Stories by Erica Gunderson

“Un Puente Musical” weaves the Chicago Philharmonic’s chamber orchestra with the instruments, musicians and composers of La Isla del Encanto.

Students and teachers at Chicago Public Schools head back to the classroom this month. We speak with the district’s interim CEO and an official from the health department about returning to school as COVID-19 cases rise.

Once rookie quarterback Justin Fields settled in, the Chicago Bears saw the playmaking ability they dreamed about on draft day.

While suburban congressional districts are swelling with new residents, lawmakers in large swaths of rural America and some Rust Belt cities are in need of more people to represent.

Across the U.S., the growth in the number of people who identified as multiracial on 2020 census responses soared over the last decade, rising from under 3% to more than 10% of the U.S. population from 2010 and 2020.

Americans at high risk from COVID-19 because of severely weakened immune systems are now allowed to get a third vaccination in hopes of better protection, a policy change endorsed Friday by influential government advisers.

The killing of a Chicago police officer highlights tension between police and the mayor. Chicago’s budget deficit shrinks. Census numbers show population growth. CPS announces a vaccine mandate.

The new measures are an attempt to stem the rising tide of COVID-19 cases that has pushed hospitals to the breaking point, including in the Dallas area, where top officials warned they are running out of beds in their pediatric intensive care units.

A federal judge on Friday refused landlords’ request to put the Biden administration’s new eviction moratorium on hold, though she ruled that the freeze is illegal.

The last seven Julys, from 2015 to 2021, have been the hottest seven Julys on record, said NOAA climatologist Ahira Sanchez-Lugo. Last month was 1.67 degrees warmer than the 20th century average for the month.

Before the pandemic, Chicago finance officials projected that the city would eliminate its longstanding imbalance between revenues and expenditures and reach structural balance in 2023. In all, the pandemic cost the city $1.7 billion, complicating those efforts.

As the number of homicides continues to rise in major American cities, police leaders are targeting bail reform efforts as a contributing factor to the surge in violent crime rates — but data from a Chicago study shows that only a small percentage of defendants released on bail are committing violent crimes.

With less than three weeks until in-person classes resume, Chicago Public Schools has announced it will require all teachers and staff to get a COVID-19 vaccine by the fall.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expected to formally recommend the extra shots for certain immune-compromised groups after a meeting Friday of its outside advisers.

Nearly 200,000 people downloaded an app, Cicada Safari, created by researchers to track observations of Brood X. Scientists will be reaping the rewards of that communal effort for years to come.

As summer winds down, Illinois continues to see a spike in COVID-19 cases, with more than 3,100 new infections reported by state health officials Thursday. Dr. Susan Bleasdale of UI Health breaks down the latest data and recommendations.

Since 1964, a signature feature of Mad Magazine has been the “fold-in” – a cartoon riddle that is solved when the picture is folded. These days, the fold-in is conceived, written, sketched and painted by cartoonist Johnny Sampson.

Census numbers are released. Analyzing Chicago’s budget picture. We’re live from Avondale. The delta variant risk for children. And inside the colorful world of freak bikes.

The Census Bureau on Thursday issued its most detailed portrait yet of how the U.S. has changed over the past decade, releasing a trove of demographic data that will be used to redraw political maps across an increasingly diverse country.

Located near the Kennedy Expressway and the Chicago River, Avondale has significant Polish, Latino, Eastern European and Asian populations. And like many parts of Chicago, residents and community leaders are concerned gentrification might displace longtime neighbors.

Chicago is facing an uncertain financial future as Mayor Lori Lightfoot prepares to detail how she plans to close a projected budget deficit of $733 million in 2022, budget experts told “Chicago Tonight” on Thursday.

Kenyate Jackson will be held without bail after he allegedly followed a stranger into a Lincoln Park store in broad daylight, grabbed her and choked her for several minutes until a witness could pry him off the woman’s body.

If crack-of-dawn birding isn’t your thing, maybe give under-the-cover-of-darkness moth-watching a try this weekend at Indian Ridge Marsh. 

Chief Judge Timothy Evans issued an order allowing nearly all domestic violence proceedings to go forward by videoconference or teleconference, saying it’s being done “in order to better serve victims” in these cases.

Nostalgia has never been so expensive. Baseball celebrates the myth of its rural roots Thursday when the New York Yankees meet the Chicago White Sox in a game adjacent to the field in rural Dyersville, Iowa, where the iconic 1989 movie “Field of Dreams” was filmed.

Just over 200 people who attended the four-day music festival have tested positive during the 14 days since the event kicked off in Grant Park on July 29, said Dr. Allison Arwady, the commissioner of the city’s Department of Public Health.