Maestro Riccardo Muti was in stellar form during Thursday night’s concert in Orchestra Hall. He clearly is in love with the indomitable musicians of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and they return that passion with a magnificent combination of sound and fury and absolute beauty.

By Friday, the fast-moving storm had already dropped heavy snow across a large swath of the Midwest, where travel conditions deteriorated and scores of schools closed or moved to online instruction. Iowa was hit the hardest.

As more families pivot back to remote learning amid quarantines and school closures, reliable, consistent access to devices and home internet remains elusive for many students who need them to keep up with their schoolwork. 

In honor of Monday’s Martin Luther King Day of Service, Cook County Forest Preserves is hosting volunteer activities at a number of sites across the forest preserve district, from habitat restoration to litter cleanups.

Chicago Public Schools students are back to in-person learning but tensions still surround the CTU. A new entrant is set to join the Republican candidates in the governor’s race. Mayor Lightfoot gets COVID-19. And the Bears search for a new general manager and head coach.

The unreleased report attempts to tell the “full story — thoroughly documented and sourced — of how the city’s government worked to prevent a victim of what was plainly either official misconduct or error from obtaining video proof of the raid on her home, thereby frustrating her efforts to secure redress for the injuries inflicted on her, however unintentionally, by government actors.”

The first report from interim Inspector General William Marback disclosed that Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration declined to fire an employee of the Chicago Department of Public Health or punish two other employees of the Department of Buildings responsible for approving and overseeing the implosion of the smokestack.

A Milwaukee man accused of killing six people and injuring dozens more when he drove an SUV through a suburban Christmas parade must stand trial, a court commissioner ordered Friday.

Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, objected to extending the credit out of concern that the money would discourage people from working and that any additional federal spending would fuel inflation that has already climbed to a nearly 40-year high.

Much of the $190 billion that Congress authorized for schools earlier in the pandemic has yet to be used. In a majority of states, less than 20% of the federal money had been spent by the end of November, according to the latest U.S. Department of Education data.

Surging COVID-19 cases fueled by the omicron variant will not delay the trial of Ald. Patrick Daley Thompson (11th Ward) on seven charges that he lied to federal bank regulators and filed false tax returns, a judge ruled Friday.

Though N95 and KN95 masks are treated as disposable, single-use gear in clinical settings, in everyday life they can be reused for extended periods when cared for properly. We’ve got tips.

It’s not yet clear, but some early data suggests people might become contagious sooner than with earlier variants — possibly within a day after infection.

We go to Skokie, where some residents are upset about a potential new neighbor coming to town: a car dealer, with an untraditional model for displaying their wares.

Spotting COVID-19 testing scams. Schools change their rules on COVID-19 quarantining. Live from Skokie. Why opioid deaths among older Americans have soared. And WTTW’s “Wild Travels” are back.