Stories by WTTW News

Diversity, equity and inclusion programs are being targeted — a look at the potential impact. And actress Keke Palmer on embracing her natural beauty.

The Chicago-area native recently returned to the city to celebrate natural hair and Black Heritage Month at the DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center. She’s on a high after starring alongside SZA in the country’s No. 1 comedy flick “One of Them Days.”

The Chicago Stars FC will be under new legal obligations as part of a groundbreaking settlement that requires the National Women’s Soccer League to create a $5 million restitution fund after substantiated claims of mistreatment and abuse.

Kin-first foster systems decrease the risk of abuse and create a higher chance of achieving permanent placement for kids, according to Casey Family Programs, the nation’s largest foundation focused on foster care.

City Clerk Anna Valencia said she would take additional steps to ensure “this does not happen again.”

While the train operator was found to have alcohol in his system at the time of the crash, the National Transportation Safety Board determined that this was not what caused the Nov. 16, 2023, collision north of the Howard Street CTA station.

Mayor Brandon Johnson’s appearance is likely to represent a flashpoint in the ongoing battle with the GOP-controlled U.S House and the Trump administration, which is attempting to strip self-proclaimed sanctuary cities of all federal funding.

The National Weather Service has issued a winter weather advisory for Wednesday evening through Thursday morning.

Adler Planetarium announced Wednesday that Michelle Larson is stepping down as president and CEO after more than a decade on the job.

A CNN review of Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s past comments shows he has been for more than a decade a major supporter of foreign aid and USAID, which in fiscal year 2023 distributed more than $40 billion in foreign aid to more than 160 different countries.

The offer — which tells federal employees that they can quit their jobs and receive roughly eight months of pay and benefits — had up until Tuesday not been made available to most national security roles in an apparent cognizance of their critical function to the security of the nation.

U.S. District Judge Deborah Boardman said no court in the country has endorsed the Trump administration’s interpretation of the Fourteenth Amendment. “This court will not be the first,” she said.

President Donald Trump’s suggestion came at a White House news conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who smiled several times as the president detailed a plan to build new settlements for Palestinians outside the Gaza Strip, and for the U.S. to take “ownership” in redeveloping the war-torn territory into “the Riviera of the Middle East.”

Gene “Daddy G” Barge, an admired and durable saxophone player, songwriter and producer who worked on hits by Natalie Cole, oversaw recordings by Muddy Waters, performed with the Rolling Stones and helped inspire the dance classic “Quarter to Three,” has died in Chicago. He was 98.

James Gibson said he implicated himself in a 1989 double murder after being burned, punched, kicked and slapped by Chicago Police detectives supervised by disgraced former Chicago Police Commander Jon Burge during a three-day interrogation.

The renewed tension between Mayor Brandon Johnson and the city’s business leaders comes after Johnson endured a bruising battle over the city’s 2025 budget and is under intense pressure from President Donald Trump.

Trump’s audacious proposal appears certain to roil the next stage of talks meant to extend the tenuous ceasefire between Israel and Hamas and secure the release of the remaining hostages held in Gaza.

How local leaders are responding to the Trump administration’s executive orders. And Republican lawmakers file a lawsuit over Illinois’ legislative districts.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker directed state hiring officials to block the employment of anyone who took part in the attack that claimed the lives of five members of the U.S. Capitol Police and injured an additional 174 officers.

Republicans argue the map is an example of “extreme partisan gerrymandering,” which renders it unconstitutional under state law.

Wildlife professionals and advocates are grappling with an avian influenza outbreak that seems to be growing more virulent among Chicago's wild birds.

There were about five times as many emergency department visits for flu as there were for COVID-19, according to IDPH data during the week ending Jan. 25.

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

The Trump administration has begun drafting an executive order that would kick off the process of eliminating the Department of Education, the latest move by President Donald Trump to swiftly carry out his campaign promises, two sources familiar with the plans told CNN.

El Salvador President Nayin Bukele confirmed the offer in a post on X, saying El Salvador has “offered the United States of America the opportunity to outsource part of its prison system.”

The class-action complaint, filed Tuesday in federal court in Washington, seeks an immediate halt to the Justice Development’s plans to compile a list of investigators who participated in probes of the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol as well as Trump’s hoarding of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate.