Strike a blow against the deep-rooted culture of corruption in Chicago and Illinois by sending former Ald. Ricardo Muñoz (22nd Ward) to prison, prosecutors urged a federal judge.

Admission to the Chicago Botanic Garden is no longer free. Ticket prices will range between $9.95 and $25.95 per adult, depending on anticipated demand.

The government's report Friday also drastically revised up its estimate of job gains for November and December by a combined 709,000. It also said the unemployment rate ticked up last month from 3.9% to a still-low 4%.

In the fall, UCAN announced Christa Hamilton would be the first female and first Black person to lead the organization. More recently, lifetime resident pastor James Brooks became the CEO of the Lawndale Christian Health Center.

Community reaction to Jason Van Dyke's release from prison. Laquan McDonald’s neighborhood of North Lawndale is our In Your Neighborhood stop. Plus, the city’s top cop and Sen. Tammy Duckworth.

The snowy owl is being treated at Willowbrook Wildlife Center, where a bald eagle is recuperating from the same issue. Anticoagulants in rodenticides can be deadly to the birds of prey that eat poisoned rats, mice and other rodents.

Two U.S. senators are pressing the Justice Department on a federal civil rights investigation into former Chicago Police officer Jason Van Dyke. Senators Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth say the facts of the case are “shocking and upsetting” and are asking the Attorney General for an update into the probe.

Chicago police superintendent David Brown is approaching nearly two years in command. And it's been a rough ride. His tenure has been racked with a soaring homicide rate and weeks of civil unrest in the wake of George Floyd's murder — all while attempting to reform a police department during a global pandemic.

We spent the day in North Lawndale — the neighborhood Laquan McDonald grew up in — and spoke with family members and the community about Jason Van Dyke’s release as part of our community reporting series.

“I understand why this continues to feel like a miscarriage of justice, especially when many Black and brown men get sentenced to so much more prison time for having committed far lesser crimes,” Mayor Lori Lightfoot said.

According to Chicago Public Schools data, 49.9% of Pre-K through12th grade students in district-operated schools were accounted for on Wednesday.

Lake scientists have long considered winter a season when aquatic activity slows. But researchers now think more is going on in the bitter depths than previously believed — including activity influenced by climate change. 

A “bite-sized version” of Taste of Chicago will return to Grant Park in July, with pop-ups returning to Chicago’s neighborhoods, officials said. 

It was the first time the franchise’s top leaders had faced questions in public since the team published a report by an outside law firm that found the organization badly mishandled Kyle Beach’s allegations that he was assaulted by then-video coach Brad Aldrich during the team’s run to the 2010 Stanley Cup title.

Chicago is digging out from a wild Wednesday that saw continuous snowfall throughout the day, dumping anywhere from 5.6 inches at O'Hare to 11 inches at Midway. That looks to be the end of active weather, for now.