"It ensures that if a teacher has done their part to keep their classroom safe for their most vulnerable students, they won’t have to worry for a second about their pay or their paid time off if they get COVID,” Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Tuesday.

Zelenskyy, appearing via video from Ukraine, told council members that civilians had been shot in the back of the head after being tortured, blown up with grenades in their apartments and crushed to death by tanks while in cars.

On Monday, Democrats unveiled a series of bills they described as “pro law enforcement,” even as a top Republican rebuffed the effort as “trying to rewrite history.” Legislators are set to adjourn their spring session nearly two months earlier than normal, in order to spend spring and summer on the campaign trail. 

From filling your trunk with groceries to filling your car with gas, the price is going up. A new report on climate change was released — and it’s not pretty. And what genealogists can learn from just-released U.S. census records from 1950.

Last week, the U.S. National Archives released U.S. census records from 1950, granting public access to files that documented more than 150 million people and the areas they lived, the jobs they had, and much more.

According to the latest report on climate change, we’re still not doing enough to curb greenhouse gas emissions. There’s a way forward, but action can’t wait, scientists say.

Last year, shoppers paid roughly 6% more for their groceries than the year before. But it’s the cost of meat in particular that is behind much of the rise in our grocery bills. Beef is now some 20% more expensive than it was, while pork is up 14% and chicken around 7%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The senators from Alaska and Utah announced their decisions ahead of a procedural vote to advance the nomination and as Democrats pressed to confirm Jackson by the end of the week. 

The officer is a member of the department’s SWAT Team, who are not equipped with body-worn cameras, according to a statement from the agency known as COPA, which is charged with investigating police misconduct.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced a series of new initiatives to improve public safety, including a new Home and Business Protection Rebate Program through which residents can get rebates to defray the cost of security cameras and video storage.

The event was part of Shermann “Dilla” Thomas’ “Let’s Get Dilla A Bus” fundraiser to raise $200,000 for the his Chicago Mahogany Tours. It’s an opportunity that came to Thomas after be gained recognition on social media for his informative TikTok’s that educate the public on Chicago’s history.

President Joe Biden’s comments to reporters came after Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited Bucha, one of the towns surrounding Kyiv where Ukrainian officials say the bodies of civilians have been found. Zelenskyy called the Russian actions “genocide” and called for the West to apply tougher sanctions against Russia.

Since the pandemic started, experts have warned of a mental health crisis facing American children. That is now playing out at schools in the form of increased childhood depression, anxiety, panic attacks, eating disorders, fights and thoughts of suicide at alarming levels.

A fight for transgender lives. The LGBTQ community speaks out after two Black trans women are found dead. And a preview of “Fire Shut Up In My Bones,” now playing at Lyric Opera.

“Fire Shut Up In My Bones” is based on a memoir by longtime New York Times columnist Charles M. Blow. Composed by Terence Blanchard, the story explores how Blow works to heal from traumatic incidents of abuse in his childhood.