Stories by Paul Caine

Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson on Sunday became the first billionaire to ride his own rocket ship to space. But beyond being the ultimate joyride for billionaires, will commercial space travel take off as an industry accessible to the rest of us?

Long in need of repairs, the eight-story garage on Chestnut Street is being shut down for repairs. Crain’s Chicago Business reporter Danny Ecker has details on that story and more.

Facing rising fears of summer violence, President Joe Biden is embarking on a political high-wire act, trying to balance his strong backing for law enforcement with the police reform movement championed by many of his supporters.

The U.S. has seen a string of COVID-19 outbreaks tied to summer camps in recent weeks in places such as Texas, Illinois, Florida, Missouri and Kansas, in what some fear could be a preview of the upcoming school year.

After being chased into his home while out for a walk with his dog, a 22-year-old Chicago man allegedly retrieved a firearm, went back outside and fatally shot a 26-year-old in the head on Friday evening.

Chicago’s top cop meets with Biden on violence. How climate change could present problems for Chicago’s water infrastructure. Teaching Asian American history in Illinois. And billionaires in space.

The infected mosquitoes were found in the O’Hare and Beverly community areas, according to the Chicago Department of Public Health.

Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said 90 deaths have now been confirmed in last month’s collapse of the 12-story Champlain Towers South in Surfside, up from 86 a day before. Some 31 people remain listed as missing.

According to the Chicago Police Department, 40 people were shot in 33 separate incidents over the weekend, including a man who was gunned down as he left the Cook County Jail on Saturday night.

Pfizer says it plans to meet with top U.S. health officials Monday to discuss the drugmaker’s request for federal authorization of a third dose of its COVID-19 vaccine as President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser acknowledged that “it is entirely conceivable, maybe likely” that booster shots will be needed.

The challenges Black women face in academia. The striking life expectancy gap between Black and white Chicagoans. The new Ida B. Wells Monument. Leveling the playing field for Black-owned businesses.

The CEO of local engineering firm Ardmore Roderick tells us what he thinks the city should do to help Chicago’s small businesses.

In the wake of the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist’s decision to reject a tenure offer from the University of North Carolina, we talk with local scholars about their experiences in higher education as Black women.

Over the past year, about one-third of U.S. states have used federal COVID-19 relief aid to reward workers considered essential who dutifully reported to jobs during the pandemic. But who qualified for those bonuses — and how much they received — varied widely.

Swashbuckling billionaire Richard Branson hurtled into space aboard his own winged rocket ship Sunday, bringing astro-tourism a step closer to reality and beating out his exceedingly richer rival Jeff Bezos.

Over the past year, a small group of people who are homeless have established a tent encampment in a small Avondale park. Similar encampments are all over Chicago, and as Illinois’ eviction moratorium nears its end, the number of unhoused people is expected to grow.

Concerns over a homeless encampment clean out in Avondale. Why Latinos are 50% more likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease. And jiggly gelatin art you have to see to believe. 

The degenerative brain disease, for which there currently is no cure, takes a terrible toll on both patients and caregivers. By the year 2060, some 3.5 million Latinos are expected to be afflicted with the disease.

For many people, the idea of gelatin desserts conjures up images of the jiggly retro novelty that appears at church potlucks and in school lunchboxes. But in Mexican culture, gelatins are not just a sweet treat, but an art form. 

U.S. immigration authorities will no longer routinely jail migrants facing deportation if they are pregnant or recently gave birth, reversing a Trump-era immigration policy.

Two days after welcoming three healthy chicks, Chicago’s beloved piping plovers added a fourth hatchling to their growing family, thanks to a little help from wildlife officials.

Twice a day, every day, for more than two weeks, relatives of those who perished or who are still missing have huddled in the Seaview Hotel ballroom, a new daily routine thrust upon them by an unfathomable disaster.

A statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee was hoisted away from its place of prominence and carted off to storage, years after its threatened removal became a rallying point for white supremacists and inspired their violent 2017 rally that left a woman dead and dozens injured.

Zaila Avant-garde, 14, from Harvey, Louisiana is a basketball prodigy who owns three Guinness world records for dribbling multiple balls simultaneously and hopes to one day play in the WNBA or even coach in the NBA. 

A photo snapped by a Field Museum anthropologist in 1947 was labeled “schoolgirl” for 72 years. That student now has a name, and her story is part of a new exhibit about the Marshall Islands. 

A war of words ensues as the mayor and police chief blame the courts for the city’s violence. Joe Biden’s first stop in Illinois as president. The list of alderpeople under indictment grows. And the city pension debt swells.