A one-on-one discussion with Julie Rodgers, the first openly gay chaplain at Wheaton College who is featured in the Netflix documentary, “Pray Away.” She’s also the author of the new book “Outlove: A Queer Christian Survival Story.”

Animal shelters across the city are seeing an increase this year in the number of pets coming through their doors. What’s behind that trend — and how shelters are trying to keep pets in homes.

Des Plaines is a diverse suburb just north of O’Hare Airport. It has a high vaccination rate but is still facing an uptick in COVID-19 cases. It’s also looking forward to the reopening of a historic theater, and the expansion of one of its major employers.

Chicagoans who get vaccinated by the Chicago Department of Public Health starting Saturday will get both a lifesaving inoculation against COVID-19 and also a $100 gift card, city officials announced.

Students at an unidentified Chicago university who traveled over spring break sparked an outbreak of COVID-19 that sickened 158 people, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released Thursday.

The two-year, $3.5 million pilot program represents the first time in Chicago’s history that the city’s emergency dispatch system will send someone other than a sworn and armed police officer to a call for help, officials said.

The number of new COVID-19 infections has been steadily increasing for weeks and on Wednesday surpassed 5,000 for the first time in a 24-hour period since January, according to state health officials.

Due to the surge of COVID-19 cases, the director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is asking unvaccinated Americans not to travel during the Labor Day holiday weekend.

As the highly infectious delta variant continues to spread rapidly throughout the country, more children are testing positive for COVID-19. Could the return of in-person learning trigger even more cases?

A new law in Illinois will require health insurers to cover medically necessary services and treatments for mental health conditions and substance use disorders. Advocates say the legislation comes at a critical moment and will help remove obstacles to such care.

After a drowning in Lake Michigan near a Rogers Park beach earlier this month, longtime community activist Jim Ginderske decided to take action in the name of public safety. Now, a local alderperson is joining the effort.

The city’s travel advisory now covers 48 states as well as Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, Guam and the Virgin Islands, officials said Tuesday.

As part of our “Firsthand: Living in Poverty” series, we hear about the current state of food insecurity in Chicago — and possible solutions to the problem.

Some of the biggest school systems in the U.S. are taking a hard line with teachers and staff members who are not yet vaccinated against COVID-19: Get a jab or lose your job. 

The European Union recommended Monday that its 27 nations reinstate restrictions on tourists from the U.S. because of rising coronavirus infections there.

It’s been more than a year since Chicago Public Schools students have sat inside their classrooms full time. Now, with mask mandates, vaccine requirements for staff and other COVID-19 safety protocols in place, CPS children are about to embark on a year unlike any other.