According to a federal report released Monday, the U.S. experienced 20 billion-dollar weather and climate disasters in 2021, including hurricanes, wildfires and out-of-season December tornadoes.

It can be hard to tell one tree from another in winter, but there's a simple trick to identifying invasive buckthorn. 

Matt Nagy's fate seemed sealed as the Bears struggled through a 6-11 season that ended with a loss at Minnesota on Sunday. But it was not clear if Ryan Pace also would be let go or retained in either his current role or a different capacity.

Adam Gross will help launch the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability after serving as the director of the police accountability program area for BPI, a public interest law firm.

“Although we have been negotiating hard throughout the day, there has not been sufficient progress for us to predict a return to class tomorrow,” Mayor Lori Lightfoot tweeted Sunday.

Talks between Chicago school leaders and the teachers' union resumed Sunday amid a standoff over remote learning and other COVID-19 safety measures that canceled three days of classes. 

Skokie Lagoons may look like an oasis of green but a lot of that lush vegetation is actually an invasive species called European buckthorn. WTTW News tagged along as a group of volunteers charged into the thicket and tackled this enemy. 

Advocates for closing the Guantanamo Bay detention center were optimistic when President Joe Biden took office. Many are now increasingly impatient.

Illinois officials are seeking answers after the killing last week of a state child welfare worker during a home visit — the second such tragedy to occur in less than five years.

 Students briefly returned to class for the first two days of this week, but since Wednesday, classes have been outright canceled as teachers refused to work in person and CPS refuses to go remote, leaving families in limbo once again.

The pandemic has had a disproportionate effect on the physical, emotional, and financial health of restaurant workers, especially those in the Latino community. Three years ago, a group of hospitality workers created a nonprofit aimed at getting mental health care for struggling workers.

Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Teachers Union have been battling all week over whether it’s safe to have kids in the classroom as COVID-19 cases rise. The dispute has led to classes being canceled for three days as teachers refuse to work in-person, and the district refuses to go remote.

In the early days of the pandemic, many Chicagoans used social media to learn new skills and hobbies. One of them is Juan Lopez, a lifelong East Sider who used TikTok videos to teach himself a new skill that he turned into a small business last summer.

The standoff between CPS and the teachers union leaves parents in the lurch. Plus, contracts for domestic workers. And meet a local man turning his pandemic hobby into a business.