Stories by Erica Demarest

A tree lighting, makers markets and Italian food usher in the weekend. Here are five things to do in and around Chicago.

It’s the second time Howard Brown Health Workers United has taken to the picket line this year. The first strike in January was largely over 61 unionized workers being laid off as management pointed to drastic budget shortfalls.

After a weeklong delay after an attorney tested positive for COVID-19, a jury was picked Thursday to decide the federal corruption trial of former Ald. Ed Burke and his two co-defendants.

Three people were seriously injured, nine suffered moderate injuries and 11 others were not seriously injured but were taken to a hospital, according to Chicago Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford. 

With Congress unwilling to act, Illinois has no chance to step in because lives are at stake, Gov. J.B. Pritzker said.

The wildly popular Holiday Train is back for a 32nd year, running Nov. 24 through Dec. 21. Here’s when and where to catch it.

City Council approves the mayor’s $16.6 billion budget. We’re one on one with the city’s budget director. And Chicago has a pension problem — WTTW News explains.

The budget, which takes effect Jan. 1, 2024, includes no new taxes, fees or service cuts, making it much easier for alderpeople to back the plan touted by Mayor Brandon Johnson as a down payment on promises to invest in working-class Chicagoans.

The announcement represents Mayor Brandon Johnson’s first attempt to reduce the city resources available to the migrants currently in the city’s shelter system.

The court is weighing whether it is constitutional to impose lifetime restrictions on where a person can live after they’ve been convicted of a sex crime involving a minor.

Fewer than 100 whooping cranes migrate through the eastern U.S. A family of three paid a visit to a Kane County forest preserve Nov. 9-10 while winging their way to Florida.

The man’s brief tenure as an officer ended after he testified as a witness in a sexual assault case for the defense without informing the city. He worked for years at schools including Yates and Amundsen as both a coach and a security guard before his suspension.

Robert Crimo Jr. entered a guilty plea to seven misdemeanor counts of reckless conduct last week in Lake County court. Crimo sponsored his underage son’s firearm application three years before the July 2022 attack in Highland Park, even though the teenager had recently threatened violence.

You may have heard Chicago has a pension problem … to the tune of more than $35 billion of debt. Pensions affect nearly everyone — even if you’re not a public employee. Taxpayers have already been footing the bill to alleviate the pension debt.

After rediscovering the old photo, the father and son added a goal: not only did they want to fly together, they wanted to recreate the 1990s flight deck photo, over two decades later. Not just as father and son, but as colleagues and co-pilots.

At a hearing Wednesday morning, attorneys for the so-called “ComEd Four” argued that the scheduled January sentencing dates should be pushed back by a month in order to allow their defense teams to better prepare their sentencing briefings.

A 3.6 magnitude earthquake hit north central Illinois Wednesday morning, shortly before 5 a.m., the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is reporting.

Mayor Johnson’s $16 billion budget is set for a final vote — what to expect. And Northwestern sweetens the deal to try to get approval for its Ryan Field renovations.

The $800 million proposal to revamp Ryan Field has been controversial from the very beginning. The plans call for a new state-of-the-art stadium that will be smaller in size than the nearly century-old structure it would replace, moving from a capacity of 47,000 to 35,000 for football games.

During their first-ever spacewalk, astronauts Jasmin Moghbeli and Loral O’Hara spent hours outside the International Space Station, successfully replacing hardware on the station’s solar array. But a tool bag became untethered and is now orbiting Earth.

Chicago's City Council members are preparing to vote on Mayor Johnson's spending plan. The latest on a measure that would remove Chicago's sanctuary city status. And former Ald. Ed Burke's trial could finally resume this week following a COVID-19 delay.

Whether you’re interested in theater or light shows, ice skating or shopping, there’s something for everyone to enjoy this holiday season. We’ve rounded up some of the season’s highlights in Chicago and the suburbs.

Tuesday’s report from the Labor Department showed that prices either fell or rose more slowly across a broad range of goods and services, including gas, new and used cars, hotel rooms and housing. 

More United Nations aid workers have been killed in Gaza than in any other single conflict in the organization’s 78-year history, a stark reminder that humanitarian staff have not been spared from Israel’s relentless bombardment of the besieged strip.

The move to table the measure until next Monday allows more time to negotiate and consider a community benefits agreement with the university. 

Evanston is set to decide the fate of Northwestern’s Ryan Field renovation. A statewide push to allow terminally ill people to decide when they die. And renaming North America’s birds.