An exclusive one-on-one with U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel. We talk with Chicago’s former mayor about his new role, the conflict in Gaza and much more.

Monday morning marks the official beginning of the 2024 election cycle in Illinois, opening up the week-long period when candidates for local, state, congressional and judicial races are required to turn in the signatures they’ve spent the last two months collecting to get on the ballot.

Activist Dolores Huerta on her legacy fighting injustice. The pride and pressure that come with being first-generation. And a local biochemistry professor wants to get more Latinos in laboratories.

Former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel has taken his brash, sometimes controversial style to his current role as U.S. ambassador to Japan. His recent critical remarks about Chinese President Xi Jinping have made waves across the Pacific and here in the United States.

What local groups are doing to combat rising food insecurity. A push to enhance the Major Taylor Trail on the South Side. And the creator of the animated series “Young Love.”

“The most fundamental thing is you don’t allow someone’s hatred to infiltrate how you see people,” Rahm Emanuel said. “There is a fundamental goodness in people. I have seen it, I have been a product of it. Have I had antisemitism directed at me? Yes, but I’ve also had the American story.”

Jurors on Tuesday began hearing evidence of the second of four criminal schemes the longtime 14th Ward alderperson was allegedly involved in — this one involving remodeling work at a Burger King restaurant that was located in Burke’s district.

Attorneys from the Chicago-based Clifford Law Offices announced Wednesday they’ve filed two additional lawsuits against the CTA, which allege that the commuter train was operated negligently.

Three cases were reported in both California and Florida, with other cases reported in Colorado, Kansas, Illinois, Michigan and Ohio.

The nearly three-dozen pensioners and 17 individual pension funds that sued have already lost twice in lower court. But their attorney was insistent the retired police and firefighters were wronged when Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed the law – passed with overwhelming bipartisan support.

Now in its seventh week, the war has leveled vast swaths of Gaza, fueled a surge of violence in the occupied West Bank, and stirred fears of a wider conflagration across the Middle East.

This year, don't head to your Thanksgiving gathering empty-handed. Take these wild turkey fun facts with you, and use them to fill awkward silences.

Thanksgiving travelers should expect to gobble up traffic over the next few days, with AAA forecasting 2.46 million vehicles to hit the roads in Illinois — some 60,000 more drivers than last year.

Ryan Field is getting a revamp after a narrow Evanston City Council vote. What the city’s new 60-day shelter limit means for asylum seekers. And a historic day for Northwestern University’s newest graduates.

Last week, the Northwestern Prison Education Program graduated its first cohort of students. The graduates are the first in the country to earn bachelor’s degrees from a top 10 university while incarcerated.