Stories by Erica Gunderson

The story of how La Villita and Chicago’s other Mexican enclaves developed is the subject of “Making Mexican Chicago: From Postwar Settlement to the Age of Gentrification.” The book walks the streets of the city’s Mexican communities and explores the history of the forces that shaped them.

In the wake of the decision to reject a permit for a metal shredding and recycling operation on the city’s Southeast Side, environmental justice advocates say now is the time for the city and industrial leaders to work together and find ways to meet the needs of both the community and corporations.

With events rapidly unfolding on TV and across social media, child development experts urge parents to check in with children of all ages but not to worry if those conversations are brief.

It’s been a more turbulent flight than expected. Biden is scheduled to deliver his first State of the Union speech on Tuesday night at a moment when he has struggled to deliver on many of his original promises and as he is being forced to confront new crises.

Lies about election fraud, the focus of last year’s Conservative Political Action Conference, have been an afterthought for the opening days of this year’s four-day affair. 

As senators review Jackson’s record in the coming days and weeks, some Republicans may drop hints about whether they are willing to vote for Jackson, who would replace liberal Justice Stephen Breyer. 

Local fallout from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The mayor’s controversial gang ordinance fails. City and state set for mask removal as a mask melee in Springfield gets personal.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced late Friday students and staff will no longer be required to wear masks in Illinois schools as of Monday, after the Illinois Supreme Court declined to take up his request to overturn an appellate court decision that prompted school districts across Illinois to drop their requirement that students and teachers wear face coverings to stop the spread of COVID-19.

Though cameras weren’t allowed during Smollett's trial late last year, Cook County Judge James Linn issued an order Friday allowing media organizations to film inside his courtroom during the actor's upcoming March 10 sentencing.

Though the Save Bell Bowl Prairie coalition earned a temporary reprieve for the natural area through March 1, the group remains at a stalemate with the Greater Rockford Airport Authority.

With disinformation rife and social media amplifying military claims and counter-claims, determining exactly what is happening is difficult.

“Come From Away” is the altogether brilliant musical based on the spirit-raising effort finessed by a small community in Newfoundland, Canada in the wake of the shocking terrorist attacks perpetrated on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001. 

President Joe Biden will nominate federal appeals court Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court, the White House said, making her the first Black woman selected to serve on a court that once declared her race unworthy of citizenship and endorsed segregation.

Congressman Quigley and the local Ukrainian community on the violence in Europe. An exclusive look at the widely-used SHIELD test for COVID-19. And we’re in Roseland for our In Your Neighborhood series.

Located on Chicago’s South Side, neighborhood leaders are engaging in block-to-block outreach to tackle gun violence. Others are working to bring investment into a corridor that was once a hub for small businesses. We speak with residents and some of those leaders on the frontlines.

The chief of the NATO alliance said the “brutal act of war” shattered peace in Europe, joining a chorus of world leaders who decried the attack. 

The Chicago City Council voted 31-14 to confirm Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s pick to lead the agency charged with probing misconduct by members of the Chicago Police Department after months of controversy.

The unique saliva test was developed by University of Illinois scientists and SHIELD officials say it has become an essential tool in halting the spread of COVID-19.

For some Chicago areas residents, what’s happening in Ukraine is personal. They’ve got relatives suddenly living in a war zone. They’re trying to draw Americans’ attention to the Russian invasion — including with a rally Thursday afternoon in Chicago’s Ukrainian Village.

The U.S. sanctions and penalties announced so far appear to spare Putin himself from sanctions. They also forgo an option long-cited as one of the toughest possible, by holding off from banning Russia from the SWIFT financial system that moves money around the world. Biden cited concerns by European allies.

A revival of “The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci,” a testament to a unique imagination, is now playing at the Goodman Theatre. 

Tou Thao, J. Alexander Kueng and Thomas Lane were convicted of depriving Floyd of his right to medical care as the 46-year-old Black man was pinned under fellow Officer Derek Chauvin’s knee for 9 1/2 minutes while handcuffed, facedown on the street on May 25, 2020.

Whoever Lightfoot picks and is confirmed by the Chicago City Council will potentially get a leg up if they choose to run for a full term in February 2023 to represent what is likely to be a very different 11th Ward.

Chicago would permanently ban investments in oil and gas companies under a measure introduced Wednesday by Treasurer Melissa Conyears Ervin and backed by Mayor Lori Lightfoot.

Ricco Carrasco was arrested this week and charged with aggravated battery and two counts of aggravated assault stemming from the Feb. 18 shooting. Cook County prosecutors on Thursday said they’re also charging him with attempted murder.

The Holocaust, World War II and Nazism have been important tools for Putin in his bid to legitimize Russia’s moves in Ukraine, but historians see their use as disinformation and a cynical ploy to further the Russian leader’s aims.