Stories by Kristen Thometz

Christmas tubas, seasonal concerts, a craft fair and a reimagined “A Christmas Carol” usher in the weekend. Here are 10 things to do in Chicago.

“The trial of Mr. Smollett being complete, it is now appropriate for the seal on the (Office of Special Prosecutor’s) Summary Report to be lifted and for it to be publicly available,” Dan Webb wrote in a new motion Wednesday.

The first case of the omicron variant in suburban Cook County was reported Tuesday, according to county health officials.

Former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin pleaded guilty Wednesday to federal charges of violating George Floyd’s civil rights, averting a trial but likely extending the time he is already spending behind bars on a state conviction.

Capping a marathon day, the House gave final approval to the legislation early Wednesday morning on a near-party-line 221-209 vote, defusing a volatile issue until after the 2022 midterm elections. 

The near-party-line 222-208 vote is the second time the special committee has sought to punish a witness for defying a subpoena.

While its score may be classic retro, the songs are performed with great authenticity by artists who came of age decades after the baby boomers and Generation Xers who grew up with them.

Decades ago, the state of Illinois outlawed midwifery. Now the state’s in the process of changing course with a new law signed Tuesday by Gov. J.B. Pritzker.

Families are lining up around the city to meet with the big guy himself. In some places, there's a struggle to meet the demand.

The U.S. on Tuesday hit another depressing pandemic milestone — 800,000 deaths. It’s a sad coda to a year that held so much promise with the arrival of vaccines but is ending in heartbreak for the many grieving families trying to navigate the holiday season.

For nearly 16 years, the Read/Write Library has been operating in the community, providing unique publications like creative books, neighborhood newspapers and personal narratives by people who are incarcerated. 

Chicago's updated travel advisory includes 42 states, announced Dr. Allison Arwady, the commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health.

A 140-foot-tall transparent structure that’s brightly illuminated 24/7, located across the street from Harms Woods nature preserve, along a key migratory greenway, is a triple threat to birds, environmentalists say.

The committee vote represents a nearly unprecedented rebuke of the decades-old tradition of giving alderpeople the final say over housing developments in their wards.

A man accused in a fatal shooting after a traffic accident earlier this year now faces charges in a separate West Englewood homicide in which he allegedly killed a man as he stood outside a vehicle that had two young children inside.

China dismissed the decision by Canada and the United Kingdom to join Washington’s diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games as a “farce.” 

What if our cities could be more like forests? That’s the question at the heart of a new building prototype developed by architecture and engineering firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill.

Delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic and massive amount of evidence, Ald. Ed Burke's criminal trial will not take place until 2022 at the earliest.

Illinois Congress members on Chicago violence. How more midwives across the state can reduce health care inequities. A suburban fight over a Carvana vending machine. And a Santa shortage. 

Brett Dimick, 30, has been charged with reckless homicide stemming from the Aug. 14 hit-and-run that left 24-year-old Sophie Allen dead and another woman injured.

The only Black juror on the panel that convicted Jussie Smollett of lying to Chicago police said he couldn't get past what the actor did not do after he claimed attackers looped a noose around his neck: Rip it off and keep it off.

In October, the Chicago City Council approved a $31.5 million plan to send checks to the city’s families most in need, promising immediate assistance. But no assistance has gone out yet.

A 50-year record could fall Wednesday as the temperature in Chicago is expected to reach the mid- to upper-60s, according to the National Weather Service. The warmest Dec. 15 to date was 64 degrees in 1971.

Neighbors in Illinois and other states clean up from deadly tornadoes. How contact tracers are doing their jobs nearly two years into the pandemic. Addressing violence in Chicago. And a COVID-19 outbreak for the Bulls.

Sterling Bay is set to unveil its plans for the North Side megaproject. Danny Ecker has the details on that story and more.

In 2014, Chicago saw homicides hit a historic low at 426. The city has exceeded that number every year since and is on pace to again this calendar year by more than 80%, according to U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois John Lausch.