Stories by Brandis Friedman

About 50 people gathered Thursday to protest the city’s process for deciding to use a Chicago Park District facility in Edgewater to shelter asylum seekers. The city has been under a state of emergency for months as it seeks to house the 11,500 migrants who’ve been bused or flown in from Texas.

Wicker Park Fest is celebrating 19 years with more than 60 bands across three stages. The annual event will showcase the talents of both marquee performers and local artists looking to get their names out there. One of those artists is hip-hop vocalist Jovan Landry.

Parts of the Chicago area are under excessive heat warnings and heat advisories Thursday with temperatures expected to top out at 96 degrees along with a heat index into the triple digits, according to the National Weather Service.

Maybe you’ve heard of the infamous Chicago parking meter deal. Here’s why it’s so unpopular and why it became a case study in worst practices.

It’s going to be a weekend full of vendors, artists and local food at the Fiesta Del Sol festival in Pilsen. This year, organizers are celebrating 51 years of a festival that spans an eight-block space along Cermak Road.

Supporters of the proposal say the change will help the nearly 66,000 Chicagoans who are unhoused by generating approximately $160 million annually — enough to address the root causes of homelessness by building new permanent housing that offers wraparound services like substance abuse counseling.

Starting Sept. 1, 44 driver services facilities in medium- to large-sized cities around the state will require appointments for driver services.

A collectors convention, street market and summer festivals usher in the weekend. Here are five things to do in and around Chicago.

Communities Partnering 4 Peace led by the Metropolitan Peace Initiatives is one of many violence prevention efforts across the city working to address the sharp increase in gun violence that Chicago, along with other major cities, experienced during the pandemic.

Included in that sum was $6 million paid to 481 dead people and $40.5 million in unemployment checks written to incarcerated individuals. And, the audit warned, those numbers could be a significant undercount.

Hundreds of migrants still living in Chicago police stations. Are we alone in the universe? Hearings in Washington raise the question. And the end of the Silver Room Block Party.

Nearly 12,000 people, most of them from Central and South America, have arrived in Chicago in the past 11 months, stretching the city’s safety net beyond its breaking point.

The Blackhawks said in a release that Wirtz died on Tuesday, calling it a “sudden passing.” No further details were provided.

While the study of mysterious aircraft or objects often evokes talk of aliens, Democrats and Republicans in recent years have pushed for more research as a national security matter due to concerns that sightings observed by pilots may be tied to U.S. adversaries.

Today, the Silver Room Block Party is a massive event in Hyde Park: Tens of thousands of people gather to dance, eat, shop and celebrate. But it all began as a small customer appreciation party in a Wicker Park alley.

Four lost souls are the variously screwed-up men living in “No Man’s Land,” Harold Pinter’s strange, angry, status-conscious and somewhat absurdist talkathon of a play. It first opened in London in 1975 and is now on stage at Steppenwolf Theatre in a production directed by Les Waters.

House Bill 2831 codifies an executive order Pritzker signed in 2021 that established the Illinois Interagency Task Force on Homelessness and the Community Advisory Council on Homelessness. It centralizes programs across 17 state departments and agencies to develop and implement a comprehensive plan to combat homelessness. 

A Cook County judge has ruled in favor of Urban Prep Academies, which had sued to maintain control of two charter campuses after Chicago Public Schools planned to take them over, amid allegations of sexual and financial misconduct by UPA leadership.

Sinéad O’Connor, the gifted Irish singer-songwriter who became a superstar in her mid-20s but was known as much for her private struggles and provocative actions as for her fierce and expressive music, has died at 56.

Pending litigation caused the three hand-picked players to skip Wednesday interviews, forcing interim coach David Braun to fend off questions about what happened and possible solutions all by himself.

The outcome leaves open, at least temporarily, the yearslong investigation into Hunter Biden’s business dealings. He had been charged with two misdemeanor tax crimes of failure to pay more than $100,000 in taxes from over $1.5 million in income in both 2017 and 2018.

At the first meeting of Mayor Brandon Johnson’s new Board of Education, members announced a host of sweeping changes aimed at improving transparency, community engagement and elevating issues important to stakeholders.

Experts now say they expect “complete mortality” of the bleached reefs in just a week, and worry reefs at greater depths could face the same fate if the unprecedented ocean warmth continues to escalate.

Police overtime spending balloons. Ethics investigations at City Hall. Two attorneys filing lawsuits in the Northwestern hazing scandal. And early garbage pickups persist.

“These are the rules that stand between us and government illegitimacy,” Inspector General Deborah Witzburg said.

The hazing scandal at Northwestern University has widened to include a volleyball player who on Monday became the first female athlete to sue the university over allegations she was retaliated against by the coach for reporting her mistreatment.