Stories by WTTW News

CPS says next year’s budget is balanced. Helping families hurt by gun violence. And a public art exhibit uncovers the history of an ancient Mexican civilization.

The seven-member Board of Education on Thursday approved the district’s $9.9 billion spending plan for the upcoming school year despite criticisms from educators who said the district is relying on staff vacancies to plug its $505 million funding gap.

Chicago Survivors offers a range of free services to families impacted by violent deaths. The organization partners with the Chicago Police Department by responding to homicide scenes and providing immediate support.

PsiQuantum, which is set to receive $200 million in tax incentives for its work in Illinois, will serve as the anchor tenant of a quantum campus on the city’s Southeast Side that, at the behest Pritzker, the state is allocating $300 million from this year’s budget to build.

The Democratic National Convention will close off wide swaths of the Near West Side around the United Center and downtown around McCormick Place, under a security plan law enforcement authorities released Thursday. “Chicago is ready,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said. “We were born ready.”

America’s economy is about to stick what’s called a “soft landing,” which is when inflation returns to the Fed’s target without a recession — a feat that’s only happened once, during the 1990s, according to some economists.

The Sept. 10 debate was one of two debates that President Joe Biden and Trump had agreed on. The first one was hosted by CNN on June 27, but Biden has since dropped out of the race and endorsed Harris as his successor.

At issue was a proposed rate increase that would drive the average monthly bill for residential customers of Illinois American Water up by nearly $30. Illinois American, which serves about 1.3 million people across the entire state, is one of two privately held water utilities seeking rate increases before state regulators. 

The Chicago Board of Education unanimously approved a new whole school safety plan, which brings to an end the use of school resource officers (SROs) inside district buildings following a yearslong review of CPS safety protocols and procedures.

If the Bally’s hotel and casino on the Chicago River aren’t built with birds in mind, the question isn’t whether birds will die in collisions but how many. “It could rival the carnage at McCormick Place,” one advocate said.

“Whatever happens in this process that I understand is going on, my job is to make sure that we win in November — so I’m going to work hard to do that,” Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker told journalists Thursday amid reports he’s being considered for the Democratic vice presidential nomination.

Growing outrage as more details emerge on the fatal police shooting of Sonya Massey. A deep dive into Kamala Harris’ historic presidential campaign. And a new exhibit honoring Black baseball history hits Chicago.

Organizers and voters have already started rallying behind Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign for president. More than 40,000 Black women joined a Zoom call — with another 50,000 streaming on other platforms — this past Sunday to express their support.

Relatives and friends are questioning the circumstances surrounding the death of 51-year-old Michael Broadway. An IDOC spokesperson said the agency is “actively investigating.”

Dominick Di Meo was an essential figure in the postwar Chicago art scene and part of an art circle known as the Monster Roster. Curator and gallerist John Corbett called it “the first full-fledged movement in Chicago art history.”

In 2020, the United States Mint created a commemorative coin collection to honor the Negro National League on the centennial anniversary of its founding. An exhibit of those coins opened at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago’s Money Museum this month. 

Vice President Kamala Harris is the only major Democrat to announce publicly that she's seeking the nomination, meaning she'll almost-certainly be approved in a single round of virtual balloting beginning Aug. 1 — some 18 days before the party's convention opens in Chicago.

Chief Judge Timothy Evans, who filed a pair of administrative orders this month, said his office has made “extensive preparations,” including plans to reopen a former court facility ahead of next month’s DNC following requests from the city of Chicago and the Chicago Police Department.

The league reinstated Bowman, coach Joel Quenneville and Al MacIsaac, who also worked in Chicago’s front office, earlier this month. 

Paul La Schiazza, the former head of AT&T Illinois who was charged in 2022 with attempting to bribe ex-House Speaker Michael Madigan, is now seeking to have some of his charges tossed out.

As the Paris Olympics prepares to kick off on Friday, Chicagoans can explore the connections and contrasts between their city and the French capital in a multi-venue art exhibition. “Opening Passages” explores the social dynamics of the two cities.

A gallon of gas in Chicago is now selling for an average of $4.34, according to AAA. That’s 27 cents more expensive than just a week ago after a tornado narrowly missed the Joliet Refinery and knocked power out to the Channahon, Illinois, facility.

With help from law enforcement analysts and 36 minutes of body-camera footage released Monday, CNN took a closer look at what the deputies did and what they could have done differently. The analysts, as well as Illinois prosecutors and the sheriff, found Grayson took several steps to escalate the situation rather than lower the temperature and reassess Massey’s needs.

If the city loses at trial, it could cost taxpayers between $18 million and $34 million, according to public warnings that most of the Chicago City Council’s Finance Committee ignored.

Kamala Harris kicks off her presidential campaign. Chicago prepares for more migrant buses. And the host of “Wait Wait... Don’t Tell Me!” ahead of his one-night-only event.

Keeping up with the news of the day can be tough. But for 26 years, Peter Sagal has been making it fun for audiences across the country as host of NPR’s weekly radio show “Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me!” This week, he’s offering fans a look behind the curtain.