A major winter storm dumped more than a foot of snow on parts of the middle of the country while another system blanketed parts of the Southwest with snow, disrupting travel for a second consecutive day Tuesday and shuttering many schools.

It took less than a year for pharmaceutical companies to successfully develop vaccines for COVID-19. The unprecedented time frame has raised questions for some about the vaccine’s safety. We learn about the science behind the shots.

A winter storm is forecast to deliver wind gusts up to 40 miles per hour and waves as high as 13 feet, creating hazardous conditions along Chicago's lakefront through Tuesday, the National Weather Service is warning. 

More than 25 million people are under winter weather alerts from California through Michigan due to a winter storm developing in the Golden State and heading for the Midwest. A swath of very heavy snow will extend from northern Kansas to northern Illinois through Monday. 

The first lady’s dress and matching coat, worn during the “Celebrating America” televised special, were embroidered with the official flower from every state and territory in the U.S.

Registration is now open, with limited in-person programming beginning Monday.

Congress authorized a plan from the Army Corps of Engineers to restore the Chicago River’s South Fork, a 1.25-mile stretch more familiarly known as Bubbly Creek. Now actual dollars need to follow. 

The Field Museum is reopening to members on Thursday and the general public on Saturday, with safety precautions in place. Next week, the museum will offer free admission to Illinois residents on select days. 

With COVID-19 restrictions now loosened in Chicago, the Shedd Aquarium has announced its plan to reopen later this month with a number of health and safety measures in place.

The Garfield Park Conservatory is celebrating Martin Luther King Jr. Day virtually, with a look back at past tributes.   

Rose is spending the winter in Florida, while a sighting of Monty was recently confirmed in Texas. Trouble in plover paradise or the secret to the couple’s success?

The Cook County Forest Preserves are encouraging people to give back to nature on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Head out on a self-led litter cleanup hike at one of the preserves’ nature centers or Dan Ryan Woods.

During Wednesday’s monthly meeting of the Chicago Park District Board, commissioners unanimously agreed to lease property within Riis Park to Chicago Public Schools for the construction of a new elementary school.

The annual show was to have opened in February, but the garden’s greenhouses are still closed due to mitigations put in place to slow the spread of COVID-19.

Researchers at Argonne National Laboratory, just outside Chicago, helped fast-track the development of coronavirus vaccines. Dr. Stephen Streiffer, director of the Advanced Photon Source at Argonne, tells us more.

“We can jump in the lake next year. People are just going to have to plunge where they are,” said the head of the Chicago Polar Bear Club. The 2021 event is going forward, virtually, to raise money for families in need.