Chicago City Council voted this week to extend an ordinance aimed at slowing gentrification and displacement in Pilsen and areas near the 606 trail. The measure imposes a fee on permits for the demolition of buildings with residential units.

A 2021 measure intended to slow gentrification in Pilsen has been extended. A new book examines why many Latinos still lack health insurance. An exhibit explores the life of a Chicago activist.

Millionaire philanthropist Pete Kadens has created two college-scholarship programs — Hope Toledo, in his Ohio hometown, and Hope Chicago, which he co-founded with investment-management executive Ted Koenig and launched in September. The goal: provide debt-free college to public-school graduates. 

Normally, airlines that fail to use their assigned rights, or “slots,” at John F. Kennedy and LaGuardia airports in New York, and Reagan National Airport outside Washington, risk losing them. However, regulators waived that rule in March 2020 when airlines cut flights due to the pandemic.

Illinois will close its community, free COVID-19 testing sites within the next week. The Illinois Department of Public Health cites a “sharp increase in demand” that dropped “precipitously in recent weeks” as its reason for closing the testing locations, as well as an “anticipated end of federal funding.”

Chicago casino proposal final three. City Council to consider replacements for 11th Ward alderperson. Will Congressman Mike Quigley make a bid for mayor? And Senate grills Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson.

Based on the 2014 memoir by New York Times columnist Charles M. Blow, the opera’s title is drawn directly from the biblical story of Jeremiah, the severely persecuted “weeping prophet” known for his tender heart. But it is a deeply personal and contemporary story.

Earth Hour started as a simple “lights out” message to draw attention to climate change but has become a global call for environmental action.

Parties on Friday presented a stipulation to U.S. District Judge Robert Dow that will extend the current five-year window out to eight years and add in a new agreement that police search warrants will now fall under the purview of the consent decree.

As coronavirus infections rise in some parts of the world, experts are watching for a potential new COVID-19 surge in the U.S. — and wondering how long it will take to detect.

The United States is expanding efforts to help Ukrainian refugees. It has agreed to accept up to 100,000 people escaping from the war and to increase support for Eastern European nations that have taken in most of the people fleeing Russian forces. 

A new study led by the Field Museum shows that a number of bird species are laying their eggs nearly a month earlier than 100 years ago, likely due to climate change.

Millions of dollars in COVID-19 relief have come to Chicago. We hear from a recipient. How contact tracing efforts may change. And babies born to surrogates in Ukraine, we hear a Chicago couple’s story.

In the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, city and county officials hired hundreds of contact tracers to help stop the spread of the coronavirus as the sheer number of cases overwhelmed local health departments. But as the coronavirus pandemic enters an endemic phase, contact tracing will become more targeted, according to officials.

In the last five years, Ukraine has emerged as the second-most popular destination for surrogacy, only behind the United States, in part because some nations outlawed surrogacy.