Stories by Associated Press

President Joe Biden says he wants most schools serving kindergarten through eighth grade to reopen by late April, but even if that happens, it is likely to leave out millions of students, many of them minorities in urban areas.

Travelers on airplanes and public transportation like buses and subways will be required to wear face masks starting next week to curb the spread of COVID-19.

As COVID-19 mitigations ease, how are Latino communities faring in Chicago? Aldermen debate expanding protections for immigrants. A Cesar Chavez throwback. And the need for Latino mentors.

The Big Brothers Big Sisters mentoring program has been making matches in Chicago since 1967, but a lot has changed over the years. Many of the kids now come from Spanish-speaking households, and the organization is looking for more “bigs” who speak their language to volunteer.

As the city begins to stir from its COVID-19 slumber, we talk with local journalists about how the reopening is impacting Latino communities.

The Democratic push to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour has emerged as an early flashpoint in the fight for a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package, testing President Joe Biden’s ability to bridge Washington’s partisan divides as he pursues his first major legislative victory.

Chicago is on track to advance from Tier 1 restrictions to Phase 4 on Sunday, according to state health officials. However, the change won’t result in expanded capacity for indoor dining and drinking at bars and restaurants, Chicago officials announced Friday.

City officials sought to reassure Chicagoans on Saturday they were prepared for a major winter storm to hit the city, which could dump between 5 inches and 9 inches of heavy, wet snow through Sunday.

Negotiations between Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Teachers Union have failed to produce a deal to allow approximately 70,000 Chicago students to return to schools Monday, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said in a news conference late Friday night.

Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Teachers Union are still negotiating a return to in-person learning. The coronavirus keeps indoor dining to a minimum in Chicago, and pushback over backroom political deals.

Another bout of selling gripped the U.S. stock market Friday, as anxiety mounts over whether the frenzy behind a swift, meteoric rise in GameStop and a handful of other stocks will damage Wall Street overall.

There are quirky details to be found in bark, twigs and buds that can turn a walk in the woods or around the block into a game of “name that tree.”

The government’s top infectious disease expert said Friday he hopes to see children being vaccinated starting in the next few months. It’s a needed step to securing widespread immunity to the coronavirus.

“I am optimistic that we will be able to increase capacity soon, but it would be irresponsible and dangerous to rush our reopening and undo the incredible progress we have made as a city,” Mayor Lori Lightfoot said in a statement.

A commission charged with reviewing Chicago’s more than 500 public monuments as part of a “a racial healing and historical reckoning project” has identified 40 that are problematic for a variety of reasons, the group’s co-chair announced Friday.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot said that reversing the spike in carjacking “was top of mind,” as it has continued through the first weeks of 2021, with 166 carjackings through Jan. 22, according to Chicago Police Department data. 

Johnson & Johnson said Friday that in the U.S. and seven other countries, the single-shot vaccine was 66% effective overall at preventing moderate to severe illness, and much more protective — 85% — against the most serious symptoms.

The snow is likely to hit late Saturday afternoon and intensify rapidly, with accumulations of more than six inches possible, according to the National Weather Service.

The Northwest Side community of Jefferson Park is known as the gateway to Chicago, in part because it’s a transit hub. The area’s thought of by some as typical “bungalow belt” Chicago. It’s predominantly middle class, but recently there’s been an uptick in homelessness. 

In a seven-hour live interview marathon Sunday, dancers from across the country will reflect on Chicago’s impact over the course of their dance careers.

Thousands of pre-kindergarten and special education cluster program students within Chicago Public Schools are once again being told to stay home Friday as the school district and Chicago Teachers Union have yet to reach a deal on a school reopening plan.

As of Thursday night, a deal to get teachers back in school remained elusive. “We would have expected by now to make a lot more progress,” Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said.

The struggling video game retailer’s stock has been making stupefying moves this month, wild enough to raise concerns from professional investors on Wall Street to the hallways of regulators and the White House in Washington. 

GameStop stock has rocketed from below $20 earlier this month to close around $350 Wednesday as a volunteer army of investors on social media challenged big institutions who had placed market bets that the stock would fall.

Democrats in Congress and the White House rejected a Republican pitch to split President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID-19 rescue plan into smaller chunks on Thursday, with lawmakers appearing primed to muscle the sweeping economic and virus aid forward without GOP help.

President Joe Biden on Thursday ordered government health insurance markets to reopen for a special sign-up window, offering uninsured Americans a haven as the spread of COVID-19 remains dangerously high and vaccines aren’t yet widely available.