Stories by Erica Gunderson

From its founding as a trading post by a Haitian man to the Great Migration to today, Chicago owes much to its Black residents. But since the 1980s, the city that helped shape our country’s first Black president has seen a steady stream of its Black residents flee.

Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals has given immigrants who were brought here as youth an opportunity to work and study in the U.S. lawfully. But recently, DACA recipients have been reporting longer delays in the renewal of their status, putting many of their employment eligibility at risk.

Monday marks National Coming Out Day— an annual awareness day aimed at supporting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. What do that awareness and support mean for leaders in the Latino LGBTQ community? We hear from Julio Rodriguez of ALMA and David Ernesto Munar from Howard Brown Health.

In a mural by Chicago artist Asend, a larger-than-life Jose Abreu swings his mighty bat under the Cienfuegos streetlights of his childhood. Asend’s dreamlike rendering is one of three murals commissioned by the White Sox as part of their Game Changers series. 

At 17 years old, Jarrett Adams, a Black boy from Chicago, was convicted of raping a woman in Wisconsin. Adams spent 10 years of his life in prison for a rape he maintained he did not commit. He spent those years studying the legal system to overturn his own case —eventually, becoming a lawyer himself.

Wealthy Americans have long sought to use charitable contributions to reduce their tax burdens. But the “Pandora Papers” report  revealed how world leaders, billionaires and others have stashed trillions of dollars out of the reach of governments by using shell companies and offshore accounts, which are considered legal.

Parental protests over COVID-19-related mask mandates, gender-neutral bathrooms, and teachings about racial history, sexuality and social-emotional learning are being leveraged into full-fledged board takeover campaigns that will get their first widespread test in just a few weeks.

A one-page order by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued late Friday reinstated the nation’s strictest abortion law, which bans abortions once cardiac activity is detected, usually around six weeks. It makes no exceptions in cases of rape or incest.

Mayor Lightfoot and State’s Attorney Kim Foxx have been at odds. President Biden completed his previously postponed visit to Chicago tout vaccine mandates. And the White Sox struggle as playoffs get underway.

Maestro Riccardo Muti led the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in the third program of his fall residency with an intriguing juxtaposition of three works: Missy Mazzoli’s 2006 “These Worlds in Us”; Russian composer Anatoly Liadov’s 1908 tone poem, “The Enchanted Lake”; and finally, Tchaikovsky’s indisputable 1893 masterpiece, “Symphony No. 6 in B Minor (Pathetique).”

The Chicago Department of Water Management is calling on the EPA to make protection of Lake Michigan from industrial pollution a priority after U.S. Steel’s Midwest Plant experienced two leaks in two weeks into a waterway that feeds into the region’s source of drinking water.

“Although we are already into fall, we are expecting a warm weekend and West Nile virus remains a risk until the first hard frost,” Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike said in a statement. 

But with a week to go until her declared deadline, Mayor Lori Lightfoot stepped back and said she would not discipline unvaccinated employees. 

President Joe Biden will not block a tranche of documents sought by a House committee’s investigation into the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, setting up a showdown with former President Donald Trump.

After 12 years, Inspector General Joseph Ferguson will leave office Oct. 15 — but not before completing a probe of the botched raid.

Through the end of June, the CPD has hit some level of compliance with 266 out of 507 possible paragraphs under the consent decree, Independent Monitor Maggie Hickey said in a new status report published Friday.

Google is cracking down on digital ads promoting false climate change claims or being used to make money from such content, hoping to limit revenue for climate change deniers and stop the spread of misinformation on its platforms.

When COVID-19 vaccines were first rolling out in the U.S., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended waiting 14 days between the shots and other immunizations as a precaution. But the agency has since revised its guidelines and says the wait is unnecessary.

Friday’s report from the Labor Department also showed that the unemployment rate fell sharply to 4.8% from 5.2% in August. Last month’s job gains fell shy of even the modest 336,000 that the economy had added in August and were the fewest since December, when employers actually cut jobs.

The Senate has dodged a U.S. debt disaster, voting to extend the government’s borrowing authority into December and temporarily avert an unprecedented federal default that experts warned would devastate the economy and harm millions of Americans.

For the second time in two weeks, Indiana Dunes National Park has had to close its beaches due to an unknown substance leaking into the water along its Portage shoreline. 

Debris from houses, shops and offices had to go somewhere. The rubble was dumped off the lakefront east of Michigan Avenue, and if that sounds like the location of Grant Park, it is.

Uptown is one of Chicago’s most diverse communities.  It’s home to a few icons in Chicago’s music scene. But, like many neighborhoods, it also faces gentrification. We talk with community leaders about planned luxury apartments coming to the area and a nonprofit that provides housing for women.

President Biden’s in town to tout vaccine mandates. Live from Uptown. The Rev. Jesse Jackson turns 80. Cook County Board President Preckwinkle proposes a spending budget. And a Bears versus Raiders preview.

One of Chicago’s most notable residents, and one of the country’s most visible and iconic civil rights leaders for the last 60 years, turns 80 on Friday. The Rev. Jesse Jackson stood with Martin Luther King Jr. and has been carrying the mantle of fighting for racial and economic equality ever since.

Justin Fields secures the starting quarterback spot as the Bears travel to Las Vegas for a date with the Raiders.  James “Big Cat” Williams joins us to share his predictions for the game.