With just five days until the election, Chicagoans have already cast more than 320,000 ballots.

Latinos are starting businesses at over twice the rate of the general U.S. population. But getting there as a first-time business owner comes with its own set of challenges.

The program was launched in 2023 with an aim to uplift and preserve cultural communities throughout Illinois. The districts are eligible to apply for some of the $3 million in available funding to help stimulate economic development in those areas.

These cultural districts include ethnic enclaves in Chicago and historically Black neighborhoods in Champaign and Springfield.

Thousands of Puerto Ricans are taking to the streets to protest massive blackouts. The island’s antiquated power grid has long been unreliable, and it was decimated by Hurricane Maria in 2017. This summer, officials hoped the privatization of the power grid by LUMA Energy would help.

It’s time for Illinois legislators to get down to the business of drawing new sets of maps that will decide the boundaries for state legislative and congressional districts. It’s a seemingly arcane task, but one with big consequences. 

The neighborhood has long been the epicenter of the city’s Puerto Rican community, but in recent years, fears of gentrification and displacement have grown — and in some cases, become reality. A new business incubator hopes to help change that. 

The coronavirus pandemic has forced many of us to spend a lot more time indoors this year. But for some, home isn’t always a safe space. Many social service agencies are reporting a spike in domestic violence during the pandemic.