Ice bumper cars, fitness classes, bald eagles and snowshoes usher in the weekend. Here are 10 things to do in and around Chicago.

“COVID is very real, it’s merciless, and unless you are fully vaccinated, your defenses against it are pretty low,” said Dr. Allison Arwady, the commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health. 

The former Little Village alderperson's sentencing on charges of wire fraud and money laundering will be delayed by more than a month due to the latest surge of COVID-19.

The decision to keep the initial definition, established more than a year ago when the vaccines first rolled out, means that federal vaccination mandates for travel or employment won’t require a booster dose.

The latest on the teachers union’s decision to be out of  the classroom. The CEO of one of the city’s largest hospitals on record COVID-19 hospitalization rates. And behind a local fast-food favorite.

The Chicago Teachers Union announced late Tuesday that its rank-and-file members voted in favor of a measure to halt in-person work and transition to remote work Wednesday as it continues negotiating a deal with the city and school district over additional health and safety measures.

Chicago Department of Public Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady said it’s rare for children to contract COVID-19 and hospitalizations are similar to that of the flu. “We don’t upend school, we don’t stop for influenza,” she said.

The former Black Panther who first won election in 1992 said in a speech at a Chicago church that he isn’t retiring from public service. 

Reports of sexual assault in Chicago appear to be returning to pre-pandemic levels, and the Near North police district — which includes River North — reached a 20-year high, according to a recent report in the Chicago Sun-Times.

Both traditional and groundbreaking, Stephen Sondheim was a one-man era of musical theater. A new appreciation of his music and artistry from WFMT.

While some people seem to just stay young longer, others age prematurely. Your chronological age of course can’t be changed, but research suggests the biological processes that drive aging may in fact be malleable.

The Chicago Teachers Union is set to vote Tuesday evening on a labor action that would see its 25,000 members work fully remotely beginning Wednesday. If that measure is approved, CPS CEO Pedro Martinez said he’ll have no choice but to cancel classes.

Chicago Public Schools parents brace for a potential cancellation of classes Wednesday. The city’s top doc on surging COVID-19 numbers. A long-serving congressman announces his next move.

A couple of factors are at play, starting with the emergence of the highly contagious omicron variant. Omicron is more likely to infect people, even if it doesn’t make them very sick, and its surge coincided with the holiday travel season in many places.

The president emphasized that vaccines, booster shots and therapeutic drugs have mitigated the danger for the overwhelming majority of Americans who are fully vaccinated.