Stories by Patty Wetli

Portions of Albany Park, Lincoln Square, Irving Park and North Center are slated for mosquito spraying Wednesday to protect residents against West Nile virus, according to the Chicago Department of Public Health. 

Chicago home sales continue to rise, but there’s a twist in that fire-hot streak. Crain’s Chicago Business editor Ann Dwyer takes us behind the headline of that story and more.

Police Superintendent David Brown said Officer Carlos Yanez Jr. has been transferred from the intensive care unit into a rehab unit, weeks after he was shot multiple times during a traffic stop.

What’s in store for Chicago stages as they get set to reopen. Tracking down crime on city expressways. Chicago’s home sale hot streak. The FDA grants full approval to Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine.

The victims included five people who were shot in the 3400 block of West Lake Street early Sunday, and six others who were shot Saturday evening in the 1600 block of East 87th Place.

The U.S. gave full approval to Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine Monday, a milestone that could boost public confidence in the shots and spur more companies, universities and local governments to make vaccinations mandatory.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson, and his wife, Jacqueline, remained under doctors’ observation Sunday at a Chicago hospital and were “responding positively to treatments” for COVID-19, their son told The Associated Press. 

From wars to plagues to the Sept. 11 attacks, the literary response to historic tragedies has been a process of absorbing trauma — often beginning with poetry and nonfiction and, after months or years, expanding to narrative fiction.

Vaccine mandates are being put into place in some cities and sectors. Will those policies disproportionately disenfranchise the Black community, which lags behind in vaccination rates?

Could vaccine mandates disenfranchise Black Chicagoans? Local efforts to help those in Haiti impacted by the earthquake. How coffee and hip-hop are helping to normalize mental health therapy.

President Joe Biden said Sunday the U.S.-led evacuation of Americans, at-risk Afghans and others from the Kabul airport accelerated this weekend, although it remains vulnerable to threats posed by the Islamic State extremist group.

The founder of the organization Coffee, Hip-Hop & Mental Health gives us the last word on making mental health therapy normal — and accessible — for everyone who needs it.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson, a famed civil rights leader and two-time presidential candidate, and his wife, Jacqueline, have been hospitalized after testing positive for COVID-19, according to a statement Saturday.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s picks for key city posts during her first two years in office failed to keep pace with the growing number of Latino Chicagoans, according to an analysis by WTTW News.

New fall programs offered by the City Colleges of Chicago system aim to help city residents start or resume their college education amid the pandemic.

Nearly 700,000 Chicago residents claim Mexican heritage, and over the years, Mexican culture has become woven into the city’s tapestry. A new business in Little Village explores the space where the Midwest meets Mexico by combining haircuts with deep cuts.

A new City Colleges program for students facing financial barriers. A new analysis of Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s hiring trends. And a barbershop with a side of vintage music.

Potential Islamic State threats against Americans in Afghanistan are forcing the U.S. military to develop new ways to get evacuees to the airport in Kabul, a senior U.S. official said Saturday.

This is a racketeering case. Prosecutors say R. Kelly physically, sexually and psychologically dominated children — girls and boys — and women, often recording sex acts with minors, and using a cadre of loyalists to do his bidding and recruit victims.

The Supreme Court is temporarily halting a judge’s order that would have forced the government to reinstate a Trump administration policy forcing thousands to wait in Mexico while seeking asylum in the U.S.

A surge in COVID-19 infections prompts indoor mask mandates. Democrats and Republicans campaign at the Illinois State Fair. Officer Ella French is laid to rest. And a chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan has President Joe Biden on the defensive. 

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia rejected a bid by Alabama and Georgia landlords to block the eviction moratorium reinstated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention earlier this month.

U.S. military helicopters flew into Taliban-held Kabul on Friday to scoop up would-be evacuees, American officials confirmed to The Associated Press, as President Joe Biden pledged firmly to bring all Americans home from Afghanistan — and Afghans who aided the war effort, too.

The order covers all of the employees who work for the office of Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle as well as those covered by Cook County Employment Plan, officials said.

The high-profile diplomatic post for Chicago’s famously profane and brusque mayor is sure to be jeered by the progressive wing of the Democratic Party as well as those who believe his handling of the murder of Laquan McDonald should have disqualified him from public office.

Starting Monday, everyone in suburban Cook County, regardless of vaccination status, will be required to wear a mask indoors, officials announced Friday.