More than a dozen states quickly embraced new federal guidelines that say fully vaccinated Americans no longer need to wear masks indoors or out in most cases. But other states and cities and some major businesses hesitated amid doubts about whether the approach is safe or even workable.

Gas shortages at the pumps have spread from the South, all but emptying stations in Washington, D.C., following a ransomware cyberattack that forced a shutdown of the nation’s largest gasoline pipeline. Though the pipeline operator paid a ransom, restoring service was taking time.

The Lawrence and Berwyn stations will fully close Sunday while track is rebuilt and new stations are constructed on a 6-mile stretch of the CTA Red Line.

The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits fell last week to a new pandemic low, the latest evidence that fewer employers are cutting jobs as consumers ramp up spending and more businesses reopen.

The number of local home sales has skyrocketed, driving prices in the Chicago metro area to all-time highs. That’s translated into lightning-fast turnover as people put their homes up for sale — as well as a decline in inventory.

There is no gasoline shortage, according to government officials and energy analysts. But there is a problem getting the fuel from refineries on the Gulf Coast to the states that need it, and officials are scrambling to find alternate routes to deliver that fuel.

Approximately 12.6 million U.S. households got a new pet last year after the pandemic was declared in March 2020, according to a COVID-19 Pulse Study by the American Pet Products Association.

A new WBEZ series examines how Chicago’s institutions interact with its residents. Sasha-Ann Simons, the station’s new host of “Reset,” joins us.

For extra help with its massive $2.1 billion modernization project, the CTA hired a joint venture made up of three firms, including a locally owned company that started in a South Side attic. Rashod Johnson tells us about his company and his love of civil engineering.

A cyberattack on a critical U.S. pipeline is sending ripple effects across the economy, highlighting cybersecurity vulnerabilities in the nation’s aging energy infrastructure.

Figures released Tuesday by the American Gaming Association, the casino industry’s national trade group, show the nation’s commercial casinos took in over $11.1 billion in the first quarter of this year.

Rush University System for Health and BMO Financial Group team up to help improve health disparities in the region. Crain’s Chicago Business reporter Danny Ecker has details on that story and more.

One of Chicago’s only weekly, nearly year-long farmers markets opened on Sunday, just in time to provide some extra help to the farmers, restaurateurs and other food producers selling their goods in the city’s Northwest Side neighborhood. We meet some of this year’s vendors.

The U.S. economy has come roaring back from pandemic lows, but a disappointing jobs report that fell far short of analysts’ predictions highlighted some potentially worrying trends.

The Transportation Security Administration said that slightly more than 1.7 million people were screened at airport checkpoints on Sunday, the highest number since March 2020, when travel was collapsing because of the coronavirus outbreak.

The cyberextortion attempt that has forced the shutdown of a vital U.S. pipeline was carried out by a criminal gang known as DarkSide that cultivates a Robin Hood image of stealing from corporations and giving a cut to charity, a person close to the investigation said Sunday.