The agency said it would no longer use a third-party service, called ID.me, for facial recognition. Critics of the software said the database could become a target for cyberthreats. 

In the fall, UCAN announced Christa Hamilton would be the first female and first Black person to lead the organization. More recently, lifetime resident pastor James Brooks became the CEO of the Lawndale Christian Health Center.

Community reaction to Jason Van Dyke's release from prison. Laquan McDonald’s neighborhood of North Lawndale is our In Your Neighborhood stop. Plus, the city’s top cop and Sen. Tammy Duckworth.

The snowy owl is being treated at Willowbrook Wildlife Center, where a bald eagle is recuperating from the same issue. Anticoagulants in rodenticides can be deadly to the birds of prey that eat poisoned rats, mice and other rodents.

Two U.S. senators are pressing the Justice Department on a federal civil rights investigation into former Chicago Police officer Jason Van Dyke. Senators Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth say the facts of the case are “shocking and upsetting” and are asking the Attorney General for an update into the probe.

Chicago police superintendent David Brown is approaching nearly two years in command. And it's been a rough ride. His tenure has been racked with a soaring homicide rate and weeks of civil unrest in the wake of George Floyd's murder — all while attempting to reform a police department during a global pandemic.

We spent the day in North Lawndale — the neighborhood Laquan McDonald grew up in — and spoke with family members and the community about Jason Van Dyke’s release as part of our community reporting series.

“I understand why this continues to feel like a miscarriage of justice, especially when many Black and brown men get sentenced to so much more prison time for having committed far lesser crimes,” Mayor Lori Lightfoot said.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s Wednesday afternoon address from the Old State Capitol was delivered to a mostly virtual audience after a snowstorm thwarted plans for an in-person session of the General Assembly.

A live report from Springfield after the governor’s state of the state and budget address. Reaction from lawmakers. This week’s snowy forecast. And a change at the top of the Chicago Teachers Union.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker presents an election-year budget filled with tax relief and more spending on programs.  And Rod Blagojevich weighs in on a congressional race. . Our politics team weighs in on that story and more.

As snowfall pelts the region, outreach workers in Chicago are working to provide supplies and shelter to the homeless community. Advocates are calling on the city for support as shelters deal with limited bed capacity in the pandemic.

After more than three years as head of the CTU, Jesse Sharkey will be stepping down at the conclusion of his current term on June 30, he announced Wednesday.