Nearly 700,000 Chicago residents claim Mexican heritage, and over the years, Mexican culture has become woven into the city’s tapestry. A new business in Little Village explores the space where the Midwest meets Mexico by combining haircuts with deep cuts.

Austin has dealt with decades of disinvestment and is acutely feeling the impact of gun violence. However, many residents, community organizations and local businesses are working to address some of the systemic issues the community faces and to bring investment to the area.

Rowdy airline passengers have now racked up a record $1 million in potential fines this year, a toll of the tumult in the sky as travelers have returned after most were grounded by the pandemic in 2020.

The Chicago area has seen a 6.6% unemployment rate decrease, from 15.1% in June 2020 to 8.5% in June of this year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. How a new program aims to get even more job seekers employed.

Thieves claiming to be affiliated with ComEd are contacting Illinois residents and threatening to shut off their electricity unless a purportedly “past-due” bill is paid immediately via Bitcoin, according to a warning from Attorney General Kwame Raoul.

The names, Social Security numbers and information from driver’s licenses or other identification of just over 40 million people who applied for T-Mobile credit were exposed in a recent data breach, the company said Wednesday.

Illinois legislators may be back in Springfield soon for a second extra session. Their sole goal: to strike a deal on a massive energy package. The result will impact everything from Illinois’ role in climate change to your energy bill. But the stakes are particularly high in one Illinois town. 

A new wave of Chicago organizations say they’ll require COVID-19 vaccinations. Crain’s Chicago Business reporter Danny Ecker has details on that story and more.

More than 45 days after Ald. Carrie Austin (34th Ward) was indicted on charges of bribery and lying to federal officials, Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who picked Austin to lead the Committee on Contracting Oversight and Equity, has yet to call for Austin to relinquish her position. 

Located near the Kennedy Expressway and the Chicago River, Avondale has significant Polish, Latino, Eastern European and Asian populations. And like many parts of Chicago, residents and community leaders are concerned gentrification might displace longtime neighbors.

For families around the world and especially in Latin America, receiving money transfers from relatives working in the U.S. provides a critical line of support. With a large immigrant population, Chicago has been a significant source of these money transfers.

There are four ways to appeal property tax assessments in Cook County. But is that a good thing? Former state Rep. Barbara Flynn Currie and Assessor Fritz Kaegi weigh in.

The pizza chain announced Monday a “Surprise Frees” promotion, giving customers a chance for some free food to counter delivery apps like UberEats and DoorDash. Domino’s called competitors’ extra fees a “disappointing surprise.”

Exelon strikes a $885 million deal with a French utility giant, but will it cost the energy company more than what it paid? Crain’s Chicago Business reporter A.D. Quig has details on that story and more.

The retired Harvard Business School professor and Englewood native talks about some of the ideas in his new book, “A Letter to My White Friends and Colleagues: What You Can Do Right Now to Help the Black Community.”

United Airlines will require employees in the U.S. to be vaccinated against COVID-19 by late October, perhaps sooner, joining a growing number of big corporations that are responding to a surge in virus cases.