Stories by Paul Caine

The entire CPS board calls it quits. Early voting gets underway in Chicago. And the presidential contest comes to the Midwest.

Attendees of the outdoor concert venue the Salt Shed might have been exposed to a bat during a Sept. 12 concert for the band Goose, according to the Chicago Department of Public Health.

Board president Jianan Shi, Vice President Elizabeth Todd-Breland and fellow members Mariela Estrada, Mary Fahey Hughes, Rudy Lozano, Michelle Morales and Tanya Woods plan to step down from their positions this month.

A record share of U.S. kindergartners had an exemption for required vaccinations last school year, leaving more than 125,000 new schoolchildren without coverage for at least one state-mandated vaccine.

Another week, another set of navigational challenges on North DuSable Lake Shore Drive as the number of lane closures increases to accommodate an ongoing resurfacing project.

Forest preserve districts in DuPage, Kane and Lake counties, along with the McHenry County Conservation District, are all asking either for tax increases or the ability to issue bonds to pay for land acquisition, habitat restoration and ongoing maintenance.

Voters in the Nov. 5 election will pick a member to represent each of 10 new districts as the board triples in size from its current size of seven up to 21 members beginning in January 2025.

What you need to know as early voting kicks off. How parks — or a lack thereof — are affecting Chicago’s Latino communities. And a passion for collecting leads to a business venture.

Chicago is a city known for its parks and green spaces, but not every resident has the same access to lush greenery or playgrounds. According to data from the Trust for Public Lands, Latino communities have 41% less access to green spaces than the average Chicagoan.

If you’re walking down 18th Street, it’s hard to pass the El Anticuario storefront without wondering what’s inside. It’s just about everything.

Early voting is now available at a voting supersite at 191 N. Clark and the Chicago Board of Elections offices at 69 W. Washington, 6th floor. Early voting in all 50 wards begins Oct. 21.

The CDC recommends people ages 6 months and older get the updated COVID-19 and flu vaccinations to get the best protection from current circulating COVID-19 variant strains and flu viruses.

This week’s “Pick Six” — our weekly roundup of outdoorsy recommendations in each of the Chicago region’s six counties — ranges from an Ice Age trail to a day at the best beach in Illinois.

According to figures from the Chicago Police Department, there have been 439 homicides and 1,808 shootings recorded through the first nine months of 2024. Those totals are down 8% and 5%, respectively, compared to the same time last year.

Efforts to improve access to mental health services. We explore the Austin community’s green spaces. And a deep dive into the hidden history of Black civil rights.

Chicago will no longer have members of the police and fire departments on its mental health emergency response teams. The Crisis Assistance Response and Engagement (CARE) program is moving to a new staffing model — with all public health workers.

African Americans were fighting for their rights through common law long before what many people know conventionally as the Civil Rights Movement. That’s the conclusion award-winning scholar and author Dylan Penningroth came to in his book “Before the Movement: The Hidden History of Black Civil Rights.”

The City Council’s Finance Committee unanimously endorsed the plan from R2 Co. and the Campari Group to transform the 14-story office building at 79 W. Monroe St. into an apartment building with 117 units, including 41 units set aside for low- and moderate-income Chicagoans.

A local nonprofit hosts Austin Farm-to-Table Trolley Tours where neighbors visit community gardens, learn about health and wellness and see a cooking demonstration with a professional chef. The predominantly Black neighborhood of 96,000 is considered a food desert.

A federal judge in Washington, D.C., has released the most comprehensive narrative to date of the 2020 election conspiracy case against Donald Trump, outlining what special counsel Jack Smith describes as the former president’s “private criminal conduct.”

“This is still very much a frustration I have,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said. “I’ve been in conversations with the superintendent, with our budget director to come up with better systems.”

Chicago-based health care workers who provided humanitarian aid in Gaza gathered Wednesday to raise awareness around the ongoing crisis in Palestine and the deaths of civilians.

The FBI is seeking any information about a man dubbed the “bare-chested bandit” who is believed to be responsible for a trio of bank robberies in the Loop in recent weeks.

Around 43 million Americans have student loan debt, amounting to $1.5 trillion. If you have student loans, here’s what you need to know.

The Welcome Corps, which launched last year, pairs groups of Americans with newly arrived refugees. So far, the resettlement program has connected 3,500 sponsors with 1,800 refugees, and many more want to help: 100,000 people have applied to become sponsors.

Only a fraction of the Great Lakes’ bottom has been mapped, and those low-resolution charts were completed decades ago, according to the Great Lakes Observing System, a nonprofit that manages data from a network of lake observers and makes it easily accessible.