First responders work the scene of a crash involving at least 20 vehicles that shut down a highway in Illinois, Monday, May 1, 2023. Illinois State Police say a windstorm that kicked up clouds of dust in south-central Illinois has led to numerous crashes and multiple fatalities on Interstate 55. (WICS TV via AP)

More than 70 vehicles, including dozens of commercial vehicles and passenger cars, were involved in crashes May 1 along a 2-mile stretch of Interstate 55 in Montgomery County, 75 miles north of St. Louis.

First responders work the scene of a crash involving at least 20 vehicles that shut down a highway in Illinois, Monday, May 1, 2023. Illinois State Police say a windstorm that kicked up clouds of dust in south-central Illinois has led to numerous crashes and multiple fatalities on Interstate 55. (WICS TV via AP)

More than 70 vehicles, including dozens of commercial vehicles and passenger cars, were involved in crashes late Monday morning along a 2-mile stretch of Interstate 55 in Montgomery County, 75 miles north of St. Louis.

First responders work the scene of a crash involving at least 20 vehicles that shut down a highway in Illinois, Monday, May 1, 2023. Illinois State Police say a windstorm that kicked up clouds of dust in south-central Illinois has led to numerous crashes and multiple fatalities on Interstate 55. (WICS TV via AP)

The crashes occurred late in the morning and involved 40 to 60 passenger cars and multiple tractor-trailers, two of which caught fire, Illinois State Police Maj. Ryan Starrick said. The highway was shut down in both directions in Montgomery County, 75 miles north of St. Louis.

(WTTW News)

DCFS gained more than 100 employees between 2021 and 2022. Public health employees declined.

WTTW News analyzed state salary data and found some departments got smaller or had a noticeable uptick in employees leaving. Even in agencies that grew, employee churn was evident. We walk you through the numbers. 

Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias speaks at a news conference March 23, 2023. His office announced $21 million in grants for law enforcement to target carjackings and auto thefts. (WTTW News)

The $21 million in grants will be funded through a dollar assessment charged annually on Illinois auto insurance policies.

(WTTW News)

Despite a recent shooting on I-57 that killed two teenagers and an infant, Illinois State Police say tactics to reduce gun violence on expressways are working.

Marc Smith, director of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, discusses the stabbing death of state child welfare worker Diedre Silas during a news conference on Jan. 5, 2022, in Springfield. (AP Photo / John O'Connor)
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Illinois officials are seeking answers after the killing last week of a state child welfare worker during a home visit — the second such tragedy to occur in less than five years.

(WTTW News)
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In 2019, Tamara Clayton was driving to work along I-57 when she was shot and killed. Years later, a law passed in her honor that allows cameras to go up along certain Illinois expressways is taking effect — as expressway shootings are skyrocketing.

Illinois National Guard officers watch a protest in Old Town on June 6, 2020, one of many in the city and across the U.S. sparked by the death of George Floyd while in Minneapolis police custody. (Evan Garcia / WTTW News)
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Chicago is prepared to handle protests and unrest that might be triggered by the verdict in the trial of Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer charged with murder in the death of George Floyd, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Tuesday. “Don’t test us, because we are ready,” she said.

An Illinois National Guard officer watches a protest along Wells Street on June 6, 2020. The march was one of many in the city and across the U.S. sparked by the death of George Floyd while in Minneapolis police custody. (Evan Garcia / WTTW News)
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Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced he has activated the Illinois National Guard at the request of Mayor Lori Lightfoot “to support the Chicago Police Department with a verdict expected in the trial of Derek Chauvin,” the former Minneapolis police officer charged in connection with the death of George Floyd.

Manny’s Blue Room Lounge in Robbins (WTTW News)

Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx said her office concluded that the “totality of the evidence is insufficient” to support criminal charges against Midlothian police Officer Ian Covey for the fatal 2018 shooting of Jemel Roberson, a Black security guard.

A small business in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on April 7, 2020. (WTTW News)
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Under an emergency rule quietly filed Friday by Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s administration, bars, restaurants and other businesses that open to customers in defiance of Illinois’ stay-at-home order now risk being charged with a misdemeanor.

(WTTW News)

Both local and state police will be ramping up their patrol deployments Tuesday night to maintain safety at busy New Year’s Eve events and along roads as marijuana legalization takes effect.

(Chuck Grimmett / Flickr)

Illinois is on the road to legalized marijuana. What that means for local law enforcement.

State law enforcement and education officials want to spread the word about Illinois’ “move over” law after 16 state troopers were struck on roads in the first four months of 2019.

Manny’s Blue Room Lounge in Robbins (Chicago Tonight)

State investigators say the armed security guard fatally shot by a Midlothian police officer outside a south suburban bar early Sunday was not wearing anything that identified him as security and ignored repeated orders to drop his weapon.