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Utility giants have agreed to stop selling sensitive information to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, among other law enforcement agencies. (Steve Buissinne / Pixabay)

Utility Giants Agree to Stop Selling Data to ICE But Some Loopholes Remain

For years, companies have sold data from cable, phone and power bills -- including names, home addresses and more.

At the height of the holiday season, retail stores in Chicago and across the country are experiencing a rash of thefts. (WTTW News)

Multiple Downtown Stores Hit With Retail Theft Crimes

Multiple in-store thefts have been reported recently on the Magnificent Mile amounting to millions of dollars in stolen merchandise. But retailers say it’s not just about lost revenue — it’s about safety — and they’re calling for city officials to put more protections in place for businesses.

(WTTW News Graphic)

Chicago Casino Developers Show Their Cards

At an hourslong hearing Thursday, the public got a look at what a Chicago casino might look like and where it would go.

(U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Alexxis Pons Abascal)

Biden Calls for Chicago’s Lead Pipes to be Removed Within 10 Years, As Slow Roll Out Continues in Chicago

The $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill includes $15 billion to fund lead service replacement efforts, and $3 billion will flow to states and cities in 2022, officials announced.

(WTTW News)

Illinois Records Nearly 12,000 COVID-19 Cases in a Day

The number of new COVID-19 infections reported Thursday – 11,858 – is the highest total reported in a 24-hour period in all of 2021, according to data from state health officials.

(WTTW News)

Chicago Vaccine Mandate Upheld for Most City Employees, Firefighters

The ruling gives the unions’ employees until Dec. 31 to get their first shot of one of the three approved COVID-19 vaccines, and until Jan. 31 to get the second dose of the Moderna or Pfizer BioNtech vaccines.

(AP Illustration / Peter Hamlin)

Can Your Pet Get COVID-19?

Dogs, cats, ferrets, rabbits, otters, hyenas and white-tailed deer are among the animals that have tested positive, in most cases after contracting it from infected people.

The spike of an agave plant at Garfield Park Conservatory is just beginning to emerge, and should reach 6 feet. This is the beginning phase of the plant's first, and last, bloom. (Courtesy of Garfield Park Conservatory)

It’s ‘Agave Watch’ Time at Garfield Park Conservatory as Plant Begins Its Death Bloom

Visitors to the Garfield Park Conservatory have a rare and exciting opportunity to witness a plant in its spectacular death bloom as an agave prepares to flower for its first and last time.

Students at Chicago Public Schools walk along a hallway in this file photo. (WTTW News)

Chicago’s Top Doc ‘Confident’ CPS Won’t Return to Remote Learning Citywide

“We’re gonna have to see what happens with omicron, but I do not expect that we will be making plans to move entirely remotely and certainly not for extended periods, even if that were a thing,” Dr. Allison Arwady said Thursday.

Anjanette Young and her attorney Keenan Saulter speak outside the James R. Thompson Center on June 16, 2021. (Matt Masterson / WTTW News)

Retired Judge Picked by Mayor to Probe Botched Raid Finds No Wrongdoing by Lightfoot

Mayor Lori Lightfoot did not purposefully conceal information about the handling of the February 2019 raid that left Anjanette Young handcuffed while naked and pleading for help, according to the results of a probe ordered by the mayor released Thursday.

Steve Easterbrook, President & CEO of McDonald's, speaks during an event in McDonald's Chicago flagship restaurant Wednesday, Aug. 8, 2018. (AP Photo / Nam Y. Huh, File)

Ousted McDonald’s CEO Returns $105M After Misconduct

“During my tenure as CEO, I failed at times to uphold McDonald’s values and fulfill certain of my responsibilities as a leader of the company,” Steve Easterbrook said in a prepared statement issued Thursday by McDonald’s. 

Numerous Chicagoans woke up to scenes of downed tree limbs like this one in Lincoln Square after strong winds blew through the region. Dec. 16, 2021. (Patty Wetli / WTTW News)

How Wild Was the Weather? 74-MPH Winds, Record High Temps and Smoke Blowing in From Kansas

Wednesday saw record high temperatures across the region, wind gusts above 60 miles per hour and even the smell of smoke, which rode in on winds all the way from brush fires in Kansas.

The names of the 2010 Stanley Cup Champion Chicago Blackhawks, left, are displayed on the Stanley Cup in the lobby of the United Center during an NHL hockey news conference on June 11, 2013 in Chicago. (AP Photo / Charles Rex Arbogast, File)

Chicago Blackhawks Settle Lawsuit With Kyle Beach

The confidential settlement was announced after the sides met Wednesday with a mediator for the first time. 

(Credit: Jonathan Michael Castillo)

Photographer Tells Story of Immigration Through Lens of Small Business Owners

Many immigrants dream of owning and operating a small business. A Chicago-based photographer has a personal understanding of immigration, and he has spent years documenting small businesses. He calls his project “Immigrant Owned,” and it’s about to be expanded in a big way.

