African Americans were fighting for their rights through common law long before what many people know conventionally as the Civil Rights Movement. That’s the conclusion award-winning scholar and author Dylan Penningroth came to in his book “Before the Movement: The Hidden History of Black Civil Rights.”

The City Council’s Finance Committee unanimously endorsed the plan from R2 Co. and the Campari Group to transform the 14-story office building at 79 W. Monroe St. into an apartment building with 117 units, including 41 units set aside for low- and moderate-income Chicagoans.

A local nonprofit hosts Austin Farm-to-Table Trolley Tours where neighbors visit community gardens, learn about health and wellness and see a cooking demonstration with a professional chef. The predominantly Black neighborhood of 96,000 is considered a food desert.

A federal judge in Washington, D.C., has released the most comprehensive narrative to date of the 2020 election conspiracy case against Donald Trump, outlining what special counsel Jack Smith describes as the former president’s “private criminal conduct.”

“This is still very much a frustration I have,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said. “I’ve been in conversations with the superintendent, with our budget director to come up with better systems.”

Chicago-based health care workers who provided humanitarian aid in Gaza gathered Wednesday to raise awareness around the ongoing crisis in Palestine and the deaths of civilians.

The FBI is seeking any information about a man dubbed the “bare-chested bandit” who is believed to be responsible for a trio of bank robberies in the Loop in recent weeks.

Around 43 million Americans have student loan debt, amounting to $1.5 trillion. If you have student loans, here’s what you need to know.

The Welcome Corps, which launched last year, pairs groups of Americans with newly arrived refugees. So far, the resettlement program has connected 3,500 sponsors with 1,800 refugees, and many more want to help: 100,000 people have applied to become sponsors.

Only a fraction of the Great Lakes’ bottom has been mapped, and those low-resolution charts were completed decades ago, according to the Great Lakes Observing System, a nonprofit that manages data from a network of lake observers and makes it easily accessible.

Robert Crimo III, who remains in custody at the Lake County Jail, once again refused to attend a status hearing in his case Wednesday, months before he is set to stand trial on seven counts of first-degree murder and dozens of other charges.

District Judge John Blakey on Wednesday denied a defense motion seeking to toss out a handful of charges, including bribery counts, after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling narrowed the federal bribery statute — known as “section 666” — in a ruling earlier this year.

Each Wednesday, Via Chicago presents five must-see shows from indie rock to jazz, country, hip-hop and more. 

What to expect as Tim Walz and J.D. Vance face off tonight on the debate stage. And Chicago’s mayor delays his budget address as the city faces a billion-dollar deficit.

Although the mailers did not identify who paid for them, the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150 helped bankroll the campaign, Local 150 officials told WTTW News.