March Madness arrives as vaccinations increase in the U.S. and the death toll from COVID-19 has dropped, but health experts note that many seniors and other at-risk people still haven’t been vaccinated. 

Ma Rainey made history as the “mother of blues.” Her music and her story are highlighted in the film “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” which depicts a recording session in 1920s Chicago. Not too far from Chicago, Academy Awards history is being made by a native of Gary, Indiana.

Chicago is looking forward to live theater again as vaccines roll out and infection rates remain low. Here’s what you can expect — and when.

The diminutive Supreme Court justice with a towering legacy would have been 88 years old Monday. Her son Jim Ginsburg and daughter-in-law Patrice Michaels talk about a classical music tribute to her.

Get your brackets ready because March Madness, the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament, kicks off Thursday and two Illinois universities are among the 68 teams competing.

Lauren Gunderson’s new 75-minute play about her husband, acclaimed virologist Nathan Daniel Wolfe, is a riveting one-man meditation about life and death and the nature of viruses. It’s now being streamed by Northlight Theatre.

John Prine’s “I Remember Everything” won Grammys for best American roots song and best American roots performance. The singer-songwriter died in April 2020 from the coronavirus.

The biggest unknown leading into a March Madness bracket reveal more than a year in the making had nothing to do with bubble teams or top seeds. Instead, it was the not-so-simple matter of which programs would be healthy enough to play. 

Even with the second straight year of no parades in honor of the Irish inspired holiday, at least one Chicago tradition broke through.

"Renegades: Born in the USA," is an eight-episode series of conversations between the former president and Bruce Springsteen.

For decades, they acted as the city’s front door, where people from all over the country arrived seeking out a better life – or just the thrills of the big city. Geoffrey Baer takes us back to the golden age of rail travel.

A new exhibit at the Elmhurst Art Museum is using photography to explore Chicago’s fair housing history and features rare color photos of Martin Luther King Jr. during the Chicago Freedom Movement.

The 2020 summer festival season was a bust, thanks to COVID-19, but local organizers say they’re feeling hopeful about the return of neighborhood street festivals and art shows this year. Here’s what to expect.

Programs framed by Bach and Beethoven are streaming now as part of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s virtual series, CSOtv. Here’s a look at Episode #13 and #14.

Will two massive summer events take place this year amid an accelerated rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine — and the possible end to the pandemic? Or can Chicagoans expect another round of “re-imagined festivals” in 2021, with virtual concerts replacing in-person events?

Michelle Obama is knitting and thinking about retiring from public life. The former first lady says in a new People magazine interview that she picked up knitting needles to pass time during the coronavirus pandemic. And now she’s hooked.