(WTTW News)

December 15, 2021 - Full Show

A dramatic day at City Council. The latest from City Hall. Our Spotlight politics team breaks it all down. We’re learning more about the omicron variant. And a new effort to reduce opioid overdoses.

A new effort is underway to help reduce the number of overdoses in Chicago— by distributing fentanyl test strips. (Courtesy Cook County Department of Public Health)

Chicago Public Health Department Distributing Fentanyl Tests

The city’s public health department has been distributing the tests since October to try and reduce the number of deaths due to the drug. The city has distributed somewhere between 14-1500 kits.

“This was so terrifying to me that two years later, I'm still dealing with it,” Anjanette Young said during a press conference Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2020. (WTTW News)

Chicago to Pay $2.9M to Anjanette Young To Settle Botched Raid Lawsuit

The Chicago City Council agreed Wednesday to pay $2.9 million to resolve the lawsuit brought by Anjanette Young after police officers handcuffed her while she was naked and ignored her pleas for help during a botched raid in February 2019.

A yearlong Better Government Association investigation details the city’s failure to keep promises of jobs and housing for current and former Cabrini-Green residents. (WTTW News)

Yearlong BGA Investigation Reveals City’s Failed Promises in Cabrini-Green

Cabrini-Green residents were promised jobs and housing after its demolition. A new investigation from the Better Government Association reveals how those promises fell short.

People wait to be vaccinated by a member of the Western Cape Metro EMS (Emergency Medical Services) at a mobile "Vaxi Taxi" which is an ambulance converted into a mobile COVID-19 vaccination site in Blackheath in Cape Town, South Africa, Tuesday, Dec. 14, 2021. (AP Photo/Nardus Engelbrecht)

Data Indicate Omicron is Milder, Better at Evading Vaccines

The findings released Tuesday are preliminary and have not been peer-reviewed — the gold standard in scientific research — but they line up with other early data about omicron's behavior, including that it seems to be more easily transmitted.

The vacant land near Higgins Road and Cumberland Avenue that GlenStar wants to transform into a 297-apartment complex. (Credit: Google Maps)

As Lightfoot Decries Segregation, City Council Defies Aldermanic Prerogative to Approve Apartments

The proposal from Glenstar at 8535 W. Higgins Road will build the 41st Ward’s first affordable housing in decades amid a cluster of hotels and office mid-rises along the Kennedy Expressway near O’Hare Airport and steps away from the CTA Blue Line.

 A rendering of the proposed two-story sports betting lounge at Addison Street and Sheffield Avenue next to Wrigley Field. (Provided)

City Council Green Lights Sports Betting at Chicago’s Pro-Sports Arenas

A full-court press from the owners of the Cubs, White Sox, Bulls and Blackhawks helped the measure backed by Mayor Lori Lightfoot hit the jackpot despite the opposition of Chicago billionaire and Rivers Casino Des Plaines operator Neil Bluhm.

A bighead carp, a type of Asian carp, caught in the Illinois River, the principal tributary of the Mississippi River. There are no North American fish large enough to eat Asian carp, according to the Asian Carp Regional Coordinating Committee. (Photo courtesy U.S. Geological Survey)

The $850 Million Question: Who Can Pay for Invasive Carp Defense Project?

Great Lakes Governors Say, ‘Not Us’

Great Lakes governors are asking the federal government to fund costs of the Brandon Road Lock and Dam project on the Des Plaines River, designed to block the incursion of invasive carp into the lakes.

A file photo shows 34th Ward Ald. Carrie Austin at a Chicago City Council meeting. (WTTW News)

Indicted Ald. Carrie Austin Collapses During City Council Meeting

Indicted Ald. Carrie Austin (34th Ward) collapsed during Wednesday’s City Council meeting and was treated by former firefighter Ald. Anthony Napolitano (41st Ward) before reviving and being taken out of the Council Chambers on a stretcher.

(WTTW News)

Board Approves $9M Settlement for Fired Black CPS Teachers, Staff

Chicago education officials approved a settlement Wednesday that will put an end to years of litigation with the Chicago Teachers Union over a series of layoffs that disparately impacted hundreds of Black teachers and paraprofessionals.

People wait in line at a COVID-19 testing site in Times Square, New York, Dec. 13, 2021. (AP Photo / Seth Wenig, File)

US Faces a Double Coronavirus Surge as Omicron Advances

The White House on Wednesday insisted there is no need for a lockdown because vaccines are widely available and appear to offer protection against the worst consequences of the virus. 

The annual Tuba Christmas returns. (Credit: The Palmer House, a Hilton Hotel)

10 Things to Do This Weekend: Dec. 16-19

Christmas tubas, seasonal concerts, a craft fair and a reimagined “A Christmas Carol” usher in the weekend. Here are 10 things to do in Chicago.