Lightfoot’s support for a casino on what is now the Chicago Tribune printing plant and newsroom near Chicago Avenue and Halsted Street will bounce the roulette ball to the Chicago City Council to consider Bally’s plan.

Chicago Women in Trades helped organize what they say is the regional unions’ first class of all women in 140 years. The Mid-America Carpenters Regional Council’s pre-apprentice program will put participants on the path to becoming a union-card-holding carpenter.

With three community meetings complete, the roulette ball bounces back to Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who is expected to make her decision within the next two months and pick one of three proposed Chicago casino locations. 

In the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, city and county officials hired hundreds of contact tracers to help stop the spread of the coronavirus as the sheer number of cases overwhelmed local health departments. But as the coronavirus pandemic enters an endemic phase, contact tracing will become more targeted, according to officials.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot does not expect to pick one of the three finalists and ask the Chicago City Council to ratify her decision until early summer, a significant delay since the fall, officials said.

Employers added a robust 678,000 jobs in February, the largest monthly total since July, the Labor Department reported Friday. The unemployment rate dropped to 3.8%, from 4% in January, extending a sharp decline in joblessness to its lowest level since before the pandemic erupted two years ago.

The government's report Friday also drastically revised up its estimate of job gains for November and December by a combined 709,000. It also said the unemployment rate ticked up last month from 3.9% to a still-low 4%.

The Labor Department also reported Tuesday that employers posted 10.6 million job openings in November, down from 11.1 million in October but still high by historical standards.

While some business owners say requiring proof of COVID-19 vaccination will limit spread of COVID-19, others worry about how it will impact their business – and how patrons will react. 

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 majority of Latinos entering higher education are the first in their families to attend college. This means they don't always have access to mentors or role models in their community to help usher them into professional careers. 

The holiday shopping season is underway and U.S. sales are on track to surpass spending records. Some small business owners say they hope the season will provide a much-needed boost to revenue as retailers large and small face supply chain issues and inflation more than a year and a half into the pandemic.

Employers in some industries, such as restaurants, bars, and hotels, pulled back on hiring in November. By contrast, job growth remained solid in areas like transportation and warehousing, which are benefiting from the growth of online commerce.

Brandis Friedman and a panel of guests talk about how Black-owned small businesses are navigating the holiday shopping season amid supply chain issues and labor shortages. Watch the discussion now.

Former Parlor Pizza employees say they were forced to work overtime without pay and under toxic working conditions, according to Block Club Chicago. The restaurant is now under investigation for possible labor and anti-discrimination violations.

Evanston/Skokie District 65 had to cancel classes all week due to staffing shortages, but the problem isn’t limited to the district. Illinois Association of Regional Superintendents President Mark Klaisner says there’s an educator shortage statewide.