Stories by Erica Gunderson

In 1925, the all-Black, all-male workers organized and founded the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters in hopes of forcing the Pullman Company to the bargaining table.

This week, Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced the names of seven interim commissioners who will make up the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability, Chicago’s first civilian police oversight board. The group is charged with a tall order: rebuilding public trust in the department.

While the overall unemployment rate for Chicago is nearly 5.8% in August, the rate for Black residents is more than twice that, at 14.3%.

Jorge Garcia wasn’t always a bird paparazzo – in fact, he’s only been at it for a couple of years, after a gear upgrade for his job as a technologist took an unexpected turn. The fledgling interest soon hatched into a full-blown hobby.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said he’s moving out migrants to other cities because the border crisis has Texas overwhelmed. Critics say he’s using them in an attempt to send a political message.

Why the Black unemployment rate in Chicago is nearly three-times the rate for White Chicagoans. Plus, some of the city’s newest civilian police oversight commissioners and Taylor Bennett’s new tracks.

What lies ahead for newly arrived migrants in Chicago. Answers for vendors at the Discount Mall. And a taste of the first-ever Empanada Fest in Northwest Indiana.

On Saturday, Sept. 10, sweet and savory empanadas take center stage in a one-day festival at Whiting Lakefront Park along with cultural performances by local music and dance groups

Chicago’s new immigrant arrivals, the president’s partisan calls for saving democracy and the Chicago Police Department gets some civilian oversight and more time off. 

A team of researchers, led by Morton Arboretum, spent the better part of the past five years creating the first-ever standardized checklist and threat assessment of the nearly 900 species native U.S. trees. Their work provides the foundation on which to build awareness, advocacy and future conservation efforts.

Chicago police leaders are adding patrols in neighborhoods, high-traffic areas and along the CTA during the Labor Day weekend, officials announced Friday.

Most recently, his focus has been on purchasing a 326-acre tract of land in suburban Arlington Heights, Illinois, where a new stadium and entertainment complex could be built. 

The ceremony will also mark Michelle Obama’s first visit to the White House since Obama’s presidency ended in January 2017, and only the second visit for Barack Obama. He was at the White House in April to mark the 12th anniversary of the health care law he signed in 2010.

Jehovah’s Witnesses suspended door-knocking in the early days of the pandemic’s onset in the United States, just as much of the rest of society went into lockdown too.

The new boosters are combination or “bivalent” shots that contain half the original vaccine that’s been used since December 2020 and half protection against today’s dominant omicron versions, BA.4 and BA.5.

CPS on Friday announced that 93.4% of its 300,000-plus students were in their classrooms for the start of the new school year on Aug. 22. That’s the highest percentage since the 2019-20 school year, the district said.

The neighborhood is an industrial corridor. It has a long history that dates back decades with the arrival of steel mills that drove hundreds of immigrants to move to the area to work and build. We started by talking to a long-time resident who tells us more about the economic impact of the steel mills' shutdown.

How local leaders are responding to migrants who’ve arrived in Chicago, by bus from Texas. Plus, how the city’s teen curfew is working. And we’re in East Side for our In Your Neighborhood series.

Chicago Police stepped up their use of the city’s overall curfew law this summer recording 141 curfew violations, an increase of approximately 57% as compared with the same period in 2021, according to police department data. 

A Chicagoland artist is making their Wrigley Field debut with a sculpture meant to encourage community. Arts correspondent Angel Idowu introduces us to “Cohere” and the visual artist behind the bronze beast.

A new report shows Gov. J.B. Pritzker's vast investment portfolio includes a dozen companies that earned billions of dollars in state contracts. When he took office, Pritzker promised to shift that portfolio into a blind trust, to eliminate conflicts of interest. But an investigation from the Better Government Association throws into question whether or not the move worked.

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s office confirmed that the group arrived on Wednesday night and said the city welcomes them. The immigrants are being bused from Texas as part of a strategy launched by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott this year. 

The Chicago Park District is joining a national community science project designed to raise awareness of all the bees, butterflies, beetles, moths and wasps that rely on urban green spaces for food and shelter.

The Bears announced “an informational community meeting” will be held Sept. 8 during which the team’s potential purchase and redevelopment of the former Arlington International Racecourse will be discussed.

Dr. Allison Arwady, commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health, called the vaccines the “best possible match” against strains of the virus now in circulation. They’ve been formulated to provide immunity against the omicron variants BA.4 and BA.5, which account for nearly all of the cases of COVID-19 in the U.S.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who is running for re-election, relished the chance to welcome the immigrants to Chicago, most of whom arrived in the United States after fleeing Venezuela, where the collapse of the economy has triggered political instability.