Come fall, Sears will shut the doors on its last department store in Illinois, the state in which its first retail store opened in 1925. The Sears department store in the Woodfield Mall in Schaumburg will close on Nov. 14.

As some parents return to in-person work, many are struggling to find child care for their small children. A shortage of day care workers across Illinois means demand for services is high, leading some centers to pause enrollment.

Massive government relief passed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic moved millions of Americans out of poverty last year, even as the official poverty rate increased slightly, the Census Bureau reported Tuesday.

Pension systems for state government workers across the U.S. are in their best shape since the Great Recession began more than a dozen years ago, according to a study released Tuesday.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot and interim Chicago Public Schools CEO Jose Torres on Thursday unveiled a new Chicago Families Forward Fund, which they say will distribute more than $9 million in assistance to CPS families before the end of the fall semester.

Illinois has one of the highest unemployment rates in the nation. Federal pandemic unemployment benefits ended on Labor Day, cutting off weekly payments to more than 300,000 people in the state. 

In the suit filed late Thursday the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, DoorDash, Grubhub and Uber Eats call the fee caps government overreach.

Ann Marie Frank is using social media to help feed homeless individuals in her community and beyond. We visit Des Plaines to see how she’s opened her kitchen to make thousands of lunches — with the help of family members and volunteers.

Illinois’ eviction moratorium is in place for one more month, but many residents fear they’ll be out of a home once that ban lifts. And now animal shelters are preparing for what could be an influx of pets in need of homes, too. 

Millions of jobless Americans lost their unemployment benefits on Monday, leaving only a handful of economic support programs for those who are still being hit financially by the year-and-a-half-old coronavirus pandemic.

Chicago has it’s first-ever food equity policy lead. Ruby Ferguson, who is taking on that role, will help address food insecurity across the city, which has been exacerbated by the pandemic. 

Unemployment has been a major issue throughout the pandemic. Stay-at-home orders spurred layoffs — many who lost their jobs had trouble accessing benefits — in part because there was a whole lot of fraud.

Scoops Dessert Bar is the first restaurant in Chicago to open as part of the city’s Expedited Restaurant Licensing Pilot Program, which is designed to help fill restaurants shut down by the COVID-19 pandemic.

As part of our “Firsthand: Living in Poverty” series, we hear about the current state of food insecurity in Chicago — and possible solutions to the problem.

While Mayor Lori Lightfoot contends Chicago is “fiscally bouncing back,” Chicago’s top financial officials made it clear at a hearing Monday that the city’s finances are still mired in the deep hole created by the economic catastrophe of the coronavirus pandemic.

Renters across the country may soon face eviction now that the U.S. Supreme Court has struck down the Biden administration’s extension of the eviction moratorium. We discuss resources available to local renters.