Stories by Heather Cherone

The settlement recommended by city attorneys failed to advance two months ago amid a firestorm of controversy.

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

Poisonous plants are having a moment, courtesy of the “White Lotus.” The Field Museum has a whole collection of toxic specimens, and the public can get a rare look next week.

More than $1 billion in federal funding for Cornell University and around $790 million for Northwestern University has been frozen while the government investigates alleged civil rights violations at the schools, the White House said.

The business and law schools at the University of Chicago and Northwestern were each ranked among the best in the country according to a new list from U.S. News & World Report, which looked at the nation’s best grad school programs of 2025.

“Look, there are a lot of uncertainties at the moment, a lot of instability. There's no doubt,” Gov. J.B. Pritzker said. “But this is a stable state. This is a state that thrives on certainty and allows our businesses to do well. And so we look forward to maintaining that status.”

Chicago alderpeople are pushing to ban Jan. 6 participants from city jobs. And the Trump administration is yanking funding for arts and cultural groups — a look at the local impact.

More than 1,000 grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities for cultural programs across the country were terminated by the Trump administration last week.

A joint session of the Housing and Finance committees on Wednesday will consider the proposal to leverage the city’s financial power to build permanently affordable, mixed-income and environmentally sustainable housing.

The House voted 67-39 to advance House Bill 3637, which would put new protections in state law to safeguard health care licenses for providers who offer abortion cares. It also guarantees continued access to abortion medication even if the medication’s approval is rescinded by the federal Food and Drug Administration.

Octavio Dotel, who pitched for 13 major league teams in a 15-year career and won a world championship with the St. Louis Cardinals, was among the dead after a roof collapsed at a nightclub in his native Dominican Republic where he was attending a merengue concert.

Mega Millions is getting a makeover — including more than doubling the price of a ticket — as the multi-state lottery game aims to improve players’ odds and dish out bigger jackpots.

U.S. District Judge Trevor N. McFadden, an appointee of President Donald Trump, ruled that the government can’t retaliate against the AP’s decision not to follow Trump’s executive order to rename the Gulf of Mexico.

U.S. stocks dove Tuesday following another stunning reversal, with Wall Street veering from a huge gain at the opening of trading to more losses at the close, because investors still have no idea what to make of President Donald Trump’s trade war.

U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has said he wants communities to stop fluoridating water, and he is setting the gears of government in motion to help make that happen.

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle announced plans for a new advisory committee that will review research, develop recommendations and design a new model for the future of the guaranteed basic income pilot program.

Emil Jones III has remained in office since his September 2022 indictment on three counts including bribery and lying to the FBI, even winning another four-year term in an unopposed race six weeks after being charged.

Nursing home industry officials are urging Illinois lawmakers to increase the rates they receive from the state’s Medicaid system, arguing the current rates are outdated and are forcing many facilities around the state out of business.

Ald. Jeanette Taylor (20th Ward) said the program is “absolutely” racially motivated. “Unless you’re Stevie Wonder or Helen Keller, you can see it,” she said.

According to a university spokesperson, settlement documents are currently being finalized after Northwestern and the former student athletes recently engaged in a mediation process that resulted in the agreement.

What the new round of tariffs means for your wallet. And the impact of federal funding cuts on local libraries.

According to the American Library Association, more than 77% of rural public libraries are the only source of free public access to computers and the internet in their communities.

The U.S. president has shown few signs of backing down on tariffs despite the mounting pressure in the financial markets. His commitment to tariffs could have devastating effects for the global economy, even though Trump is banking that it will ultimately pay off with manufacturing jobs.

Unsourced “headlines” about a potential “90-day pause in tariffs” sent markets into a state of turbulence Monday morning as investors sought any indication of a reprieve from the Trump administration’s new levies. The problem: It wasn’t true.

A Chicago man who authorities say was “hunting for victims” now faces more than a dozen felony charges after he was arrested in connection to the sexual assaults of five women over nearly three years on the city’s North Side.

Trump attorneys have conceded in court filings that the administration mistakenly deported the father of three “because of an administrative error,” but said it could not bring him back because he is in Salvadoran custody.