(WTTW News)
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Former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan pleaded not guilty Wednesday to 22 counts alleging that he orchestrated a criminal enterprise for a decade while serving as Illinois’ most powerful politician.

(WTTW News)
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Guaranteed income or cash transfer programs have often been framed as resources to help pay for unexpected medical bills or rent. But now, a group of doctors is pitching the program as not only an anti-poverty strategy but an anti-violence strategy.

(WTTW News)

The former Illinois House Speaker and longtime chairperson of the Democratic Party of Illinois faces multiple counts that carry prison sentences of up to 20 years each. And advocates say Mike Madigan’s indictment should be a call for reform of state government.

A bust of Jean Baptiste Pointe DuSable. (Wikimedia Commons)
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DuSable Park has been a park in name only since Mayor Harold Washington dedicated the site, at the confluence of the Chicago River and Lake Michigan, in 1987. Wednesday, a design team was selected to bring the vision to life.

Vera Lytovchenko holds her violin as she poses for a photo in a basement of an apartment building in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Sunday March 6, 2022. (Vera Lytovchenko via AP)
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Vera Lytovchenko has become an internet icon of resilience as images of the concert violinist playing in the basement bomb shelter in Ukraine’s northeastern city of Kharkiv have inspired an international audience via social media.

President Joe Biden sits in the Oval Office of the White House, on March 4, 2022, in Washington. (AP Photo / Patrick Semansky)
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The Biden administration views the explosive popularity of cryptocurrency as an opportunity to examine the risks and benefits of digital assets, said a senior administration official who previewed the order Tuesday on the condition of anonymity, terms set by the White House.

(Engin_Akyurt / Pixabay)

It’s a new front as the U.S. attempts from afar to influence what’s happening in Ukraine. President Biden Tuesday announced a ban on all imports of oil from Russia. What consequences that may have abroad and here at home.

Residents and community leaders gather for the opening of new Go Green Community Fresh Market in Englewood March 8, 2022. (WTTW News)
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Residents and community leaders gathered in Englewood on Tuesday for the opening of the new Go Green Community Fresh Market. It’s designed to be as convenient as a neighborhood corner store but with fresh produce, a variety of healthy options, and meals cooked on site. 

People walk between the Florida State Capitol building, left, and the Florida Historic Capitol Museum, right, during a legislative session on Wednesday, January 12, 2022, in Tallahassee, Florida. (Phelan M. Ebenhack / AP)
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Conservatives have argued that the bill is needed in order to give parents greater oversight over what students learn and discuss at school, stressing that LGBTQ-related topics should be left for families to discuss at home. Opponents, however, have dubbed it the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, arguing the ban it creates would negatively impact an already marginalized community. 

The Chicago Council on Global Affairs produced a foreign affairs talk show on WTTW beginning in 1955 called “World Spotlight.”

The Chicago Council on Global Affairs turns 100 this year. The organization was created in 1922 amid isolationist sentiment in the U.S. following World War I. In the years since, it has brought a long list of global leaders and experts to Chicago. 

The marquee of the Congress Theater, which has been vacant since 2013. (Credit: Chicago Department of Planning and Development)

A previous effort to renovate the Congress Theater sputtered out in 2020, even after the City Council agreed to give the project a $9.7 million subsidy.

(Illinois Senator Tom Cullerton / Facebook)
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Former state Sen. Tom Cullerton pleaded guilty to embezzlement Tuesday morning, more than two years after he was charged with fraudulently receiving salary and benefits from a labor union despite doing “little or no work.”

In this image provided by the White House, President Joe Biden listens during a secure video call with French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson in the Situation Room at the White House Monday, March 7, 2022, in Washington. (Adam Schultz / The White House via AP)
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The action follows pleas by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to U.S. and Western officials to cut off the imports, which had been a glaring omission in the massive sanctions put in place on Russia over the invasion.

Candidates line up at the Illinois State Board of Election to file petitions on March 7, 2022. (WTTW News)

Anyone in line to file their petitions by the time election authorities opened their doors has a chance to be listed first on the ballot for their race, a position that could make a difference by attracting voters’ eyeballs in a close contest.

(WTTW News)

Chicago Tribune investigative reporter Ray Long began covering the statehouse at the beginning of Madigan’s historic reign as speaker of the House, and has unique insight into how he operated. Long joins Paris Schutz to discuss his new book on Madigan’s career. 

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.