Stories by Kristen Thometz

Beefy burgers, music festivals, cycling on Lake Shore Drive and mini golf usher in the holiday weekend. Here are a dozen things to do in and around Chicago.

The number of new COVID-19 infections has been steadily increasing for weeks and on Wednesday surpassed 5,000 for the first time in a 24-hour period since January, according to state health officials.

Due to the surge of COVID-19 cases, the director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is asking unvaccinated Americans not to travel during the Labor Day holiday weekend.

Officers Jeffery Shafer and Victor Guebara face felony charges after they allegedly beat a teenage boy as he laid on the ground following a pursuit in a stolen vehicle in Woodlawn earlier this year.

Crime data released Wednesday by the Chicago Police Department shows the city has recorded 524 homicides and 2,344 shootings so far in 2021. Those totals are up 3% and 9%, respectively, over the same time period last year.

Democrats have a stranglehold on the Illinois General Assembly, and Tuesday they muscled through legislation that will help the party maintain power for the coming decade despite objections from community organizations and Republicans.

Louisiana residents still reeling from flooding and damage caused by Hurricane Ida scrambled for food, gas, water and relief from the sweltering heat as thousands of line workers toiled to restore electricity.

A woman who wasn’t a fan of R. Kelly ended up getting exposed to a sexually transmitted disease after he enticed her to join him on the road, she testified on Tuesday at the R&B entertainer’s sex-trafficking trial.

Scoops Dessert Bar is the first restaurant in Chicago to open as part of the city’s Expedited Restaurant Licensing Pilot Program, which is designed to help fill restaurants shut down by the COVID-19 pandemic.

As the final five U.S. military transport aircraft lifted off out of Afghanistan, they left behind up to 200 Americans and thousands of desperate Afghans who couldn't get out and now must rely on the Taliban to allow their departure.

A new outdoor exhibition in Gage Park tells the neighborhood’s history from the perspective of its residents. It’s part of a new program from the Gage Park Latinx Council that invites young people to reclaim their community’s narrative. We go for a look — and a local history lesson.

As the highly infectious delta variant continues to spread rapidly throughout the country, more children are testing positive for COVID-19. Could the return of in-person learning trigger even more cases?

Addressing the nation, a defensive President Joe Biden on Tuesday called the U.S. military airlift to extract more than 120,000 Afghans, Americans and other allies to end a 20-year war an “extraordinary success,” though thousands of people looking to leave remain.

Nearly 30 years after “Candyman” was released, people are still daring one another to say the title character’s name in the mirror to summon this hook-wielding ghost. Some urban legends don’t die, they’re just reborn.

Redistributing political power through the state’s remapping process. More cases of COVID-19 in children. Making Gage Park youth into oral historians. And the scoop on new rules for new restaurants.

Illinois Democrats on Tuesday are expected to approve new legislative boundaries over objections from Republicans and some community groups that the process was unnecessarily rushed and maps were drawn behind closed doors.

A new law in Illinois will require health insurers to cover medically necessary services and treatments for mental health conditions and substance use disorders. Advocates say the legislation comes at a critical moment and will help remove obstacles to such care.

The Chicago police officer seen in a video grabbing a woman as she attempted to leave North Avenue Beach with her dog Saturday has been placed on administrative duties while the incident is investigated.

After a drowning in Lake Michigan near a Rogers Park beach earlier this month, longtime community activist Jim Ginderske decided to take action in the name of public safety. Now, a local alderperson is joining the effort.

The city’s travel advisory now covers 48 states as well as Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, Guam and the Virgin Islands, officials said Tuesday.

From mom-and-pop outfits to big-box stores, the coronavirus pandemic has significantly impacted businesses in Chicago and beyond. We talk with local Latino business owners and entrepreneurs about their experiences. Watch the full discussion.

Louisiana communities beginning the huge task of clearing debris and repairing the damage inflicted by Hurricane Ida are facing the dispiriting prospect of weeks without electricity in the oppressive, late-summer heat. 

The United States completed its withdrawal from Afghanistan late Monday, ending America’s longest war and closing a chapter in military history likely to be remembered for colossal failures, unfulfilled promises and a frantic final exit.

Rescuers in boats, helicopters and high-water trucks brought hundreds of people trapped by Hurricane Ida’s floodwaters to safety Monday and utility repair crews rushed in, after the furious storm swamped the Louisiana coast and ravaged the electrical grid.

As part of our “Firsthand: Living in Poverty” series, we hear about the current state of food insecurity in Chicago — and possible solutions to the problem.

The e-commerce giant recently began installing lockers inside Chicago parks, and says the lockers are a “secure and convenient” option. But that so-called convenience has proven controversial.