Stories by Erica Gunderson

Human trafficking has increased by as much as 40% during the coronavirus pandemic, according to the anti-trafficking group Polaris. Dr. Izabel Olson talks about how to break the cycle of abuse.

Missing that chatty CTA conductor from your morning commute? Have a hankering for an old fashioned mixed up by your favorite bartender? So are we. Join us as we pay tribute to the everyday folks who make Chicago great.

We’re spending a lot more time indoors. Join us as we get reacquainted with our beloved city through film. The polls are now open!

With no hockey or basketball, delayed baseball and no March Madness, we don’t even have sports to turn to in these times of trouble. Enter the Chicago Showdown, four weeks of Chicago-themed brackets built to fuel friendly arguments – and we need your votes!

If your breakfast routine is feeling a little boring these days, Nick and Erica have just the thing for you: deep-fried Cream of Wheat – with a surprise center.

Since the rib tip is not only a Chicago institution but also a finger food, we decided it was the best candidate this week for a beer-batter-and-hot-oil dunk.

Midwesterners could be forgiven for thinking that Wisconsin has a lock on all things cheese. But in Chicago, we’ve managed to one-up our neighbors to the north: we set it on fire.

Many Chicagoans have sweet memories of the confection we’re about to dunk in hot oil: the Frango mint. But they might be surprised to learn that the signature candy of Marshall Field’s was not created in Chicago.

For our new summer series, we take some of Chicago’s favorite foods and, like the name says, we deep-fry them and deal with the big questions. Today’s sacrifice to the gods of hot oil: Chicago-style tamales.

This week’s installment of our new battered-and-fried summer series goes deep on Chicago’s odorous namesake: the ramp. 

For the first time in 30 years, the Food and Drug Administration has approved a new treatment for depression.

New federal guidelines stress that any amount and any type of exercise helps health. “Doing something is better than doing nothing,” said Dr. Donald Lloyd-Jones of Northwestern University.

Three Chicago artists are at work on a small-scale replica of the DuSable Museum of African-American History that can tour the city and eventually float up the Chicago River to the moribund site of DuSable Park.

Geoffrey Baer peeks into a Wrigley Field teepee and goes under the dome at Preston Bradley Hall in this week’s Ask Geoffrey.