Since the 1980s, it’s been illegal for car dealerships to operate on Sundays in Illinois. WTTW News explains why.

Activists said "bad actors" lie about rideshare and delivery drivers to avoid paying. The Chicago ordinance would allow app drivers accused of misconduct to share their story and recoup income if they were found to be unfairly deactivated.

Last March, the Chicago Department of Transportation said it was planning to install about 150 accessible pedestrian signals in 2022 and 2023. So far, only nine of those signals are actually up and running – and only eight of them are new, since one of those installations was an upgrade to an older signal.

All told, the national average has climbed by more than 9% since the end of last year — the biggest increase to start a year since 2009, according to Bespoke Investment Group.

How exactly are streets organized in Chicago? WTTW News gives you a guided tour of the grid system that organizes the city’s streets and addresses. 

Chicagoans are all too familiar with having to sit in traffic. A recent report shows that the average Chicago-area driver spent 155 hours in traffic last year. That's the highest number in North America and second highest in the world.

The Illinois Department of Transportation says the interchange will improve overall commuter experience with fewer delays and crashes, while also decreasing fuel emissions.

The move will generate $959 million for the project by funneling a portion of the increase in property tax revenues for the next 35 years from the 42nd, 3rd, 4th, 11th and 25th wards — even though the extension of the train line would be miles away from any of those wards. 

The city must match an expected federal grant of $2.16 billion before the first track can be laid — and the City Council is set to give the project signal clearance Wednesday.

The city must match an expected federal grant of $2.16 billion before the first track can be laid — but it is not clear whether the City Council will give the project signal clearance.

A WTTW News analysis of CTA bus and train operator work records from 2015 to 2021 shows a growing number of employees paid for long average workweeks, which experts say raises questions about worker and passenger safety and the agency’s bottom line.

An internal analysis from the Chicago Board of Elections found that less than 10% of polling places were compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act. The board says that doesn’t necessarily mean most of those locations are inaccessible.

The stand-off between railroad companies and a dozen unions representing workers from conductors to locomotive engineers is for the second time heading toward a possible strike.

A local private equity firm buys the site where Bally’s plans a big Chicago casino complex. A national strike looms as one of the country’s largest railroad unions votes down a tentative contract. And expect a surge in airline travel this Thanksgiving week.

Lightfoot formally introduced a proposal on Wednesday to the Chicago City Council to create a new tax-increment financing district along the southern branch of the CTA Red Line to fund the extension of the train line first envisioned by former Mayor Richard J. Daley in the 1950s. 

The CTA’s Board of Directors approved a $1.8 billion operating budget for 2023, a plan that doesn’t include fare increases for passengers. But with ridership still down from pre-pandemic levels, the budget relies on nearly $400 million in federal stimulus money to make up for lost fare revenue.