Stories by Eunice Alpasan

A documentary that gives a vivid and harrowing look into the Russian invasion of a Ukrainian city during the opening days of the Russia-Ukraine war will be premiering at the Gene Siskel Film Center on Friday for a limited week-long run.

Three endangered piping plover chicks were released into the wild Wednesday at a protected site at Montrose Beach in an effort to aid in its species recovery. It marks the first time plovers have been released in the state.

Residents on the West side of the city and its surrounding suburbs were hit particularly hard by flooding. Some areas saw as much as 8 inches of rainfall on July 2, leading to flash floods and extensive property damage.

“The goal here is for us to think about how the cumulative impact data can help change policy and operations across city departments,” said Angela Tovar, Chicago’s chief sustainability officer.

This July 4 in Highland Park, one year after seven people were killed and dozens more wounded in a mass shooting, the sounds of marching bands and cheers were replaced by a much more solemn gathering.

Generations of discriminatory lending practices and policies have taken a major toll on Black communities. A 2020 study found that for every $1 of accumulated wealth that White families have, Black families have just one cent.

Art Johnston and Pepe Peña, owners of the iconic gay bar Sidetrack in Northalsted, are the subjects of a new documentary. The film follows their love story — spanning 50 years — and the history of the Sidetrack bar amid the fight for LGBTQ+ rights in Chicago.

Ten years ago, the Chicago Board of Education and former Mayor Rahm Emanuel decided to close nearly 50 public schools, mainly on the South and West sides of the city. Some buildings remain vacant; others are being transformed into community assets.

The business group is proposing a “one table” approach to addressing gun violence with the goal of reducing homicides and shootings by about 80% in 10 years. 

The test kitchen, originally constructed in the early 1970s and housed at the former Johnson Publishing Company Building in the South Loop, was used by Ebony magazine editors to test recipes the magazine would feature in its publication.

The U.S. House of Representatives passed a deal Wednesday night to divert a U.S. default on its debt; the bill now heads to the Senate for approval. However, the deal was not without controversy for lawmakers of both political parties.

The Department of Veterans Affairs found Black veterans may be more likely to develop post-traumatic stress disorder than their White counterparts. However, an internal VA report shows Black veterans were more often denied benefits for PTSD.

Janice Jackson serves as CEO of Hope Chicago, a two-generation scholarship program that aims to remove financial barriers for thousands of CPS students and their parents by allowing them to attend college debt-free.

An apparent AI-generated photo went viral on social media Monday showing a fake explosion near the Pentagon. Officials confirmed that the image and accompanying reports were fake. Critics pointed to the as an example of the problems that come along with the promise of artificial intelligence technology. 

A Pew Research Center survey found 43% of Latino adults in the U.S. identified as Catholic last year, which is a drop from 2010, when 67% of Latinos identified as Catholic. The survey also found that the share of Latinos who are religiously unaffiliated continues to grow.

With Mayor Brandon Johnson vowing to reopen the city’s shuttered mental health clinics, some advocates are looking at the administration to reinvigorate and reimagine the city’s approach to providing mental health services.

A study by the Kapor Center and the NAACP finds that between 2014 and 2021, there was only a 1% increase in Black representation within technical roles at large tech companies.

The Pan-Asian Voter Empowerment Coalition, a coalition of Asian American organizations from across the Chicago area, will come together in Springfield on Tuesday to advocate for legislation to meet the community’s needs. 

More than 8,000 migrants have arrived in Chicago since last summer when Texas Gov. Greg Abbott first started sending migrants to the city. However, citywide efforts are reaching a tipping point with limited resources and shelters at capacity.

Emergency measures designed to ensure people didn’t lose their health care during the COVID-19 pandemic are now being phased out.

Tracie Hall, the first Black woman to lead the Chicago-based American Library Association, has been named one of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People of 2023.

A recent Pew Research Center study found that just 6% of reporting journalists were Black in a sample of nearly 12,000 journalists.

Governors State University is the third public university in Illinois to go on strike this month. Union members are calling for a cost-of-living adjustment in their wages.

While the Chicago State strike continues, faculty and staff at south suburban Governors State University are preparing to go on strike and instructors at Eastern Illinois University continue a work stoppage that began last week.

Louisiana State University women’s college basketball star Angel Reese has been in the center of conversations about double standards Black women face in sports, in light of the final moments of LSU’s national championship game against the University of Iowa.

According to Chicago Board of Elections data, there was a 32% increase from Feb. 28 to April 4 of votes cast by voters ages 18 to 24. Voters ages 25 to 34 increased their votership by 24%.