Stories by Erica Gunderson

Purple Pig executive chef Effy Medrano is a native of Toluca, Mexico. But when he moved to Chicago and began working as a teenager at Spiaggia, it set him on a path to cooking Mediterranean cuisine.

The grant from the Mellon Foundation will allow CPL to digitize and archive materials related to the city’s Black history, including items dating from the 1800s to the present day.

The West Side nonprofit offers workforce development and mental health and substance abuse services, among other supports. Leadership said their recidivism rates are a fraction of the state average.

According to an economic impact study, the 2022 Sueños Festival contributed $120.9 million to Chicago’s economy, and Chicago workers earned an extra $5 million in additional labor income. The festival returns this year May 27-28 at Grant Park.

Tracie Hall, the first Black woman to lead the Chicago-based American Library Association, has been named one of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People of 2023.

The Cook County Sheriff’s Office this week released surveillance video of the September 2022 incident, which shows a man speaking to the officer and another guard before the officer, identified by sheriff’s office as 44-year-old Richard Smith, begins punching the man.

A new bill aims to push ahead the Bears’ future stadium plans. We meet the owners of a controversial grocery store. And the state’s child welfare agency faces a dwindling headcount.

Increased security following last weekend’s downtown mayhem. The Bears get a bill boost from Springfield. And as Chicago’s next mayor taps his transition team, Lightfoot and members of City Council bid farewell to City Hall.

WTTW News analyzed state salary data and found some departments got smaller or had a noticeable uptick in employees leaving. Even in agencies that grew, employee churn was evident. We walk you through the numbers. 

More than 20 years after residents began their fight to save the stair-step limestone wall at Promontory Point on the south lakefront, the Point was declared an official Chicago Landmark during Wednesday’s City Council meeting.

It’s been a year since Whole Foods made the surprise announcement it was shutting down its Englewood location. The store has been the site of controversy since it was announced that Save A Lot operator Yellow Banana was taking over the lease.

One of the key elements of the bill is a $3 per person admission tax on all entertainment and sporting events within what the bill calls the Arlington Megaproject to help pay down debt related to the renovation of Soldier Field.

The justices granted emergency requests from the Biden administration and New York-based Danco Laboratories, maker of the drug mifepristone. They are appealing a lower court ruling that would roll back Food and Drug Administration approval of mifepristone.

Crews are scheduled to begin removal of the ancient bur oak on May 1. The zoo is planning Arbor Day events on April 28 to give the tree a celebratory farewell.

The ballet, now receiving its Chicago premiere in a grand-scale production by the Joffrey Ballet on the Lyric Opera House stage, is a strange but compelling work inspired by Hans Christian Anderson’s enduring classic and features impeccible dancing. 

Officer Sammy Encarnacion physically and verbally abused his girlfriend, pointed his department-issued gun at her and was often intoxicated while armed, according to the results of the probe conducted by Civilian Office of Police Accountability, known as COPA.

Known as one of the oldest-recorded meteor showers, the Lyrids are expected to produce 10 to 15 meteors per hour for three nights centered around its peak of 8:06 p.m. CST on Saturday, according to EarthSky.

In 2022, there were more than 7,000 Hyundais and Kias stolen in Chicago, a figure that accounts for 10% of all registered Kia vehicles and 7% of all registered Hyundai vehicles in the city, according to a news release from Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul.

The carnage has taken 88 lives in 17 mass killings over 111 days. Each time, the killers wielded firearms. Only 2009 was marked by as many such tragedies in the same period of time.

A lot of city personnel movement — we hear from alderpeople leaving City Council. Chicago’s interim top cop is stepping down. And innovations downtown for our “In Your Neighborhood” series.

In 2003, the city of Chicago set out on an ambitious plan: to prepare downtown for the 21st century. Now, decades after the plan was released, the city is revisiting it to address current Chicagoans’ needs.

The last Chicago City Council meeting of this term is in the books, and for a dozen Chicago alderpeople, it was their last council meeting ever.

The CHARM Center, as it’s been dubbed, will open Saturday in South Holland. The free, permanent recycling hub will accept items including electronics, textiles and Styrofoam, many of which are reusable.

A photo exhibit, rum festival and cherry blossoms usher in the weekend. Here are five things to do in and around Chicago.

The board ordered the city to rehire employees that were terminated after they refused to get the vaccine and awarded back pay – plus interest – to those employees who were disciplined because.

Interim Police Supt. Eric Carter offered no reason for his departure, saying only that leading the beleaguered department was his “greatest honor.”