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A flyover of historic Lahaina showed entire neighborhoods that had been a vibrant vision of color and island life reduced to gray ash. Block after block was nothing but rubble and blackened foundations. Boats in the harbor were scorched, and smoke hovered over the town.

The latest on the Loretto Hospital strike. Dozens of state employees under investigation for PPP loan fraud. A preview of the annual Bud Billiken parade. And “MJ: The Musical.”

Last year it was a hit on Broadway. Now it’s opening a North American tour in Chicago. “MJ: The Musical” tells the story of Michael Jackson in flashback. It begins in 1992 as he prepares his Dangerous Tour.

Loretto Hospital in Austin has reached a tentative deal with about 200 striking workers who took to the picket line July 31.

Construction is underway for a new affordable housing development in Logan Square that aims to provide families and longtime residents with 89 affordable housing units in the rapidly gentrifying neighborhood.

A parade, photo exhibit and summer festivals usher in the weekend. Here are five things to do in and around Chicago.

At Ludeman Developmental Center in Park Forest, 37 employees have been fired, resigned or face pending disciplinary action after a state watchdog found that they defrauded a federal pandemic-era small business loan program.

This weekend will mark the end of Johnson’s 30-day window to pick the next superintendent of the Chicago Police Department from a list of three finalists: Angel Novalez, the head of CPD’s office of constitutional policing and reform; Larry Snelling, the chief of CPD’s counterterrorism bureau; and Shon Barnes, the police chief in Madison, Wisconsin.

The last such request from the White House, made in November, was met and then some — Congress approved more than what the Democratic president had requested. 

Northwestern is facing more than a dozen lawsuits across multiple sports with allegations including sexual abuse of players by teammates as well as racist comments by coaches and race-based assaults. Attorneys representing some of the athletes who have already sued say more are coming.

A wildfire tore through the heart of the Hawaiian island of Maui in total darkness Wednesday, reducing much of a historic town to ash and forcing people to jump into the ocean to flee the flames. At least six people died and dozens were wounded.

What’s driving a record number of opioid overdose deaths in Cook County. Allowing non-citizens to become police officers. And a former Madigan aide goes on trial.

A new state law will soon allow non-citizens who are both legally eligible to work in the U.S. and authorized to possess firearms under federal law to become police officers and deputy sheriffs.

“When the defendant answered those questions, the defendant lied,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Diane MacArthur said, “not just once, but again and again and again to prevent the grand jury from finding out what Madigan had done and what Madigan had done through him.”

There were 103 overdose deaths attributable to fentanyl in Cook County in 2015. That number shot up to a record 1,825 in 2022, according to statistics from the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office. That accounts for more than 90% of all opioid-related deaths in the county.

A state-run mental health center in Springfield is being renamed to honor the woman who publicized its former namesake’s abusive methods.

The electronically stored patient data involved in the breach includes names, dates of birth, addresses, and social security numbers that an unauthorized third-party gained access to earlier this year.

The box office hit “Oppenheimer” has prompted DePaul University nuclear ethics professor Yuki Miyamoto to shed light on the stories of people whose lives were directly and negatively intertwined with the film’s depicted events.

The results underscore the new political reality, one that’s been repeatedly demonstrated in both blue and red states: Since the Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade last year, abortion rights are a major, driving force.

The company currently lists nine Chicago location on its website, including a number in the West Loop and Near West Side, according to the WeWork website.

Many of the country’s worst rail crossings are located in diverse suburbs south and southwest of Chicago. Some will be helped by big construction projects while others get creative finding potential solutions.

A Portage Park man charged in the fatal shooting of a 9-year-old girl. Why thousands of Illinoisans are being kicked off Medicaid. And remembering Chicago native and film legend William Friedkin.

For the first time since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Medicaid recipients are being asked to provide proof of their eligibility.

The United States is now at a record 15 different weather disasters that caused at least $1 billion in damage this year, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced. It’s the most mega-disasters through the first seven months of the year since the agency tracked such things starting in 1980.

Michael Goodman, 43, has been charged with first-degree murder in the shooting that left Serabi Medina dead outside her home on the city’s Northwest Side.

Born in Chicago on Aug. 29, 1939, he began working in local TV productions as a teenager. By age 16 he was directing live shows.