Stories by CNN

Several forces are pushing chains out of some city centers: a glut of stores, people working from home, online shopping, exorbitant rents, crime and public safety concerns, and difficulty hiring workers. To reinvent downtown retail, drastic changes may be required.

Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart on Friday said millions more dollars must be dedicated to helping police departments recover weapons from those who’ve had their FOID cards revoked.

The Social Security Administration released the annual list Friday. The agency tracks baby names in each state based on applications for Social Security cards, with names dating to 1880.

The residents say they have filed a motion for an emergency temporary restraining order against the city of Chicago and Chicago Public Schools to prevent a migrant respite center from opening in the former South Shore High School building.

Federal regulators approved the merger of Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern in March, which would create a new route linking Mexico, the U.S. and Canada. The company plans to run an additional seven to eight trains each day along tracks shared by Metra’s Milwaukee District West line.

This weekend, the Queen of Tejano Music is being celebrated with “Bidi Bidi Boom Boom: The Selena Tribute Dance Party” at the National Museum of Mexican Art in Pilsen, where a group of performers and drag artists are bringing some of Selena’s legendary music to life for Chicago audiences.

South Shore residents rally against plans for a migrant shelter. Controversy over a potential school closure. And a Cook County program clearing medical debt.

Hope Learning Academy in March abruptly announced it was closing its doors at the end of this school year — a surprise to parents and teachers alike because the school had just inked a four-year contract with CPS weeks prior.

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle was unsparing in her criticism of Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott for continuing to bus thousands of migrants to Democratic cities such as Chicago and New York.

Ald. Scott Waguespack (32nd Ward) is speaking out about Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson's plan to remove Waguespack as chair of the Chicago City Council Finance Committee.

Cabaret, a penguin party and a Bach music festival usher in the weekend. Here are five things to do in and around Chicago.

NASCAR Cup cars will be outfitted with mufflers, just one of the actions being taken by race organizers to head off concerns about noise.

Denise Solorzano, 26, has been arrested and charged with four counts of aggravated battery using a deadly weapon, three counts of aggravated battery in a public place and one count of aggravated assault.

What the end of Title 42 means for asylum seekers. Calls for a do-over on Chicago’s elected school board map. And a group of performers celebrate Selena.

Ramsy Sandoka, 40, has been charged with a felony count of aggravated possession of a stolen vehicle and misdemeanor counts of failure to keep recyclable purchase records, selling/purchasing catalytic converters and a violation of recycle metal law after police found more than 600 catalytic converters at his Worth Township home.

The findings were published Tuesday in the journal JAMA Network Open and stem from a survey that followed the lives of thousands of children in Chicago since the mid-1990s. 

The red, white and blue Reebok jacket that Jordan — a Nike athlete — was forced to wear on the medal stand alongside the other members of USA Basketball’s first “Dream Team” at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics is headed to auction.

Charges are filed in the killing of a Chicago police officer. The latest on the search for the city’s new top cop. And a look back at Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s time in office.

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot is leaving office as waves of migrants arrive in the city. Our politics team weighs in on that story and more.

One of Mia Lee’s more recent creations is the cover art design for Chicago musician Chance the Rapper’s latest single “YAH Know.” Lee is featured in the music video.

Opponents want Riot Fest out of Douglass Park, but supporters of the festival say it has been an asset to the North Lawndale community.

Lori Lightfoot ends her historic term as the first Black woman and first out gay person to serve as Chicago’s mayor on Monday, leaving a fractured city still struggling to recover from the ravages of the COVID-19 pandemic that served to spotlight Chicago’s deeply entrenched problems.

That represents a significant increase from 2020, the last time Chicago needed a new chief law enforcement officer, when 23 people applied for the job.

Interim Police Superintendent Eric Carter announced that four teens have been charged with first-degree murder stemming from the fatal shooting early Saturday morning: Trevell Breeland, 19, Joseph Brooks, 19, Jakwon Buchanan, 18, and 16-year-old Jaylan Frazier, who has been charged as an adult.

Federal health advisers said a decades-old birth control pill should be sold without a prescription, paving the way for a likely U.S. approval of the first over-the-counter contraceptive medication. Currently, a prescription is required in the U.S.

Prices increased 0.4% from March to April, the government said Wednesday, up from a 0.1% rise from February to March. Compared with a year earlier, prices climbed 4.9%, down slightly from March’s year-over-year increase.