Stories by Patty Wetli

Applications are now open for the city’s official Christmas tree, which will stand at the center of celebrations in Millennium Park.

In a lengthy Tuesday social media post, Trump rejected the sit-down that the White House had agreed to a day before. It would have been the first time the Republican president met with the Democratic Party’s leaders, Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, since his return to the White House.

The Illinois State Board of Education next month will begin hosting listening sessions around the state on the first draft of its Comprehensive Numeracy Plan, which the board said will provide guidance that supports educators, schools and districts in advancing student success in math.

The rambling announcement, which appeared to rely on existing studies rather than significant new research, comes as the Make America Healthy Again movement has been pushing for answers on the causes of autism.

The Chicago Department of Water Management is sitting on hundreds of millions of dollars earmarked for lead line replacement, with little progress made in terms of swapping out the toxic pipes. City Council members want to know why.

A compromise proposal to allow Chicagoans to build basement, attic and coach house dwellings across the city would still give alderpeople the final say over whether the tiny homes could be built in their wards, officials said.

The University of Chicago ranked sixth in the nation, jumping up five spots from eleventh last year, while the Evanston-based Northwestern University fell one spot into a tie for seventh.

Jimmy Kimmel is back — yet there are growing concerns about free speech and government overreach. And a new book explores why some women are stuck doing twice the amount of housework as their husbands.

ABC suspended Kimmel indefinitely after comments he made about Kirk, who was killed Sept. 10, in a monologue. Kimmel said “many in MAGA land are working very hard to capitalize on the murder of Charlie Kirk” and that “the MAGA gang” was “desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them.”

“Gender roles have converged in the workplace,” author Corinne Low said. “They haven’t converged in the home.”

The Chicago City Council could make it easier for people to keep organic waste out of landfill.

The Chicago River has proven itself fit for swimming. But what about raising a family? No one’s ever tallied the number of larval fish in the waterway, until now.

Earlier this month, Pittsburgh-based U.S. Steel said it would stop processing steel slabs at its Granite City Works plant in southern Illinois, just outside St. Louis, and “optimize” its operations by focusing on processing at its Mon Valley Works in Pennsylvania and Gary Works in Indiana.

The former journalist, who was awarded the National Medal of Arts by President Joe Biden in 2024 for his contributions as an arts leader in Chicago, died at his home Sunday following a brief battle with cancer.

More than 430 movie, TV and stage stars as well as comedians, directors and writers added their names to an open letter Monday from the American Civil Liberties Union that argues it is “a dark moment for freedom of speech in our nation.”

If completed, the deal will transfer control of TikTok’s U.S. operations to a new joint venture based in the United States, with majority American investors and run by a majority American board of directors, the official said.

Across the city and surrounding suburbs, other teams were fanning out in support of “Operation Midway Blitz.” It has unleashed President Donald Trump’s mass deportations agenda on a city and state that has had some of the strongest laws preventing local officials from cooperating with immigration enforcement.

An escalating row over free speech after the suspension of late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel. And tear gas is deployed against protesters outside an ICE facility in Broadview.

ICE launched its Chicago area operation dubbed “Midway Blitz” on Sept. 8, drawing concern from activists and immigrant communities who say there’s been a noticeable uptick in immigration enforcement agents.

Elias Rodriguez shouted “Free Palestine” during the shooting and then went inside the museum and said, “I did it for Palestine, I did it for Gaza, I am unarmed,” according to court documents.

After twice failing to pass an energy reform package this year, lawmakers and renewable energy advocates are aiming to reach a deal in time for a brief legislative session in October.

In a series of votes, advisers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention didn’t specifically recommend vaccination but said people could make individual decisions.

The Illinois Department of Natural Resources has announced nearly $1 million in grants to support stewardship activities in natural areas across the state. Organizations in Cook, Lake and McHenry counties were among the recipients.

The law requires Illinois media companies to provide the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, local county government, the company’s employees and any Illinois nonprofit that might be interested in buying the business with 120 days’ notice before the sale happens.

On the face of it, playing chess and competing in the NBA couldn’t be farther apart. But it seems there is more that links the two sports than initially meets the eye — just ask NBA legend Derrick Rose.

“It could have been me in the exact same way,” Shunza Walker, 41, told WTTW News.