Lakeidra Chavis

We talked to long-time skaters about what the South Side staple means to them — and what it would mean if it closed.

Cushioned by blocks of brown and red brick homes, it’s easy for the pink and white house at Central Avenue and Ohio Street to stand out. It’s been this way for nearly three decades. People have been fascinated with the house for years.

The new mural in Chicago’s Boystown neighborhood wants to raise a dialogue across Chicago’s queer communities, particularly those of color.

Principle Barbers opened up in February and is both parts barbershop and entertainment space. The new shop, located in Chicago’s North Lawndale neighborhood, is offering a high-end take on a classic institution. But the question is: Can it thrive?

A growing share of people in poverty live in suburban areas, both in the Chicago region and other metropolitan areas across the country, according to a study by the Metropolitan Planning Council. Also growing are the number of Latinos living in Chicago suburbs below the federal poverty line. Between 2010 and 2016, Chicago’s population of suburban residents living below the poverty line increased by 270,000 people, a 54 percent increase. Over that same six year period, the number of Latino residents living in poverty in Chicago suburbs increased by 72 percent, according to the study. To discuss the factors driving the phenomenon — and how it could be affected by anti-immigration policies and rhetoric coming from the federal government — WBEZ’s Melba Lara spoke with Shehara Waas, a researcher with the Metropolitan Planning Council, and Scott Allard, a University of Washington professor and author of Places in Need: The Changing Geography of Poverty.

The Trump administration announced this week a proposal to further limit the number of refugees allowed to enter the U.S. Starting this upcoming fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1, only 30,000 refugees will be admitted into the U.S. The announcement is another blow to resettlement agencies, including groups in Chicago.

While much of the narrative around America’s opioid crisis has been focused on how it has impacted white, suburban communities, the JR Plaza Hotel in the predominantly African-American neighborhood is an example of how the problem has hit blacks especially hard in Chicago. City data show African-Americans fatally overdose from opioids — a class of drugs that includes certain painkillers, heroin, and fentanyl — at a rate three times the national average, as reported by the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonprofit health policy organization. In 2016, a Cook County Public Health report showed that African-Americans accounted for nearly half of all opioid-related deaths in Chicago.

In a huge setback for organized labor, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that government employees can’t be forced into paying fees to unions who represent them. The case involved Mark Janus, an Illinois state employee who claimed paying fees to AFSCME Council 31, which represented him, violated his First Amendment rights. “Long term, it has potentially devastating implications for public sector unions in Illinois and elsewhere,” said Michael LeRoy, a professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s School of Labor and Employment Relations.

One of the last remaining features of the historic Johnson Publishing building has been saved from demolition by a preservation group.

Tony Sarabia talks to Chicago Tribune reporter Chris Borrelli, who talked to long-time skaters at the rink before it closed. We also have Sandra Levin on the line, the owner of the popular rink for 25 years. We’ll also go to the phones and hear from listeners about their good times rolling around on eight wheels.

Tony Sarabia talks to Chicago Tribune reporter Chris Borrelli, who talked to long-time skaters at the rink before it closed. We also have Sandra Levin on the line, the owner of the popular rink for 25 years. We’ll also go to the phones and hear from listeners about their good times rolling around on eight wheels.

Tony Sarabia talks to Chicago Tribune reporter Chris Borrelli, who talked to long-time skaters at the rink before it closed. We also have Sandra Levin on the line, the owner of the popular rink for 25 years. We’ll also go to the phones and hear from listeners about their good times rolling around on eight wheels.

An expert who tracks prison population data says he predicts the number of people incarcerated in Illinois will keep falling.

At least one Chicago organization is ending its refugee resettlement program following new regulations from the U.S. state department. Under new guidelines, local refugee resettlement agencies who resettle fewer than 100 refugees a year will lose their federal approval. Jewish Child & Family Services announced on Dec. 21 that it was shuttering its resettlement program — the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society in Chicago — since it only took in about 30 refugees in 2017.

The report, “Whitewashed: The African American Opioid Epidemic,” found that although African-Americans make up 15 percent of the state population, they account for nearly a quarter of all opioid-related deaths in Illinois and nearly half of all opioid-related deaths in Chicago.

The report, “Whitewashed: The African American Opioid Epidemic,” found that although African-Americans make up 15 percent of the state population, they account for nearly a quarter of all opioid-related deaths in Illinois and nearly half of all opioid-related deaths in Chicago.