These cultural districts include ethnic enclaves in Chicago and historically Black neighborhoods in Champaign and Springfield.

The National Weather Service has issued a tornado watch for the Chicago region, much of northern Illinois and parts of northeast Indiana, through 10 p.m. Tuesday.

A sea of Chicago police officers and officials filled Judge Ursula Walowski’s fifth-floor courtroom as opening statements got underway at the Leighton Criminal Court Building Tuesday, more than two and a half years after Officer Ella French was killed.

The company is closing 150 underperforming stores — 50 by the end of 2024 and the other 100 over the next few years. By 2026, it will have just 350 Macy’s stores, the company announced.

On Monday, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission filed an administrative complaint against Kroger’s $24.6 billion deal to acquire Albertsons and a federal lawsuit that asks a judge to block the merger for now.

In honor of National Invasive Species Awareness Week, we’re posting daily “dupes” — invasives that can easily be confused with native species. Today we’re tackling crayfish.

The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, also known as WIC, is facing a $1 billion budget shortfall, and Congress has until March to secure funding. Illinois would need about $24 million in additional funding for the 2024 fiscal year to serve its eligible population.

A ballot measure aimed at addressing homelessness is thrown into question. Possible budget cuts for a federal food assistance program. And debating school resource officers. 

 In a unanimous vote last Thursday, they decided to eliminate uniformed police officers from the 39 public high schools that still have them.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker said he’s “reluctant” to use taxpayer funds to help the White Sox move from Bridgeport to the South Loop.

“Chicago Tonight: Latino Voices” host Joanna Hernandez spoke to those working directly with Chicago’s unhoused population to understand what work is being done, the barriers to finding help and some possible solutions.

The nonprofit Chicago South Side Birth Center will mark the city’s second active midwife-led birth center, but the first for the South Side. Advocates say the Black-led center offers safe birthing alternatives in a medically underserved area of the city. 

The trips underscore immigration’s central importance in the 2024 presidential race, for Republicans and increasingly for Democrats, particularly after congressional talks on a deal to rein in illegal migration collapsed.

The economy looks set to grow 2.2% this year after adjusting for inflation, according to the National Association for Business Economics. That’s up from the 1.3% predicted in the association’s prior survey, which was conducted in November.

The Forest Preserve District of Will County confirmed a second pair of eagles are incubating eggs in a newly-built, enormous nest.