Stories by Kristen Thometz

Winter flower shows, fitness classes, hot coffees and teas and thousands of holiday lights usher in the weekend. Here are 10 things to do in Chicago.

President Joe Biden on Friday will present the nation’s second highest civilian award to 12 individuals involved in defending the Capitol during the insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021, and safeguarding the will of American voters in the 2020 presidential election.

Allowing the man to return to work as a Chicago police officer will “create an environment of impunity for other officers who may associate with violent groups and contribute to the erosion of trust between the public and law enforcement authorities,” according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Why Howard Brown Health staffers are on the picket line. An increase in opioid deaths in Cook County. The standoff on Capitol Hill in Spotlight Politics. And drying out for January.

Howard Brown Health will next year mark 50 years of serving the health needs of the LBGTQ and HIV-positive communities. Going forward, it will do so minus about 16% of its workforce. 

For a fourth, fifth and sixth time, Republicans tried to vote McCarthy into the top job as the House plunged deeper into disarray.

A total of 35% of legal-aged U.S. adults skipped alcohol for the entirety of January in 2022 — that’s an increase from 21% in 2019, according to food and drink research firm CGA.

Intuit, the Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art, has been on Milwaukee Avenue near Chicago and Ogden avenues since 1999. The museum showcases artwork by self-taught and often marginalized artists who didn’t follow a traditional path to art-making.

Yet the figures show there are nearly 1.8 jobs for every unemployed person, down from a peak of 2 but historically very high. Before the pandemic, there were usually more unemployed people than jobs.

The key culprit appears to be the widespread availability of the powerful synthetic opioid fentanyl.

That total marks a double-digit percentage decline over each of the last two years, according to Chicago Police Department data, but would still sit as the fourth most homicides in the city since 1999.

Jason McMahan was denied bail during a hearing Wednesday, one day after he was arrested and charged with first-degree murder, two counts of attempted murder and one count of aggravated battery stemming from the fatal shooting of 26-year-old Tashawnna Anderson.

The new jackpot will remain the sixth-largest jackpot in U.S. history.

Twitter banned all political advertising in 2019, reacting to growing concern about misinformation spreading on social media. The latest move appears to represent a break from that policy, which had banned ads by candidates, political parties, or elected or appointed government officials.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot on a host of issues facing the city. The latest on injured Buffalo player Damar Hamlin. The law eliminating cash bail is on pause. And the U.S. House Speaker vote devolves into chaos.

On New Year’s Eve, less than 12 hours before cashless bail was to take effect, Illinois Supreme Court justices put the elimination of cash bail in the state on hold indefinitely.

The business of Chicago-based Model Builders Inc. is in the details – precision-crafting models and prototypes of all kinds since 1950. As Model Builders Inc.’s Jeff Harris puts it: “you’re convincing the person that’s looking at it that it’s the real thing, shrunk.”

At the age of 51, Vicki Strawn suffered a heart attack. Living with cardiac problems came with limitations that made it difficult to walk or cook. Strawn finally got the call she’d been waiting for on May 16, 2021.

Republican leader Kevin McCarthy had pledged a “battle on the floor” for as long as it takes to overcome right-flank fellow Republicans who were refusing to give him their votes. But it was not at all clear how the embattled GOP leader could rebound after becoming the first House speaker nominee in 100 years to fail to win the gavel from his fellow party members on the initial vote.

Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin suffered a cardiac arrest after making a tackle during Monday night’s game, causing the NFL to suspend a pivotal game against the Cincinnati Bengals that quickly lost significance in the aftermath of a scary scene that unfolded in front of a national television audience.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot defended her decision to transform a shuttered school in Woodlawn into a shelter for immigrants bused to Chicago as part of an “all hands on deck” response to what she called a crisis manufactured by the Republican governor of Texas during an interview on Tuesday with “Chicago Tonight.”

Investors will be closely watching moves by central banks in coming months to fight inflation with higher interest rates, all the while bracing for the recession and higher unemployment that could result from those policies.

 Frank Galati won twin Tonys in 1990 — best play and best director — for his adaptation and staging of Steppenwolf’s production of John Steinbeck’s “The Grapes of Wrath,” starring Gary Sinise as Tom Joad. He was also nominated for directing the 1998 celebrated musical “Ragtime.”

From the obvious to the obscure, we’ve pulled together a rundown of promising arts and culture events to stir the senses in the new year. 

“Surviving R. Kelly Part III: The Final Chapter” is a two-part look at the legal fallout Kelly has faced. 

Rescuing a bald eagle floating on ice in open water raises the stakes exponentially, but volunteers with Chicago Bird Collision Monitors proved up to the task with a New Year's Day recovery effort.