While views on how to address public safety are divided, Mayor Brandon Johnson announced his new plan Thursday, which he says will address the root causes of crime.

The newly designed program is expanding from the Mexican region to include music from Peru, Spain, Guatemala and many others — calling it “A Latin American Christmas” with music that was heard from the 15th to the 18th centuries.

A recent accident gave local rum distillery Chicago Cane Cooperative a big challenge just months after starting. But the owners of the business are moving forward with their big plans.

City Council rejects an effort to ask voters whether Chicago should stay a sanctuary city. And a new plan for community safety.

According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, when you spend $100 at a small business, $48 stays in the community versus when you spend the same $100 at a big-box store or national retailer, only $14 stays.

Tackling a huge drop in public transit funding. Reflecting on the work of Juanita Irizarry as she steps away from Friends of the Parks. And how a new initiative is driving holiday foot traffic to commercial corridors.

WTTW News stopped by Big Mich, a family-owned company that specializes in house-made micheladas and is now making chamoy at its Willowbrook headquarters. There’s an original lime flavor, plus strawberry and mango.

According to the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless’ recent report, which just became available in Spanish, an estimated 68,000 people are homeless in Chicago.

The mayor drops plans to house migrants at Amundsen Park. How local organizations are aiding those facing homelessness. And a nonprofit that’s helping Chicago restaurants start up and scale up.

Winter in Chicago can be brutal, and it can be even worse for those experiencing homelessness. A Latino Muslim organization is coming together to help those in need on the city’s Southwest Side.

Activist Dolores Huerta on her legacy fighting injustice. The pride and pressure that come with being first-generation. And a local biochemistry professor wants to get more Latinos in laboratories.

Chicago is set to get more money from the state to care for migrants. What local Mexican restaurants are bringing to the table for vegans. And why Cicero has worse air quality than its neighbors.

According to Cook County data, 35% of residents speak a language other than English at home, while 14% of those people say they speak English less than “very well.” Meanwhile, migrants continue arriving in Chicago with limited to no English-speaking skills and few resources.

The project involves sensors installed and monitored by the Cicero Independiente and MuckRock providing data to back up what many community members were already feeling.

When it comes to tacos, the first thing on many people’s minds is what kind of meat is going to be inside that tortilla. But these days, about 20% of Mexicans identify as vegan or vegetarian, and a growing share of America’s Latinos do as well.

The Biden administration has started to grant temporary protected status to almost 500,000 Venezuelan migrants who are already in the country — quickly making them eligible to work. Meanwhile, advocates are pushing for work permits for more than 180,000 undocumented immigrants in Chicago who have been in the city much longer.