The state is partnering with Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library to mail new books to Illinois children each month. The Dollywood Foundation pays for the books, while state and education partners provide the shipping costs.

Fiesta Back of the Yards is back in full force with food, music and carnival rides on 47th Street.

Breaking into the music industry is not an easy task, but a local family is working to help guide artists. Brighton Park residents Jorge Ledezma and Lupe Martinez created the record label No Sé Discos in 2021. From the vocals to the instrumental, each artist has a niche.

As part of the city’s response, police stations have become makeshift shelters for new migrants before they transition into long-term housing. Recently, a volunteer team of medical students has begun making the rounds at those police stations to assist with refugees’ health needs. 

What does it mean to be native Mexican after centuries of colonization? And how do those cultures present themselves today, despite efforts at their erasure? Those questions are at the heart of a new art exhibition. 

Health care for newly arrived migrants. Residents fight a metal scrapping facility on the Southeast Side. And native Mexican cultures featured in a new exhibit.

The ritual of human sacrifice in Aztec culture provides the unlikely backdrop for a musical now running at City Lit Theater. 

Chicago Department of Public Health officials determined last year the operation posed an “unacceptable risk” to the health of nearby residents, following Environmental Protection Agency investigations and activism from local residents who said their neighborhood could not withstand the pollution they believe the new Southside Recycling facility will bring.

A plan to provide $51 million in migrant care passed by a comfortable margin at this week’s Chicago City Council meeting. But the lead-up to that vote was met with upheaval and racist remarks from audience members.

The celebration kicks off with a Community Day on June 8 and continues through the weekend with a parade, carnival, musical and dance performances, arts, workshops, and of course, plenty of good food.

In “The Shoemaker’s Magician,” Cynthia Pelayo blends film history and Chicago history into a genre-crossing journey into the occult. The story opens with the discovery of a gruesome murder in a downtown theater.

The Illinois state budget passed this week included increased funding for higher education. That was welcome news to Northeastern Illinois University, which has seen some financial and institutional turbulence in recent years.

City Council members debate over funding for migrants. Some welcome funding news for NEIU. And a new horror story set in Chicago.

Helping U.S. military veterans who’ve been deported. Pushback against a plan to expand I-55. And inside the big tent at Circus Vazquez.

Five brothers started Circus Vazquez in Mexico City in 1969. The family-run circus has made the Chicago area one of its stops for more than 20 years.

Kids in mentorship programs might not yet appreciate how their mentors have helped keep them on a successful path. But Hector Perez of the Union League Boys & Girls Clubs says these programs are critical to shaping productive futures.