14 top Chicago concerts to catch this spring, from hip-hop to jazz
New talent, new albums, new venues: Here are 14 great shows to see this spring. It’s our kickoff to a week of spring culture picks.
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Spring is here. Did winter even happen in Chicago this year?
A warmer and wetter than usual winter is complete. As spring gets underway, keep your umbrella handy, Chicago.
How to vote in the Chicago area’s April 4 municipal election
Chicago voters are picking a new mayor. Suburban residents could be selecting new office holders for everything from school to library boards.
Kennedy Expressway construction begins today, expect major delays
Stretches of the inbound Kennedy will be blocked between the Edens Expressway and Ohio Street as part of a three-year construction project that’s sure to cause misery.
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JoJo Baby, drag queen, club kid and doll maker who ‘broke the mold,’ dead at 51
Greeting thousands at the front door of nightclubs around the city, JoJo Baby was unforgettable.
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These are some of the lives forever changed by COVID-19
A baby born after a partner’s death. The ‘Tamale Guy,’ left with a raspy voice but working again. A girl, 13, and a grandmother, both struggling with long COVID. A nurse, exhausted but pushing on. All share a sense of loss and a need to push on.
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3 years, 4 million cases, more than 36,000 deaths: Numbers shape Illinois’ dismal COVID-19 story
Statewide death toll now is nearing 37,000 — roughly the equivalent of wiping out the population of Calumet City.
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This 100-foot mural at the Salt Shed was created by an 11-year-old Buffalo Grove girl
Lucy Holloway’s artwork was transformed into a mural about 20 feet high and 100 feet across as the top prize in a student art contest sponsored by the Sun-Times, WBEZ and Vocalo.
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Chicago’s mayoral candidates have radically different approaches to fixing public schools. Here’s why.
Paul Vallas is a technocrat devoted to school choice. Brandon Johnson is a teachers union organizer. Their backgrounds explain their clashing views.
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Illinois EPA finds drinking water violations in multiple state prisons
Prisoner rights groups have complained about unsafe water. In recent months, the state has sent water violation notices to nearly a dozen prisons.
A tale of two cities, told in Chicago’s mayoral election
As Paul Vallas and Brandon Johnson barnstorm in churches and parades before the April 4 runoff, policing and public education are front and center. This election also touches on power, identity, and of course, race.
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Doctors in Chicago and elsewhere aim to unravel long COVID’s mysteries, but ‘science takes years’
Researchers at Rush University Medical Center say they already know enough to believe that vaccination likely helps prevent lasting symptoms seen with long COVID.
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Pandemic learning loss, staff shortages are top challenges for Illinois’ new education leader
Supt. Tony Sanders sees an “ever-widening gap between the left and the right … I think public education is squarely in the middle of that fight.”
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At Walgreens, a CEO caught in the Venn diagram of medicine, politics and profits
After the Deerfield-based retailer said it wouldn’t sell the abortion pill in 21 states, #BoycottWalgreens took off. What’s a modern CEO to do?
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Jurors in ComEd bribery trial get a lesson in machine politics — in Michael Madigan’s own words
For the first time Thursday, jurors in the bribery trial of Michael McClain and three other political power players heard Madigan’s voice on secret recordings.
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Illinois educators try to tackle pandemic learning loss with high-impact tutoring
One educator compared the learning disruption caused by the pandemic to water freezing in cracked pavement, deepening the divide.
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A former Illinois prison guard gets 20-year sentence for fatal beating
In pleading for leniency Alex Banta said he took a job as a prison guard at 23 and had no idea how it would change him.
‘The CTA is their last resort’: A night out with the people helping homeless riders
Outreach workers say fewer shelter beds and Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s recent crackdown on people sleeping at O’Hare has forced more unhoused people onto trains and buses.
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Why aren’t there any federal Indian reservations in Illinois?
This timeline explains how Native Americans were forced out of Illinois and why — for now — they have no federally recognized land here.
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Paul Vallas and Brandon Johnson agree: Legalize video gambling in Chicago
Even with a new city casino on the horizon, both Vallas and Johnson support the legalization of video gambling machines.
