at the 12th District Police Station in Pilsen, city officials said.

By contrast, Burke’s attorney portrayed the former alderperson as a “good man” and a dedicated public servant who relished his ability to move the city’s bureaucracy and “thrived on connecting the right people.”

The announcement of the “tri-lateral” agreement took place at the residence of the U.S. Ambassador to Japan and former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

Approximately 695,600 Illinois residents have proactively renewed their Medicaid coverage – making Illinois the top ranked state for renewals amid a federal cleanse of the government-backed health insurance rolls.

The damages verdict follows emotional testimony from Wandrea “Shaye” Moss and her mother, Ruby Freeman, who tearfully described becoming the target of a false conspiracy theory pushed by Giuliani and other Republicans. 

Illinois’ new law banning “deceptive” practices by anti-abortion ministries, passed in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, is scrapped before ever materially taking effect.

About 653,000 people were experiencing homelessness, the most since the country began using the yearly point-in-time survey in 2007 to count the homeless population. The total in the January count represents an increase of about 70,650 homeless people compared with a year earlier.

While views on how to address public safety are divided, Mayor Brandon Johnson announced his new plan Thursday, which he says will address the root causes of crime.

Tribune Publishing journalists plan to picket and rally Saturday outside Tribune Tower, accusing the hedge fund that owns the company of brutally undercutting local news in service of a relentless thirst for profits.

The newly designed program is expanding from the Mexican region to include music from Peru, Spain, Guatemala and many others — calling it “A Latin American Christmas” with music that was heard from the 15th to the 18th centuries.

A recent accident gave local rum distillery Chicago Cane Cooperative a big challenge just months after starting. But the owners of the business are moving forward with their big plans.

City Council rejects an effort to ask voters whether Chicago should stay a sanctuary city. And a new plan for community safety.

The law prohibits the possession, manufacture or sale of semiautomatic rifles and high-capacity magazines. It takes effect Jan. 1.

Closing arguments continued Thursday in the high-profile corruption case of the longtime 14th Ward alderperson and Finance Committee chair, with prosecutors zeroing in on perhaps the most elaborate of four criminal schemes Burke is charged with.

The National Labor Relations Board is asking a judge to order Starbucks to reopen 23 shuttered locations around the U.S. – including at Bryn Mawr and Winthrop avenues in Edgewater – claiming the company closed the coffee shops as retaliation for employees unionizing or to hinder their organizing efforts.

Clear skies, a new moon and relatively warm temperatures will make for a great opportunity to catch the peak of the Geminid meteor shower Thursday — even in Chicago.

Four former Commonwealth Edison officials convicted of conspiring to bribe Michael Madigan are seeking to delay their sentencing after the U.S.  Supreme Court agreed to hear a separate case the defendants say “has the potential to upend” their own proceedings.

The special meeting of the Chicago City Council was a last-ditch effort to put the non-binding question to voters on the March 19 ballot. 

Closing arguments began Wednesday, more than a month after proceedings began in Ed Burke’s landmark corruption case. Prosecutors painted the longtime 14th Ward alderperson as a “powerful and corrupt” politician who was motivated by greed to “get what he wanted for himself.”

Efforts to redefine Chicago’s community boundaries. Meet a 17-year-old who just earned her doctorate degree. And we break down the history of Chicago’s alphabetically inclined street names.

Most 17-year-olds are excited about finishing high school and possibly thinking about college. But Bronzeville teen Dorothy Jean Tillman is in a class all by herself. A typical teen in some ways, she also happens to have just earned her doctorate degree.