In this undated photo 14-year-old Emmett L.Till from Chicago is shown. Till, whose battered body, a bullet in his head, and a weight around his neck was pulled from the Tallahatchie River in 1955. (AP Photo, File)

The bill, which passed the Senate in January, is meant to honor Till and his mother — who had insisted on an open casket funeral to demonstrate the brutality of his killing — with the highest civilian honor that Congress awards. 

An abandoned rail spur on 59th Street is inching toward becoming the elevated Englewood Nature Trail. Pictured in 2020. (Patty Wetli / WTTW News)
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Federal officials popped into Chicago Friday to celebrate the awarding of a $20 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation to the Englewood Nature Trail.

Delia Ramirez, right, defeated Gilbert Villegas in the June 28 Democratic primary for the U.S. House. (WTTW News)

Delia Ramirez will face the lone Republican in the race, Justin Burau, in the November general election.

Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill., speaks during a news conference about the Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act on Capitol Hill in Washington, on Feb. 26, 2020. (AP Photo / J. Scott Applewhite, File)

Years in the making, the Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act is among some 200 bills that have been introduced over the past century that have tried to ban lynching in America. It is named for the Black teenager from Chicago whose brutal killing in Mississippi in 1955 became a pivotal moment in the Civil Rights era.

Boulders have replaced beaches along the lakefront, as part of the city’s efforts to mitigate shoreline damage. (WTTW News)
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The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is about to embark on its first comprehensive study of the city’s lakefront in more than 25 years. 

Chicago police Officer Jason Van Dyke, left, attends his sentencing hearing at the Leighton Criminal Court Building in Chicago, for the 2014 shooting of Laquan McDonald, Jan. 18, 2019. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune via AP, Pool, File)

A letter to Garland, sent by NAACP President Derrick Johnson, comes days before former Officer Jason Van Dyke is scheduled to be released from prison Thursday after serving less than half his state prison term of six years and nine months.

Rep. Bobby Rush appears on “Chicago Tonight” via Zoom. (WTTW News)

In a major announcement this week, longtime Illinois Congressman Bobby Rush announced he will not be seeking another term.

U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill., looks down at his notes as he announces he will not be seeking a 16th term in the U.S. House of Representatives during a news conference at Roberts Temple Church Of God In Christ in Chicago, Ill., Tuesday morning, Jan. 4, 2022. Rush, 75, a former Black Panther and an ex-Chicago alderman and minister, was first elected to Congress in 1992. (Ashlee Rezin / Chicago Sun-Times via AP)

The former Black Panther who first won election in 1992 said in a speech at a Chicago church that he isn’t retiring from public service. 

(Credit: Born Free USA)
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Animal rights organizations have been advocating for stricter federal limits on exotic animals for years. Now lawmakers have two bills in the works to put interstate limits on the sale, breeding, possession of and public contact with primates and various species of big cats.

Research shows Black homeowners are at risk of losing out on the value of their homes due to discrimination in appraisals in Chicago. (WTTW News)
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Research shows Black homeowners are at risk of losing out on the value of their homes, due to discrimination in appraisals. Now, there’s a growing push to pass federal legislation to protect Black homeowners from appraisal discrimination. 

(WTTW News via CNN)
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Bipartisan legislation to be introduced Friday by U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush would honor those whose efforts led to the successful development of COVID-19 vaccines, including researchers, scientists, doctors and vaccine trial volunteers. 

A rendering of the newly announced Discover Call Center planned for 8560 S. Cottage Grove Ave. in Chatham. (Credit: City of Chicago)

News that Target would shutter two South Side stores in February 2018 prompted deep outrage — especially since the big box retailer was in the process of opening a new store on the Far Northwest Side in a new strip mall that was getting a $13 million subsidy.

President Joe Biden meets with Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, to discuss a coronavirus relief package, in the Oval Office of the White House, Monday, Feb. 1, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo / Evan Vucci)

Plus: Local Congress members weigh in on ‘Chicago Tonight’

President Joe Biden told Republican senators during a two-hour meeting Monday night he’s unwilling to settle on an insufficient coronavirus aid package after they pitched their slimmed down $618 billion proposal that’s a fraction of the $1.9 trillion he is seeking.

A screenshot from a video shown to the media on Thursday, June 11, 2020 shows a Chicago police officer lying down inside the office of U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush. (WTTW News via City of Chicago)
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Officers who lounged, slept and snacked in the burglarized South Side office of U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush in the early morning hours of June 1 as unrest swept the South and West sides of the city have been disciplined, the Chicago Police Department announced Thursday.

A screenshot from a video shown to the media on Thursday, June 11, 2020 shows a Chicago police officer lying down inside the office of U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush. (WTTW News via City of Chicago)
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It is past time for investigators to complete their probe into the conduct of 13 officers who lounged, slept and snacked in the burglarized office of U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush as unrest swept the city in June, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Monday.

Emmett Till and his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley.

The painful legacy of Emmett Till seems fresh amid this era of civil unrest. We reflect on his death with Ollie Gordon, Till’s cousin, and Chris Benson, who co-authored an autobiography of Mamie Till-Mobley, Till’s mother.