Stories by Heather Cherone

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

Attempts to end temporary protected status creates uncertainty for local Venezuelans. And for the first time in nearly 100 years, there’s an open swimming event in the Chicago River.

The Chicago River Swim is an open water swim event organized by Douglas McConnell, the co-founder of A Long River Swim, which organizes open water swimming events to raise awareness and funds in the fight against ALS.

Tens of thousands of Chicago-area Venezuelans are in legal limbo as the Trump administration attempts to end temporary protected status. These deportation protections were granted to Venezuelans in 2021 and 2023, and were originally set to expire in October 2026.

The Trump administration has singled out Chicago as its latest mark for immigration enforcement, using traffic stops in immigrant-heavy areas and targeting day laborers outside hardware stores.

The world premiere of filmmaker Kevin Shaw’s “One Golden Summer,” a documentary that revisits the trials and tribulations of the Jackie Robinson West Little League, opens up this year’s Chicago International Film Festival.

Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One while returning from Great Britain on Thursday, Trump said federal regulators should consider revoking broadcast licenses for networks that “give me only bad publicity.”

Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul on Thursday announced the lawsuit, which claims Ticketmaster and its parent company Live Nation have worked with scalpers to inflate ticket prices on the secondary market, costing fans millions of dollars every year.

Summer is nearly gone with the wind. Thankfully, all’s fair in fall with a harvest of arts and culture, so indulge yourself in the abundance that we have in this great city.

The Chicago Police Department spent approximately 7% less on overtime during the first six months of 2025 than it did during the same period in 2024, records show.

Officials call out immigration agents amid ramped-up enforcement. And how a proposal to close the city’s budget gap could impact your property taxes.

The U.S. Department of Education is cutting hundreds of millions of dollars in grants to universities serving predominantly students of color — known as minority-serving institutions.

Disney’s ABC is taking Jimmy Kimmel’s late night talk show off the air indefinitely amid a controversy over his recent comments about Charlie Kirk’s suspected killer.

“We don’t have a spending problem, we have a revenue problem,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said Wednesday. “That’s why my budget is going to challenge the ultra-rich to pay their fair share in taxes.”

After passing an emissions test, motorists can purchase their vehicle registration sticker at the DMV’s annex building without having to pay the additional $9.50 charged by outside vendors, according to the Illinois Secretary of State’s Office.

Federal education authorities have threatened to withhold grant money from Chicago Public Schools unless the district agrees to do away with its Black Student Success Plan and revises policies regarding transgender students.

Seven current and formerly incarcerated women filed federal lawsuits over the last week alleging sexual assault, harassment and institutional retaliation at Illinois’ primary women’s prison, Logan Correctional Center.

County Board President Toni Preckwinkle and others on Wednesday said the tactics employed by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have undermined the have left families “torn apart.”

The move is the Fed’s first cut since December and it lowered its short-term rate to about 4.1%, down from 4.3%. Fed officials, led by Chair Jerome Powell, had kept their rate unchanged this year as they evaluated the impact of tariffs, tighter immigration enforcement, and other Trump administration policies on inflation and the economy.

Nine preservation projects in Illinois, including three in Chicago, are being recognized as part of an annual awards program highlighting “exceptional preservation efforts,” the preservation nonprofit Landmarks Illinois announced Wednesday.

A suburban Cook County resident in their 60s has died from the West Nile virus, the Cook County Department of Public Health confirmed Wednesday. The risk of West Nile virus in suburban Cook County remains high, according to the public health agency.

Describing extraordinary turmoil inside the nation’s health agencies, Monarez and former CDC Chief Medical Officer Chief Debra Houry described exchanges in which Kennedy or political advisers rebuffed data supporting the safety and efficacy of vaccines.

Without establishing any link to last week’s shooting, the Republican president and members of his administration have discussed classifying some groups as domestic terrorists, ordering racketeering investigations and revoking tax-exempt status for progressive nonprofits.

According to Climate Central, summer temperatures are extending deeper into fall in more than 90% of major U.S. cities.

An appeals court ruled last month that Chicago police officers accused of serious misconduct have the right to ask an arbitrator — and not the Chicago Police Board — to decide their fate, but those proceedings must take place in public.

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