Stories by Erica Gunderson

Owners Yesenia and Jose Maldonado hosted game nights for years before taking the leap and converting a former bar into a bright, tropically tinged haven for game play.

More cannabis dispensary licenses are in the works, but social equity applicants say challenges remain. Climate-friendly rides for North Lawndale neighbors. And Pullman National Park gets a new name and designation.

Safety and travel concerns over violence in Mexico. Street vendors under attack in Little Village. Construction career training. And it's game night.

The ruling only applies to 850 plaintiffs listed in a lawsuit in Effingham County and four licensed gun dealers.

Mayoral candidates share their visions for the city. Lawsuits against the Illinois assault weapons ban come fast and furious. Peoples Gas and ComEd seek a bevy of rate hikes. And the Bears introduce their new president.

An Illinois judge ruled Friday that two emergency medical professionals should face first-degree murder charges after a patient they strapped facedown to a stretcher suffocated.

Looks like we’re going to have to come up with replacements for terms like “starstruck” and “starry-eyed.” Scientists say the visibility of stars is rapidly fading as light pollution increases.

Eight months, 126 formal interviews and a 23-page report later, the Supreme Court said it has failed to discover who leaked a draft of the court’s opinion overturning abortion rights.

Since transitioning to a new line, in the past six months, about 2.1 million calls, texts and chats to the new 988 number have been routed to a response center and, of those, around 89% were answered by a counselor, according to a CNN analysis of data from SAMHSA, which oversees 988. 

University officials said the sides had agreed to resume bargaining Friday and could continue talks into the weekend to secure a new contract agreement.

It is the company’s biggest-ever round of layoffs and adds to tens of thousands of other job losses recently announced by Microsoft, Amazon, Facebook parent Meta and other tech companies as they tighten their belts amid a darkening outlook for the industry. Just this month, there have been at least 48,000 job cuts announced by major companies in the sector.

According to a Chicago Police Department community alert published Friday, 22 Hyundai and Kia vehicles have been stolen across the 25th police district in early 2023.

A coalition of community-led groups just received $10 million from the Pritzker Traubert Foundation to help fund a wide-ranging project. It’ll bring together a range of services and opportunities — from health and wellness, to arts and culture and beyond.

Toxic “forever chemicals” found in fish caught in the Great Lakes. A controversial rail yard in Englewood gets put on hold. We report on a community health initiative from West Garfield Park. And will state lawmakers take another shot at graduated income tax?

No matter how much money a person makes, Illinois residents all pay the same income tax rate. A pair of new proposals could change that by taking aim at the bank accounts of high earners.

PFAS are called "forever chemicals" because they fail to break down easily in the environment. Chemicals leach into the nation's drinking water and accumulate in the bodies of fish, shellfish, livestock, dairy and game animals.

Monuments can be created by the stroke of a president’s pen, and undone by the same. As a national historical park, Pullman now has added protections.

A years-long effort by the Norfolk Southern Railway to double the size of its storage yard in Englewood failed to pass the Chicago City Council after Ald. Jeanette Taylor (20th Ward) blocked a vote. 

Prosecutors have separately charged two paramedics with first-degree murder, accusing them of tightly strapping Earl Moore on a stretcher after Springfield police who initially responded to a 911 call at Moore’s home requested an ambulance. 

A federal lawsuit alleges that rather than housing children in appropriate settings, DCFS allowed them to remain locked in juvenile jails without access to proper educational, medical and mental health supports.

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker called himself the state’s chief marketing officer during a trip to Switzerland for the World Economic Forum. He couldn’t name any specific projects that have been secured after his Swiss schmoozing but said Illinois’ commitment to 100% clean energy by 2050 is an “important calling card here.”

The Treasury Department said in a letter to congressional leaders it has started taking “extraordinary measures” as the government has run up against its legal borrowing capacity of $31.381 trillion. An artificially imposed cap, the debt ceiling has been increased roughly 80 times since the 1960s.

Puppets, a winter market, Disney on Ice and special menus usher in the weekend. Here are 10 things to do in and around Chicago.

Why ComEd wants to raise your utility bills. City action on transgender and abortion issues. The debt ceiling staredown approaches a potential economic cliff. And why artificial intelligence is shaking up the education system.

Utilities companies like ComEd and Peoples Gas make money by delivering energy. The rates they’re seeking to hike are for distribution, including infrastructure like pipes and transmission lines, and the profit they can tack on to those costs.

The Illinois State Rifle Association and other pro-2nd Amendment groups on Wednesday filed a federal lawsuit claiming the ban “infringes on the rights of law-abiding citizens” to possess such firearms and extended magazines “for the defense of self and family and other lawful purposes.”