Friday’s report from the Labor Department also showed that the unemployment rate fell to 4.6% last month from 4.8% in September. That is a comparatively low level though still well above the pre-pandemic jobless rate of 3.5%. 

The predominantly African American community on the Far South Side has high rates of homeownership but a relatively low COVID-19 vaccination rate.

Small businesses and nonprofits grappling with lower-than-expected revenue and higher-than-expected costs have until Nov. 12 to apply for a new round of grants, between $5,000 and $10,000, from the city of Chicago.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration said companies that fail to comply could face penalties of nearly $14,000 per violation.

Deere executives said Wednesday that the company wouldn’t return to the bargaining table with striking workers because it wouldn’t offer a better contract than one they rejected that included immediate 10% raises.

There’s a new bar in Andersonville that is one of the only bars left catering to queer women. Chicago Tonight’s Joanna Hernandez recently stopped by to learn more about the inspiration behind the bar’s name, Nobody’s Darling.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said his company is rebranding itself as Meta in an effort to encompass its virtual-reality vision for the future — what Zuckerberg calls the “metaverse.”

The union said 55% of its members at the 12 main plants voted against this latest contract offer Tuesday.

Quarterly filings reveal a CNA hack exposed personal information of 75,000. Crain’s Chicago Business editor Ann Dwyer has details on that story and more.

Union workers at Deere & Co. would get wage increases of 10% in the first year and 5% each in the third and fifth years under a tentative contract reached between the farm-equipment maker and the United Auto Workers union.

Chicago’s newly approved 2021 budget includes a yearlong basic income pilot for 5,000 Chicago households. We discuss what the city is hoping that money can do to help low-income Chicagoans financially recover from the pandemic.

Production line workers at the El Milagro tortilla factories have been organizing walkouts and rallies to call attention to what they say are unsafe working conditions, unfair labor practices, intimidation from management, and incidents of sexual harassment. Arise Chicago’s Laura Garza gave Latino Voices an update.

Despite COVID-19 concerns, celebrations are coming together in Pilsen, a community just southwest of Chicago’s Loop with a substantial Mexican population.

The Chicago City Council approved Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s $16.7 billion budget on Wednesday with the backing of progressive members who celebrated the spending plan’s focus on affordable housing, mental health, violence prevention, youth job programs and help for unhoused Chicagoans.

Revenue jumped 14% to $6.2 billion in the July-September period, the Chicago burger giant said Wednesday. That beat Wall Street’s forecast of $6 billion, according to analysts polled by FactSet.

NTSB spokesman Keith Holloway said Tuesday it was “still very early” in the investigation and the agency typically takes one to two years to determine accident causes.