The order comes after a 2023 ruling in federal court that Chicago’s long-running failure to protect blind pedestrians violated the Americans With Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act, following on the heels of a similar ruling in New York City.

The department’s Office for Civil Rights on Friday announced it has begun investigating 45 universities for failing to follow their “civil rights obligations to end the use of racial preferences and stereotypes in education programs and activities.”

More than half of those charged in Cook County with felony firearm cases involving modified weapons have been detained pending trial during the first three-plus months under new State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke.

A controversial plan to expand a toxic dump on Lake Michigan is dropped. Why medical schools are enrolling fewer Black and Latino students. And what you should know about tonight’s lunar eclipse.

Since the U.S. Supreme Court struck down affirmative action in 2023, diversity is in decline at medical schools nationwide.

The texts impersonating state road toll collection agencies attempt to get phone users to reveal financial information, such as credit or debit cards or bank accounts.

This week’s lunar eclipse will be the first witnessed in high-def from the moon itself — technically a solar eclipse on the moon — thanks to a lunar lander. “I cannot wait for this to happen,” said astronomer Michelle Nichols of Adler Planetarium.

His remarks came just two days after the agency abruptly laid off 1,300 employees, or about half its workforce, including an estimated 50 workers in its Chicago regional office.

A House committee advanced a bill Wednesday that would give high school student athletes the right to participate in both school-sponsored teams and non-school teams in the same sport at the same time.

State Rep. Bob Morgan (D-Deerfield) is sponsoring two bills that would place restrictions on the use of AI in online therapy services as well as AI use in decision-making processes that determine a person’s health insurance coverage.

The Ravinia Festival summer lineup features more than 100 concerts and 40 artist debuts. Tickets for the summer season go on sale to the public April 24.

Whether it be tariffs that make Illinois soybeans less attractive to China or cuts to funds that prop up things like rural firefighting services, conservation-minded farming techniques and tree assessments after major storms, Illinois farmers are worried.

In February, the Trump administration announced deep cuts to National Institutes of Health grants for research institutions, a shift that could reduce the money going to some universities by over $100 million.

Federal prosecutors want the judge to hold an evidentiary hearing before deciding whether ex-Ald. Carrie Austin, 75, is too ill to stand trial.

The decades-old St. Patrick's Day tradition routinely attracts tens of thousands of revelers to the riverfront, but in recent years it's also attracted criticism from environmentalists.