Stories by Patty Wetli

Admission to the Chicago Botanic Garden is no longer free. Ticket prices will range between $9.95 and $25.95 per adult, depending on anticipated demand.

The government's report Friday also drastically revised up its estimate of job gains for November and December by a combined 709,000. It also said the unemployment rate ticked up last month from 3.9% to a still-low 4%.

In the fall, UCAN announced Christa Hamilton would be the first female and first Black person to lead the organization. More recently, lifetime resident pastor James Brooks became the CEO of the Lawndale Christian Health Center.

Community reaction to Jason Van Dyke's release from prison. Laquan McDonald’s neighborhood of North Lawndale is our In Your Neighborhood stop. Plus, the city’s top cop and Sen. Tammy Duckworth.

The snowy owl is being treated at Willowbrook Wildlife Center, where a bald eagle is recuperating from the same issue. Anticoagulants in rodenticides can be deadly to the birds of prey that eat poisoned rats, mice and other rodents.

Two U.S. senators are pressing the Justice Department on a federal civil rights investigation into former Chicago Police officer Jason Van Dyke. Senators Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth say the facts of the case are “shocking and upsetting” and are asking the Attorney General for an update into the probe.

Chicago police superintendent David Brown is approaching nearly two years in command. And it's been a rough ride. His tenure has been racked with a soaring homicide rate and weeks of civil unrest in the wake of George Floyd's murder — all while attempting to reform a police department during a global pandemic.

We spent the day in North Lawndale — the neighborhood Laquan McDonald grew up in — and spoke with family members and the community about Jason Van Dyke’s release as part of our community reporting series.

“I understand why this continues to feel like a miscarriage of justice, especially when many Black and brown men get sentenced to so much more prison time for having committed far lesser crimes,” Mayor Lori Lightfoot said.

According to Chicago Public Schools data, 49.9% of Pre-K through12th grade students in district-operated schools were accounted for on Wednesday.

Lake scientists have long considered winter a season when aquatic activity slows. But researchers now think more is going on in the bitter depths than previously believed — including activity influenced by climate change. 

A “bite-sized version” of Taste of Chicago will return to Grant Park in July, with pop-ups returning to Chicago’s neighborhoods, officials said. 

It was the first time the franchise’s top leaders had faced questions in public since the team published a report by an outside law firm that found the organization badly mishandled Kyle Beach’s allegations that he was assaulted by then-video coach Brad Aldrich during the team’s run to the 2010 Stanley Cup title.

Chicago is digging out from a wild Wednesday that saw continuous snowfall throughout the day, dumping anywhere from 5.6 inches at O'Hare to 11 inches at Midway. That looks to be the end of active weather, for now. 

Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s Wednesday afternoon address from the Old State Capitol was delivered to a mostly virtual audience after a snowstorm thwarted plans for an in-person session of the General Assembly.

A live report from Springfield after the governor’s state of the state and budget address. Reaction from lawmakers. This week’s snowy forecast. And a change at the top of the Chicago Teachers Union.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker presents an election-year budget filled with tax relief and more spending on programs.  And Rod Blagojevich weighs in on a congressional race. . Our politics team weighs in on that story and more.

As snowfall pelts the region, outreach workers in Chicago are working to provide supplies and shelter to the homeless community. Advocates are calling on the city for support as shelters deal with limited bed capacity in the pandemic.

After more than three years as head of the CTU, Jesse Sharkey will be stepping down at the conclusion of his current term on June 30, he announced Wednesday.

People in the Chicago region woke up Wednesday morning to heavy snowfall hitting just in time to snarl the morning commute. And there's more to come.

Lunar New Year celebrations, fancy footwork, wild animals and royal photos usher in the weekend. Here are 10 things to do in and around Chicago this weekend.

The National Weather Service doesn’t name winter storms, according to a spokesperson for the agency. So why are people calling the latest event “Landon”?

Punxsutawney Phil and Woodstock Willie emerged from their respective hideouts Wednesday to deliver their annual dueling Groundhog Day prognostications.

Illinois Sens. Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth want to know more about a federal investigation into the 2014 killing of Black teen Laquan McDonald.

Rep. Adam Kinzinger, one of Trump’s fiercest Republican critics in Congress, has directed his political organization to initiate a novel campaign to convince non-Republicans to support anti-Trump Republican candidates in GOP primary contests across the country later this year. 

We hear from top Republicans ahead of the governor’s budget address. COVID-19 cases are falling in Chicago. Extreme winter weather is coming in. And we discuss upcoming plans to study Lake Michigan’s impact on the city’s shore.