Stories by Blair Paddock

The museum has been in the making for some 15 years and will be the only cultural institution devoted to telling the story of public housing in the United States, according to museum organizers.

Employees at Amazon’s MDW2 warehouse in Joliet walked off the job Tuesday afternoon, saying the company has not provided a safe work environment or adequate pay.

The Community Development Commission sent the proposal to the Chicago Plan Commission, which is scheduled to consider the issue at its meeting scheduled for Oct. 20.

Angela Lansbury won five Tony Awards for her Broadway performances and a lifetime achievement award. She earned Academy Award nominations as supporting actress for two of her first three films, “Gaslight” (1945) and “The Picture of Dorian Gray” (1946), and was nominated again in 1962 for “The Manchurian Candidate.” 

Air raid warnings sounded throughout the country for a second straight morning as Ukrainian officials advised residents to conserve energy and stock up on water. Strikes in the capital and 12 other regions Monday caused power outages and pierced the relative calm that had returned to Kyiv and many other cities far from the war’s front lines.

Devontrell Turnipseed, 23, was ordered held without bail Tuesday following his arrest on a single count of first-degree murder following the early Sunday morning shooting of a 38-year-old colleague.

Twenty-eight people were wounded and two killed by gunfire in shootings across the holiday weekend.

Sales of books for young readers on violence, grief, and emotions have increased for nine straight years, with nearly six million copies sold in 2021 — more than double the amount in 2012, according to NPD BookScan, which tracks U.S. retail sales of print books.

“These races often fly under the radar but these are the two most important races on our ballot in November,” said lawyer Trisha Rich, who is on the board of the abortion rights group Personal PAC. “And even though that might sound like an overstatement, it’s not.”

A coalition of progressive groups has been working for nearly a year to prevent Mayor Lori Lightfoot from being re-elected by uniting behind a single candidate. Nothing in the Lightfoot’s spending plan is likely to alter that determination — and may give them more ammunition to use against the mayor.

The high stakes races for Illinois Supreme Court seats. An interview with the mayor of Highland Park three months after the Fourth of July shooting. One-on-one with Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx. And private booting companies push to expand.

It has been three months since seven people were killed and 48 others were injured in a shooting at Highland Park's Fourth of July Parade.

A vote on a measure that would strip members of the Chicago City Council of their authority to ban commercial property owners from hiring a firms to patrol their parking lots and swiftly immobilize cars that are parked there illegally was delayed. A familiar lobbyist and campaign cash factor into the debate. 

Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx believes the federal pardons send a message across the country, “... that we need to move towards decriminalization and ultimately vacating convictions like we have done here in Illinois” 

Some organizations and governments are changing how they observe the holiday, if at all, while many still gather for the annual parade.

One of the legal system’s goals should be finding ways to reintegrate people back into society after they have completed their sentences, says Patrick O’Brien. 

Three months after he was seriously wounded during the Fourth of July mass shooting in Highland Park, 8-year-old Cooper Roberts has returned to school, his family said in a statement Monday.

At least three new cases of misconduct have emerged since the release of a report alleging systemic abuse within women’s professional soccer, US Soccer Federation president Cindy Parlow Cone said. 

Former U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke, Douglas W. Diamond and Philip Dybvig won the Nobel Prize in economic sciences for their research into bank failures.

According to Defense Department data, suicides among active-duty service members increased by more than 40% between 2015 and 2020. The numbers jumped by 15% in 2020 alone.

Kenyan runners Benson Kipruto and Ruth Chepngetich won the Bank of America Chicago Marathon on Sunday, while Emily Sisson finished second and set a record for an American woman.

Ask Isabel Olive, the singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who performs as Half Gringa, about her stage name and you’ll get an understanding of where her music comes from, too.

In a new production adapted from Eve Ewing’s collection of poetry, the Steppenwolf for Young Adults program explores 1919’s legacy. The playwright, J. Nicole Brooks, says she has been a longtime fan of Ewing’s work.

The guaranteed income pilot program, known as Cook County Promise, began accepting applications this week. Funded by the American Rescue Plan Act, the program will pay 3,250 residents of Cook County $500 a month for two years.

Slow and Low: Chicago Lowrider Festival, a celebration of lowrider culture, community and art is returning next weekend at Navy Pier. 

Following up on our series, Permanent Punishment, a look at the legal routes to clearing a criminal record. Young Steppenwolf artists remember the tragedy that touched off the Chicago race riots of 1919. And nailing art.