Stories by Cody Corrall

Holiday shopping can be stressful – but it doesn’t have to be. To help spread seasonal cheer, WTTW News staffers picked our favorite local options.

Caroll Spinney, who gave Big Bird his warmth and Oscar the Grouch his growl for nearly 50 years on “Sesame Street,” died Sunday at the age of 85 at his home in Connecticut, according to the Sesame Workshop.

Watch the Dec. 9, 2019 full episode of “Chicago Tonight.”

Rapper Juice WRLD, who launched his career on SoundCloud before becoming a streaming juggernaut and rose to the top of the charts with the Sting-sampled hit “Lucid Dreams,” died early Sunday after a “medical emergency” at Chicago’s Midway International Airport.

The unceremonious firing of Chicago’s police chief just weeks before his retirement has rattled a department that, under his leadership, was seeking to restore public confidence.

Pushing ahead with articles of impeachment, the House Judiciary Committee convenes Monday to formally receive the investigative findings against President Donald Trump. Watch live.

There’s a powerful new player watching what you buy so it can tailor product offerings for you: the bank behind your credit or debit card.

“It is with great joy that our family welcomes you to the White House this holiday season as we celebrate the Spirit of America,” President Donald Trump, the first lady and their son, Barron, say in the signed introduction to a souvenir book visitors will receive as a holiday keepsake.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot fires top cop Eddie Johnson weeks before his retirement. Are the feds eyeing House Speaker Michael Madigan? Legal pot hits a roadblock. And Mitchell Trubisky shines in a Bears win over Dallas.

It would be all but impossible to survey the many great, good and sometimes disappointing productions of the past 12 months. But three recent shows suggest the great variety of work produced in Chicago – and the immense amount of talent here.

On Sept. 5, 2001, indie rock songwriter Andrew Bird invited WTTW into his Wicker Park home for a raw rehearsal with his band Bowl of Fire. As Bird prepares for a run of sold-out shows in Chicago, we revisit this archival footage.

Each year, an average of 19 women in Chicago die within 12 months of pregnancy, according to a new report that identifies racial and socioeconomic disparities in mortality rates. “This is wake-up call to all of us and a call to action,” said a local health official.

Health officials investigating a nationwide outbreak of vaping illnesses have listed, for the first time, the vape brands most commonly linked to hospitalizations.

The U.S. winter flu season is off to its earliest start in more than 15 years, and there’s a decent chance it could peak much earlier than normal, health officials say.

As part of a long anticipated safety report, the ride-hailing company revealed that more than 3,000 sexual assaults were reported during its U.S. rides in 2018.

In June, Brendt Christensen was convicted of kidnapping and killing University of Illinois Chinese scholar Yingying Zhang. This week, he was sent to McCreary United States Penitentiary, a high-security federal prison that houses some 1,500 convicts in southern Kentucky.

Federal prosecutors are accusing singer R. Kelly of scheming with others to pay for a fake ID for an unnamed female a day before he married R&B singer Aaliyah, then 15 years old, in a secret ceremony in 1994.

In a matchup between disappointing teams that made the playoffs last season, the Bears (7-6) came away with their fourth win in five games after dropping four in a row. The Cowboys (6-7) have lost seven of 10 since a 3-0 start.

A Trump administration rule change could leave almost 700,000 people without food stamp benefits by mid-2020. How those changes could impact Illinois residents.

House Democrats are charging toward impeaching President Donald Trump but not without pockets of division, as lawmakers who began the summer divided largely rallied Thursday behind Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s cry that his actions leave them “no choice but to act.”

The Chicago Department of Transportation on Thursday acknowledged the frustrations cyclists have faced when submitting bicycle-related issues to 311, but said the system has been improving and called on everyone to keep those service requests coming.

More than 50% of high school students and nearly 25% of middle school students in the U.S. have tried a tobacco product in their lifetimes, according to the latest National Youth Tobacco Survey. “It’s really disappointing,” a local pediatrician said.

The recovered photographs of Henryk Ross reveal complex stories of life in the Lodz ghetto. We visit an exhibit at the Illinois Holocaust Museum in Skokie.

United Airlines President Scott Kirby will take the reins in May, capping a turnaround effort at an airline that had become an industry laggard after a rocky merger with Continental Airlines as well as a national PR nightmare.

Three public listening sessions will be held next week as the board seeks a permanent replacement for Eddie Johnson, who was fired as police superintendent earlier this week.

Watch the Dec. 5, 2019 full episode of “Chicago Tonight.”