Stories by Patty Wetli

City officials shared the latest plans for road closures, detours and alternate routes in advance of the upcoming NASCAR Street Race, and it’s going to be a bumpy ride for commuters.

Sharell Brown, 26, was shot and killed during a confrontation with police officers who stopped him in Lawndale. Brown was shot four times in the head and twice in his right arm, according to the investigation of the shooting by the Civilian Office of Police Accountability, known as COPA.

There are also mounting requests to more aggressively and comprehensively address the air travel system’s bottlenecks, including obsolete technology and staffing issues.

A local business group’s new public safety initiative. Ethical questions about government grants in Aurora. And Puerto Rican Fest kicks off today — we’re live from Humboldt Park.

Illinois has more units of local government than any other state. That fact has some critics asking the question: how much is too much?

The Winnetka Republican-turned-Florida resident on Monday unveiled the portrait painted by Chicago Artist Richard Halstead and privately funded by Rauner. He downplayed the artwork as “not that big a deal” and declined to stray far from a message of “thanks” to the people of Illinois.

The new law declares it to be the policy of Illinois to “encourage and protect the freedom of libraries and library systems to acquire materials without external limitation and to be protected against attempts to ban, remove, or otherwise restrict access to books or other materials.”

The pandemic-related pause on both payments and interest accumulation has been set to end later this summer, though the exact date payments would be due was a little fuzzy.

Moms for Liberty didn’t exist during the last presidential campaign, but the Florida-based nonprofit that champions “parental rights” in education has rapidly become a major player for 2024, boosted in part by GOP operatives, politicians and donors.

According to Chicago Police Department data, 31 people were shot in 26 separate shootings between 6 p.m. Friday and 11:59 p.m. Sunday. That included the four people killed and three teens who were wounded in a shooting at a CTA station Sunday afternoon.

Illinios ranks first in the nation in the number of individual units of local government. WTTW News Explains what is going on with all of those property tax line items.

Wildlife officials believe the bear spotted over the weekend in Antioch is the same one seen last Wednesday in Gurnee.

No rules require city officials to stream meetings online or allow members of the public to weigh in virtually, either by Zoom or by phone – putting at risk Chicagoans’ ability to keep tabs on their government with a simple click of a button.

For generations, Black Americans have recognized the end of one of the darkest chapters in U.S. history with joy, in the form of parades, street festivals, musical performances or cookouts.

If one needs any proof that calamity, whether personal and/or political, also has the power to inspire great works of art, Gustav Mahler’s “Symphony No. 9 in D Major” can easily serve as a prime example. 

The Chicago Urban League released its 2023 “State of Black Chicago” report, which measures outcomes in health, education, income,and housing for Black Chicagoans as compared to other racial groups. 

The state of Illinois’ reparations commission, known as the African Descent-Citizens Reparations Commission, is hard at work on a daunting mission.

Theodore “Ted” Kaczynski, the Harvard-educated mathematician who retreated to a dingy shack in the Montana wilderness and ran a 17-year bombing campaign that killed three people and injured 23 others, died Saturday. He was 81.

A report on the state of Black Chicago. An Illinois commission considers reparations. A West Side charter school closes its doors. An Ethiopian food for a cause.

As part of the city’s response, police stations have become makeshift shelters for new migrants before they transition into long-term housing. Recently, a volunteer team of medical students has begun making the rounds at those police stations to assist with refugees’ health needs. 

Link, a Vernon Hills Democrat, has spent years denying news media reports that he was the legislator-turned-cooperating witness described in charging documents made public after the arrest of ex-state Rep. Luis Arroyo in October of 2019.

The Chicago Blackhawks own the No. 1 pick, and are highly anticipated to use it on Bedard when the draft opens in Nashville, Tennessee, on June 28.

On the bustling corner of Lawrence Avenue and Broadway in the Uptown neighborhood, Demera Restaurant has been introducing Chicagoans to Ethiopian cuisine since 2007.

Piping plovers might not be on the nest in Chicago this year, but 2023 is shaping up as a banner breeding year for the birds across the Great Lakes.

Donald Trump makes history as he becomes the first former U.S. president to face federal charges. That story and the other biggest news items of the week. 

What does it mean to be native Mexican after centuries of colonization? And how do those cultures present themselves today, despite efforts at their erasure? Those questions are at the heart of a new art exhibition.