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Today, the program provides benefits to almost 69 million Americans monthly. It’s a major source of income for people over 65 and is popular across the country and political lines. It also looks more threatened than ever.

As of Thursday, more than 700 wildfires were burning across the country, two-thirds of them out of control, with more than 28,000 square miles burned in 4,400 wildfires so far this year, according to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre. 

The city’s One Summer Chicago program put 30,000 young people to work this year, providing jobs in transportation, health care, business and more.

A charging decision is made in the shooting death of Dexter Reed. And Chicago Public Schools’ latest effort to close its budget gap.

Springfield attorney and former chair of the Illinois Republican Party Don Tracy announced Wednesday he is running for U.S. Senate — adding to a field of candidates making a bid for outgoing Sen. Dick Durbin’s seat.

Democrats across the country are searching for a winning message in the 2026 elections, but Illinois Democrats say they’re already found one.

Texas Democrats gathered with Planned Parenthood affiliate leaders Wednesday in Chicago to highlight Illinois’ role in providing reproductive care for Texas patients and to warn how the dismantling of sexual and reproductive care in Texas threatens access in other states.

Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke announced Wednesday that her office will not charge any of the five officers who shot and killed Dexter Reed during a March 2024 traffic stop after he shot and  wounded an officer.

“The choices we have are difficult ones,” CPS chief budget officer Mike Sitkowski told the Board of Education, “and it’s very difficult for us to be able to make cuts of this magnitude and keep the impact off of our schools.”

The lawsuit details sixteen arrests that preceded the hire of Romel Campoverde by the district. The complaint highlights cases in which police said he admitted to being a member of the Satan Disciple street gang before he was hired at Farragut Career Academy High School.

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

Chicago’s money problems are getting more complicated thanks to a new pension bill. And how the Trump administration’s mass deportation plans are impacting home care workers.

The bill is designed to make sure that Chicago police officers and firefighters earn pension benefits at the same level as downstate first responders.

U.S. Census data shows more than half of home care workers in the Chicago metro area are not U.S. citizens.

The patients range from 40 to 80 years old and reside on the Northwest and South sides. The patients’ symptoms began in late July or early August, according to the Chicago Department of Public Health.

Former Sangamon County sheriff’s deputy Sean Grayson faces first-degree murder and other charges in Sonya Massey’s killing.

President Donald Trump has taken control of D.C.’s law enforcement and ordered National Guard troops to deploy onto the streets of the nation’s capital, arguing the extraordinary moves are necessary to curb an urgent public safety crisis.

Chicago taxpayers have already paid $1.46 million to defend the lawsuit that accuses the CPD of making more than 1.5 million traffic stops between 2016 and 2023 based on dubious evidence of minor violations that took direct aim at Black and Latino Chicagoans but spared White Chicagoans, according to records obtained by WTTW News.

How to address Chicago Public Schools’ budget problem. And outrage over the closure of an Uptown hospital.

Federal funding cuts and allegations of mismanagement prompted the closures of most operations at Weiss Memorial Hospital in Uptown, while Oak Park’s West Suburban Medical Center is facing a similar fate.

CPS officials are faced with closing a whopping $734 million deficit by the end of the month. There is little wiggle room to cut costs or bring in revenue.

After touting Chicago's significant and sustained drop in crime, Mayor Brandon Johnson accused the president of “spreading misinformation.”

A bright moon will make it harder than usual to see the meteors as they streak across the night sky. But experts say it’s still worth a try.

U.S. District Judge William Orrick agreed to allow Chicago and 33 other cities and counties, including Los Angeles, Denver, Boston and Baltimore, to join the lawsuit that claimed the Trump administration was unlawfully trying to force local officials to help federal immigration agents conduct deportation efforts.

Of 439 positions in the Chicago Police Department charged with implementing the consent decree, 207 positions, or 47%, were empty seven months into 2025, according to a Freedom of Information Act request filed by WTTW News. CPD officials failed to account for another 226 positions.

The Texas representatives, who are entering their second week of their quorum break, stood with U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin in Chicago Monday, days after a pair of bomb threats were called in to their St. Charles hotel.