What lies ahead for newly arrived migrants in Chicago. Answers for vendors at the Discount Mall. And a taste of the first-ever Empanada Fest in Northwest Indiana.

Chicago’s new immigrant arrivals, the president’s partisan calls for saving democracy and the Chicago Police Department gets some civilian oversight and more time off. 

A team of researchers, led by Morton Arboretum, spent the better part of the past five years creating the first-ever standardized checklist and threat assessment of the nearly 900 species native U.S. trees. Their work provides the foundation on which to build awareness, advocacy and future conservation efforts.

Chicago police leaders are adding patrols in neighborhoods, high-traffic areas and along the CTA during the Labor Day weekend, officials announced Friday.

Most recently, his focus has been on purchasing a 326-acre tract of land in suburban Arlington Heights, Illinois, where a new stadium and entertainment complex could be built. 

The ceremony will also mark Michelle Obama’s first visit to the White House since Obama’s presidency ended in January 2017, and only the second visit for Barack Obama. He was at the White House in April to mark the 12th anniversary of the health care law he signed in 2010.

Jehovah’s Witnesses suspended door-knocking in the early days of the pandemic’s onset in the United States, just as much of the rest of society went into lockdown too.

The new boosters are combination or “bivalent” shots that contain half the original vaccine that’s been used since December 2020 and half protection against today’s dominant omicron versions, BA.4 and BA.5.

CPS on Friday announced that 93.4% of its 300,000-plus students were in their classrooms for the start of the new school year on Aug. 22. That’s the highest percentage since the 2019-20 school year, the district said.

The neighborhood is an industrial corridor. It has a long history that dates back decades with the arrival of steel mills that drove hundreds of immigrants to move to the area to work and build. We started by talking to a long-time resident who tells us more about the economic impact of the steel mills' shutdown.

How local leaders are responding to migrants who’ve arrived in Chicago, by bus from Texas. Plus, how the city’s teen curfew is working. And we’re in East Side for our In Your Neighborhood series.

Chicago Police stepped up their use of the city’s overall curfew law this summer recording 141 curfew violations, an increase of approximately 57% as compared with the same period in 2021, according to police department data. 

A Chicagoland artist is making their Wrigley Field debut with a sculpture meant to encourage community. Arts correspondent Angel Idowu introduces us to “Cohere” and the visual artist behind the bronze beast.

A new report shows Gov. J.B. Pritzker's vast investment portfolio includes a dozen companies that earned billions of dollars in state contracts. When he took office, Pritzker promised to shift that portfolio into a blind trust, to eliminate conflicts of interest. But an investigation from the Better Government Association throws into question whether or not the move worked.

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s office confirmed that the group arrived on Wednesday night and said the city welcomes them. The immigrants are being bused from Texas as part of a strategy launched by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott this year.