Johnny Clark, chef and owner at Chicago restaurant Wherewithall, is using his culinary skills to help keep Ukrainian culture alive while at the same time raising funds for the country. 

The Chicago Council on Global Affairs turns 100 this year. The organization was created in 1922 amid isolationist sentiment in the U.S. following World War I. In the years since, it has brought a long list of global leaders and experts to Chicago. 

A previous effort to renovate the Congress Theater sputtered out in 2020, even after the City Council agreed to give the project a $9.7 million subsidy.

“I don’t anticipate, you know, more serious consequences in terms of work stoppages,” CPS CEO Pedro Martinez said, “but we will continue to work together because we have it in both our best interests to keep our community safe.”

A federal judge last week sentenced Diego Vargas after he pleaded guilty to maliciously attempting to damage and destroy a building by means of an explosive device.

Former state Sen. Tom Cullerton pleaded guilty to embezzlement Tuesday morning, more than two years after he was charged with fraudulently receiving salary and benefits from a labor union despite doing “little or no work.”

The indictment is a further proof of how far the Justice Department is going to prosecute the leaders of extremist groups whose members are suspected to have planned and attacked the U.S. Capitol, even if they weren’t in attendance themselves. 

The action follows pleas by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to U.S. and Western officials to cut off the imports, which had been a glaring omission in the massive sanctions put in place on Russia over the invasion.

Anyone in line to file their petitions by the time election authorities opened their doors has a chance to be listed first on the ballot for their race, a position that could make a difference by attracting voters’ eyeballs in a close contest.

Chicago Public Schools announces plans to lift its mask mandate but the teachers union is pushing back. Plus, candidate filing kicks off. And a timely new book on the rise and fall of former House Speaker Michael Madigan.

Chicago Tribune investigative reporter Ray Long began covering the statehouse at the beginning of Madigan’s historic reign as speaker of the House, and has unique insight into how he operated. Long joins Paris Schutz to discuss his new book on Madigan’s career. 

Years in the making, the Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act is among some 200 bills that have been introduced over the past century that have tried to ban lynching in America. It is named for the Black teenager from Chicago whose brutal killing in Mississippi in 1955 became a pivotal moment in the Civil Rights era.

The school district said it will move to a mask-optional model for all staff and across all grade levels on March 14.

Pianist Daniil Trifonov held a concert at Orchestra Hall featuring three fiendishly difficult pieces by Szymanoski, Debussy and Brahms. 

Chicago police officers were more likely to stop and use force against Black Chicagoans than other racial groups, according to a new report from the Office of the Inspector General.