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May 6, 2024

New Lawsuit Claims Dozens of Juveniles Subjected to Sexual Abuse in Illinois Detention Centers

Nearly 100 people are claiming in a new lawsuit that they were subjected to sexual abuse and assault as the hands of correctional officers and staffers at facilities in Chicago and across the state.

May 6, 2024

Probe Opened Into Allegations of Excessive Force by Chicago Police Officers During Pro-Palestinian Protests

A spokesperson for the Chicago Police Department said CPD would fully cooperate with the probe, which comes approximately 100 days before the Democratic National Convention comes to Chicago.

May 6, 2024

A Subset of Alzheimer’s Cases May Be Caused by Two Copies of a Single Gene, New Research Shows

The vast majority of Alzheimer’s cases occur after age 65. But research published Monday suggests that for people who carry not one but two copies of the gene, it’s more than a risk factor, it’s an underlying cause of the mind-robbing disease.

May 6, 2024

Where in the World is Archaeopteryx?

Only 13 specimens of Archaeopteryx — and one special feather — are known to exist since the first Archaeopteryx fossils were discovered in 1860. Most come from the same deposit of Solnhofen Limestone in Bavaria, Germany.

May 6, 2024

Birds Are Dinosaurs: How a Family Tree That Spans T. Rex to Pigeons Informs Our Understanding of Life on Earth

Shake any family tree, and a few skeletons are bound to fall out — that’s as true for birds as it is for people. Except that for birds, the wacky cousin lurking in one of those branches is T. Rex.

May 6, 2024

The Field Museum Now Has an Incredibly Rare Fossil Proving Birds Are Dinosaurs. Here’s a Behind-the-Scenes Look at How They Got It

The Field formally announced to the world what had become a not-so-well-kept secret: The museum had acquired just the 13th specimen known to exist of Archaeopteryx, a fossil often described as the “missing link” between dinosaurs and birds.

May 6, 2024

Meet Jingmai O’Connor, the Punk Rock Paleontologist Who Leads the Field Museum’s Archaeopteryx Team

WTTW News sat down with paleornithologist Jingmai O’Connor and talked about dinosaurs, birds, the Chicago Archaeopteryx, evolution and why studying fossil birds is more important now than ever.

May 6, 2024

7 People Killed in Weekend Shootings Across Chicago: Police

According to Chicago Police Department figures, 31 people were shot in 24 separate shootings between 6 p.m. Friday and 11:59 p.m. Sunday.

May 6, 2024

Johnson’s Senior Leadership Team More Diverse Than Previous Mayors’ Cabinets: Analysis

In all, the 34 appointments Johnson made between May 2023 and April 2024 that require confirmation by the Chicago City Council reflect the city’s racial diversity, as measured by the 2020 census, more closely than the appointments made by his two predecessors, former Mayors Lori Lightfoot and Rahm Emanuel.

May 5, 2024

Methodists End Bans on Gay Clergy and Same-Sex Marriage, Closing 50 Years of Battles for Mainline Protestants

The reversals can be seen as marking the end of a half-century of epic battles and schisms over LGBTQ involvement — not only in the United Methodist Church but in U.S. mainline Protestant denominations overall.

May 5, 2024

Denial and Uncertainty Are Looming Over a Biden-Trump Rematch 6 Months Out From Election Day

Exactly six months before Election Day, Biden and Trump are locked in the first contest in 112 years with a current and former president competing for the White House. It’s a race that is at once deeply entrenched and highly in flux. 

May 4, 2024

Angel Reese, Kamilla Cardoso Chicago Sky Debuts Watched Widely on Fan’s Livestream After WNBA is Unable to Broadcast

The WNBA's app had incorrectly listed the game as available to watch, leading to confusion from fans before the league clarified that only Caitlin Clark’s debut with the Indiana Fever was being broadcast.

May 3, 2024

Wonder Women of the Ancient World Visit Chicago in ‘Goddesses, Warriors and Governors’ Exhibit

Femme fatales and goddesses play for keeps at a new exhibit at the National Museum of Mexican Art. These deities and grande dames — etched in rock or molded from clay — are in Pilsen through July.

May 3, 2024

Probe Into 8 CPD Officers Found No Evidence They Were Active Members of Oath Keepers — But Investigators Only Asked Them

Investigators with CPD’s Bureau of Internal Affairs did not interview anyone other than the eight officers accused of belonging to the Oath Keepers, according to a 30-page report.

May 3, 2024

Week in Review: Pro-Palestinian Protests Grow; Pritzker Pushes Back on Bears’ Stadium Proposal

Tensions rise over encampments at local universities. And the mayor’s relationship with the Chicago Police Department, as a manhunt leads to murder charges.