"Unofficial" trails were damaging rare ecosystems in Swallow Cliff Woods. The forest preserve district asked people to stick to marked paths and the message succeeded.

Elena Diadenko aids the war effort in her native country. When she isn’t teaching she raises funds through art-related events — although now she has a heightened sense of urgency due to the new administration in Washington DC.

For weeks, Democratic lawmakers have met with and mimicked figures they believe may offer them a path back to power in Washington: online influencers and content creators.

Since the beginning of the year, Chicago police officers have shot five people, killing three, records show. A spokesperson for Mayor Brandon Johnson acknowledged he has not named an interim replacement for Andrea Kersten, who resigned as the chief administrator of the Civilian Office of Police Accountability, known as COPA, on Feb. 13.

The U.S. Education Department last week said it was investigating dozens of universities for alleged racial discrimination, citing ties to the nonprofit organization.

People with severe asthma insured by BlueCross BlueShield of Illinois may soon face a new hurdle in accessing a treatment that providers say is critically important to keeping certain patients alive and well.

The transit agencies came up with the doomsday models at the RTA’s behest, responding to calls from Springfield legislators who’ve demanded specifics about how bad it could get if transit goes over the fiscal cliff — as well as what public transportation could look like if lawmakers go beyond plugging the budget gap and drastically increase state funding.

Chicago Board of Education members kick the can on a budget amendment. And a new lawsuit alleges a pattern of illegal arrests by ICE agents in the Chicago area.

Temporary protected status (TPS) is a designation the U.S. government gives for countries it deems too dangerous to humanely send its citizens back to. Eligible migrants from designated countries can apply for protections from deportation if they arrived in the U.S. by a certain date.

The arrests allegedly violate a 2022 agreement between Chicago groups and the federal government detailing how U.S. Immigration Customs and Enforcement officers can make “collateral arrests,” where agents detain others besides those being targeted.

The decision to delay the vote is an acknowledgment that budget amendment does not have the support of at least 14 of the 21 CPS board members.

President Donald Trump has derided the Education Department as wasteful and polluted by liberal ideology. However, completing its dismantling is most likely impossible without an act of Congress, which created the department in 1979.

A new notification system is being proposed at access points along the Chicago River to warn recreational users when untreated wastewater has entered the waterway.

More than 3.3 million travelers are projected to pass through the airports between Thursday and March 31, a 4% increase from the same period last year, according to the Chicago Department of Aviation.

Earlier this year, the IRS announced that it’s distributing about $2.4 billion to taxpayers who didn’t receive their COVID stimulus payments.