Lurie Children's Hospital logo is seen at the hospital, Monday, Feb. 5, 2024, in Skokie, Ill. Doctors and nurses at the premier Chicago children's hospital can again access patients' electronic medical records, more than a month after a cyberattack forced Lurie Children's Hospital to take its networks offline. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, File)

Officials had previously blamed the attack on a “known criminal threat actor” and said the hospital shut down its own systems for phone, email and medical records once the breach was discovered on Jan. 31.

Demolition began Monday, March 4, 2024, on an illegal building in Humboldt Park that has been at the center of controversy since 2022, when it began rising on park grounds with no prior notice to the community. (WTTW News)

The illegal building, intended as an archive for the neighboring landmarked National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture, has been at the center of controversy since 2022.

Graphic that says “Chicago's Skyscrapers.” (WTTW News)

Chicago is a city of firsts — everything from the first Ferris wheel to the first brownie and the world’s very first skyscraper. WTTW News explains.

A non-native subspecies of common reed is an invasive bully (l), crowding out its native counterpart in wetlands. (Credits: Caleb Slemmons, National Ecological Observatory Network, Bugwood.org (l); Rob Rutledge, Sault College, Bugwood.org)

For the last in our series on invasive species that can be mistaken for natives, here’s one of the trickiest: phragmites, also known as common reed.

February 2024 was the warmest on record in Chicago. The lakefront seen from the Museum Campus, Feb. 27, 2024. (Patty Wetli / WTTW News)

It’s official, Chicago: February 2024 was the warmest in 153 years of recording keeping.

Native lilliput mussels (l) and invasive zebra mussels (r). (Credits: Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada; Flickr Creative Commons)

In honor of National Invasive Species Awareness Week, we’re posting daily “dupes” — invasives that can easily be confused with native species. Today we’re featuring two tiny freshwater mussels that couldn’t have less in common.

File photo. (Jplenio / Pixabay)

It was a wild day that saw Chicago just miss out on setting a record-high temperature for February before a powerful cold front moved through the region. 

Native climbing rose (l) and invasive multiflora rose (r). (Credits: Peter Chen, College of DuPage, Bugwood.org (l); James H. Miller, USDA Forest Service, Bugwood.org)

In honor of National Invasive Species Awareness Week, we’re posting daily “dupes” — invasives that can easily be confused with native species. Today brings us to a truly unexpected subject: the rose.

A file photo depicts lightning across the Chicago skyline. (S_UM_A / Pixabay)

The National Weather Service has issued a tornado watch for the Chicago region, much of northern Illinois and parts of northeast Indiana, through 10 p.m. Tuesday.

Can you tell them apart? That’s rusty crayfish, left, and virile crayfish, right. (Credit: Flickr Creative Commons)

In honor of National Invasive Species Awareness Week, we’re posting daily “dupes” — invasives that can easily be confused with native species. Today we’re tackling crayfish.

A bald eagle is pictured in a file photo. (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)

The Forest Preserve District of Will County confirmed a second pair of eagles are incubating eggs in a newly-built, enormous nest.

(Michael Izquierdo / WTTW News)

The forecast for last week of February has a little something for everyone. Buckle in for a wild ride.

Prairie (or field) thistle on the left, cutleaf teasel on the right. Which is native and which is invasive? (USGS Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab; Patty Wetli / WTTW News)

In honor of National Invasive Species Awareness Week, we'll be posting daily "dupes" — invasives that can easily be confused with native species. 

Brookfield Zoo’s grey seal pup is just one week old and already a charmer. (Courtesy Brookfield Zoo)

The grey seal pup was born Feb. 17. He’ll stay behind the scenes for the next month and a half while bonding with his mom.

An American Ethanol label is shown on a NASCAR race car gas tank at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas, Nov. 1, 2014. (AP Photo / Randy Holt, File)
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The move reflects the importance of ethanol to agriculture. The fuel additive consumes roughly 40% of the nation’s corn crop, so higher sales of ethanol could mean greater profits for corn farmers.

Flooding in Chicago on July 6, 2023. (WTTW News)
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Mayor Brandon Johnson announced the lawsuit, filed Tuesday in Cook County Circuit Court, against BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Exxon Mobil, Phillips 66, Shell and their largest trade association, the American Petroleum Institute.