Stories by Evan Garcia

As summer winds down, Illinois continues to see a spike in COVID-19 cases, with more than 3,100 new infections reported by state health officials Thursday. Dr. Susan Bleasdale of UI Health breaks down the latest data and recommendations.

Chicago’s revenue remains stunted by the pandemic. Meanwhile, City Council disclosed millions in investments using federal stimulus funds. And tension heightens between the community and police in the wake of Officer Ella French’s killing. Three alderpeople weigh in on these topics and more.

Older artists are getting a second chance at stardom through the efforts of a local record label tucked away in Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood. We explore the musical world of Numero Group.

For many of us, social media is a convenient way to keep in touch with family, friends and colleagues. But sharing false information on platforms like Facebook during a global pandemic can have life or death consequences.

The Chicago City Council has approved a measure to create a board of civilians to oversee the Chicago Police Department, the police board and the Civilian Office of Police Accountability. Andrea Kersten, the interim chief administrator of COPA, shares her thoughts.

A recent South Side Weekly report used city data to show that Chicago’s vaccine disparity is widening between wealthier parts of the city, like the Loop, and areas on the South and West sides with a majority of Black and brown residents.

Have you ever thrown out a broken bike or any of its spare parts? There’s a chance a local bike club scooped up that trash to make a work of art on wheels. We visit Logan Square to learn about the city’s bustling custom bike culture.

When it reopens its doors July 1, the National Museum of Mexican Art will be kicking off operations with a major financial boost after it received an $8 million donation from philanthropist MacKenzie Scott.

Last year’s electric scooter program, which ran from August to December, saw an increase in the number of available scooters but a decline in overall ridership, according to a Chicago Department of Transportation report.

What could drier-than-normal weather mean for your garden and the greater climate? A climate change specialist and floral expert weigh in.

Skateboarding has long been considered a sport, an art form and even a lifestyle by its devotees. In Chicago, a new program has helped young people break out of the pandemic blues by learning the basics of skateboarding while picking up valuable life lessons along the way.

The Chicago nightclub helped launch the early careers of music and comedy acts like Barbra Streisand and Richard Pryor, while achieving status from established jazz artists such as Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughn, who both recorded live albums at the Rush Street venue.

Within university programs dedicated to Latino studies, the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on Black and brown communities, as well as tensions surrounding police brutality, are emerging in classroom discussions and curriculum.

Journalist and activist Ida B. Wells took great risks to expose the horrors of racism and fight injustice through her investigative writings. Wells’ life and groundbreaking work are the subject of a new WTTW Chicago Stories documentary airing Friday.

A new WBEZ series examines how Chicago’s institutions interact with its residents. Sasha-Ann Simons, the station’s new host of “Reset,” joins us.

One of Chicago’s only weekly, nearly year-long farmers markets opened on Sunday, just in time to provide some extra help to the farmers, restaurateurs and other food producers selling their goods in the city’s Northwest Side neighborhood. We meet some of this year’s vendors.

With a Democratic governor and supermajorities in the state Senate and House, Democrats are in the driver’s seat to redraw the state’s political boundaries. Do Illinois Latinos now warrant more representation in Congress than they currently have?

As data breaches in recent years have exposed weaknesses in the storage and transfer of personal data, lawmakers in the United States and Europe have expressed concern over the tracking of users online. 

President Joe Biden made sweeping proposals in his address to Congress on Wednesday. Among them, a pledge to tackle lead in drinking water. U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth has proposed $35 billion to update water infrastructure and improve drinking water quality across the country.

Former real estate agent Dina Lewis moved from New York City to Chicago in 2018. Soon after, she decided to pursue a professional endeavor that was personal to her: designing clothing for kids with special sensory needs. We visited the design studio of Minor Details to learn more.

A recent bungled federal aid rollout worth 16 billion dollars for music venues and theaters across the country is adding more strain to a stressful situation.

Several hundred people gathered Sunday evening in Little Village to mourn the death of Adam Toledo and participate in a peace walk through the neighborhood. The 13-year-old was fatally shot by a police officer on March 29.

Health officials recommended a pause on the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine this week after six people experienced rare but severe blood clots. We discuss the situation—and concerns about vaccine hesitancy—with Dr. Juanita Mora, an allergist and immunologist at the Chicago Allergy Center.

Thousands of protesters gathered in Chicago’s Logan Square neighborhood Friday evening to protest the police killing of 13-year-old Adam Toledo last month. Toledo was fatally shot by a police officer in the Little Village neighborhood, about 6 miles south of the protest.

Americans owe more than $1.7 trillion in student loan debt. Now, President Joe Biden is facing new calls to cancel $50,000 or more of loan debt per student. But critics say it would put an undue burden on Americans who never went to college.

A new analysis from the University of Chicago looked at the demographics of the 377 individuals arrested for the Jan. 6 attack. The study’s author said he had expected to discover something about the economic conditions of the rioters but was surprised that the data told a very different story.