Stories by Daniel Hautzinger

Bill Veeck was behind the ivy at Wrigley Field plus Harry Caray singing during the seventh inning stretch, names on uniforms, and the exploding scoreboard with the White Sox. He brought the Sox and Cleveland to the World Series, and always boosted the attendance of lagging teams. 

Spotlights on great books, theater, art, music, and dance are all coming this spring, whether as filmed performances or tours or profiles of creators. Look back on World War II and dark periods of American history, plus test your knowledge of Chicago with Geoffrey Baer.

Havana, Paris, Spain: the soundtrack of Ken Burns and Lynn Novick's new Hemingway documentary helps set the places and moods of the writer's life, via the creative music produced by Johnny Gandelsman of Brooklyn Rider and the Silk Road Ensemble.

What's better than a dessert that requires almost no effort? The biggest thing this recipe for a bright buttermilk vanilla panna cotta from America's Test Kitchen asks is some extra space in the fridge and a few hours. 

Spring is a good time to cover science and nature, with Earth Day a chance to follow Greta Thunberg and David Attenborough, plus Nature and NOVA on bias in science, leopards, and more. Plus, an in-depth series on a reforming District Attorney and an investigation into the rise of extremism in America.

Try America's Test Kitchen's take on the Greek casserole, which consists of pasta in a béchamel along with a tomatoey meat sauce.

There's going to be another Downton Abbey movie, according to reports. Sources say that filming will begin once COVID-19 restrictions permit, probably this summer, with a planned Christmas release.

Try a Breton classic from northern France, courtesy a perfected recipe from America's Test Kitchen: the galette complete, a buckwheat crepe filled with ham and cheese and topped with an egg. It's like a croque madame in crepe form.

A mural celebrating everyday Americans and the PBS series American Portrait, which features self-submitted videos and stories from across the country, has sprung up in Wicker Park.

The Chicago Women's Park and Gardens contains a sculpture by a world-famous artist as well as two of Chicago's most important historic homes, including one that had to be relocated in complicated fashion over the L to get there.

When Emily Taft Douglas won a statewide election to become Illinois's fourth woman in Congress, her husband Paul had already lost a run for Senate and wouldn't win until four years later. Emily also marched with Dr. King, appeared on Broadway, and wrote books.

A new puppet series inspired by Mister Rogers is coming soon to WTTW and PBS KIDS, featuring both new and reimagined characters and songs from Mister Rogers' Neighborhood.  

This March, celebrate Women's History Month with a variety of programming from WTTW featuring profiles of artistic women, looks into the past at trailblazers and rulers, stories of contemporary women working to reshape society, and more. 

Join a conversation between filmmakers Ken Burns and Lynn Novick along with Hemingway scholar Verna Kale and acclaimed author Tim O'Brien as they discuss Hemingway's childhood in Oak Park. 

Willard Motley wrote stories for children in the Chicago Defender as the first "Bud Billiken" while he was a teen, then went on to write hardboiled novels about Chicago's down-and-out. But he was criticized for writing about white instead of Black characters.