Zahrah Hill, who’s a plumber, and her mother Renee Wilson-Hill, a turbine generator winder, started their careers through Chicago Women In Trades. As part of our Last Word series, They give us a look into why they entered their industry.

A powerful line of thunderstorms ripped through the Chicago region Saturday night, with wind gusts topping 80 miles per hour. The wild weather continues Sunday with winter mounting a comeback.

Cook County’s forest preserves are much loved for their picnic groves and trails. Not as well known: The forest preserve district’s role as a research hub and early warning system of sorts against zoonotic diseases.

Hubbard Street Dance Chicago has retained a number of its most superb and experienced dancers. At the same time, it has incorporated a good deal of new talent that clearly can carry off the many challenging and stylistically varied works that are part of its ever-expanding repertoire.

A new mural near 30th and Ridgeway in Little Village depicts the figures behind a pivotal moment in Chicago’s labor history: the Haymarket Affair.

As mask mandates are lifted, local doctors on where we go from here. Plus, firsthand accounts from entrepreneurs on how they got started. And La Ultima Palabra on women in trade industries. CBS Chicago’s Marissa Parra guest hosts.

This week seems to have marked a turning point in the COVID-19 pandemic with the lifting of masking mandates and vaccine checks in Chicago. But as spring approaches, it’s also a reminder that we’ve been here before. 

According to the Stanford Latino Entrepreneurship Initiative’s 2021 report, Latino entrepreneurs continue to outpace the rest of the startup population. So, why take the risk of starting your own business? We spoke with some local entrepreneurs about how they got their starts.

Like Rosie the Riveter, ironworker Jennifer Ortiz wants women to know they can do it. Here, she gives La Ultima Palabra on how the spark that ignited her career in the trades can work for other women, too.

The Associated Press got exclusive access over two days to the first 12 inmates enrolled in the largely privately funded gang-cessation and jobs program at the DuPage County Jail and to their cellblock. For their safety, they’re isolated from the jail’s 500 other inmates, half of whom are in gangs.

New York City, which has long prided itself as having the nation’s toughest COVID-19 safety protocols, will do away with several of its mandates next week, including required masking in public schools and vaccination requirements at restaurants, entertainment and cultural venues, the mayor announced Friday.

Even though the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant is of a different design than Chernobyl and is protected from fire, nuclear safety experts and the International Atomic Energy Agency warn that waging war in and around such facilities presents extreme risks.

The feds nab Madigan on 22 corruption counts. Lightfoot's provocative statements. Arne Duncan says no to mayoral bid. And President Biden gives State of the Union amid Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Crisis Assistance Response and Engagement (CARE) teams — which are comprised of police officers trained in crisis intervention, a mental health professional and a paramedic — fielded 134 separate mental health crisis calls between Sept.13, 2021 and Wednesday, according to new city data.

Russian troops Friday seized the biggest nuclear power plant in Europe after a middle-of-the-night attack that set it on fire and briefly raised worldwide fears of a catastrophe in the most chilling turn in Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine yet.