Starting May 21, Amtrak is adding a second daily passenger rail service dubbed Borealis, which connects Chicago and St. Paul through Milwaukee. The new rail service serves 13 train stations for an estimated travel time of 7 hours and 24 minutes between Chicago and St. Paul, according to Amtrak’s website.

The input from residents will help communities create strategies and take action to reduce the future risk of death, injuries and property damage from natural disasters, officials said.

“Christina Ramberg: A Retrospective” places an important, underappreciated Chicago artist where she clearly belongs — in the Modern Wing of the Art Institute of Chicago. It’s the first full survey of Ramberg’s work in the nearly 30 years since her untimely death.

After decades of decline, traffic fatalities have been climbing nationwide since 2014. Advocates said reducing speed limits is a relatively easy and high-impact intervention that will protect drivers, passengers, pedestrians and cyclists alike.

Attorneys for the family of Da’Karia Spicer, 10, killed in a 2020 traffic crash are seeking to make public their deposition of former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who a day after the accident said she didn’t believe a police vehicle pursuit had led to the girl’s death.

Student protests over the Israel-Hamas war have popped up at college campuses across the U.S. after being inspired by demonstrators at Columbia University. As May commencement ceremonies near, administrators face added pressure to clear protesters.

Hundreds rally at local universities to support Palestinians amid the war in Gaza. And our Spotlight Politics team unpacks a plan that would merge the Chicago area’s public transit agencies.

Banks, credit unions and mortgage companies will soon have to report to state regulators about how many loans they make in low-income, high-minority neighborhoods. That's the result of a state law passed in 2021 as part of the Legislative Black Caucus' social and economic reform agenda.

The move comes after President Joe Biden called for a review of federal marijuana law in October 2022 and moved to pardon thousands of Americans convicted federally of simple possession of the drug.

The Pan-Asian Voter Empowerment Coalition has gathered over 300 members to take part in this year’s Asian American Action Day events to advocate for language and immigration services and education equity, among other causes. 

Officials from the union and Chicago Public Schools began talks this week as the sides work to secure the first new teachers contract since former CTU organizer and educator Brandon Johnson was elected mayor.

It is now up to the Chicago City Council to confirm Mayor Brandon Johnson’s picks to serve four-year terms, which are set to be formally introduced on May 22 and could be voted on by the full City Council as soon as June.

“Chicago Tonight: Latino Voices” host Joanna Hernandez moderated a conversation about how supporting victims of gun violence and finding a path toward healing plays a role in ending cycles of violence.

“I know he truly cared, not only for his own constituents, but for all of Chicago and for the success of our great city,” former mayoral candidate Paul Vallas wrote of former Ald. Ed Burke, who was convicted of 13 counts of bribery, attempted extortion and racketeering.

A group of eight U.S. newspapers is suing ChatGPT-maker OpenAI and Microsoft, alleging that the technology companies have been “purloining millions” of copyrighted news articles without permission or payment to train their artificial intelligence chatbots.