A piece of Civil War history is being restored in one of Chicago’s most well-known public buildings. But what was it doing there in the first place? Geoffrey Baer has the answer.

President Joe Biden at his first news conference Thursday left the door open to pushing for fundamental changes in Senate procedures to muscle key elements of his agenda such as immigration and voting rights past firm Republican opposition “if there’s complete lockdown and chaos.”

President Biden holds the first formal press conference. We visit Albany Park for our community reporting series. Exploring inequities in women’s sports. Another year of virtual Passover and Easter.

Chicago will not allow businesses to increase their capacity indoors amid an “alarming” increase in COVID-19 cases and illnesses, but they will be allowed to serve more customers outside, officials announced Thursday. “We are seeing a very disturbing trend,” Mayor Lori Lightfoot told reporters.

Pritzker gets his COVID-19 vaccine shot. New information on the fallout at Loretto Hospital. Will Chicago workers go back to the office? Parking meters on the lakefront. The dangers of lead water lines.

Illinois may have as much as a quarter of all lead service pipes in the country, according to U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth, who is leading the push for a bipartisan infrastructure bill to rebuild the nation’s water systems. We discuss what else is being done to address the issue.

While some people may have gotten used to the comforts of working from home, others may be itching to get out. The stakes for the city couldn’t be higher, especially for the owners and managers of the massive pieces of real estate in the city’s central business district that are still sitting mostly vacant.

While several Chicago Public Schools have removed police officers from their buildings, 55 schools still have what are called “school resource officers.” On Wednesday, the school district and five community organizations laid out recommendations for those schools to pursue a more holistic approach to safety.

“We really do have a fighting chance now to bring this pandemic to an end,” Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Wednesday before receiving the Johnson & Johnson vaccine in Springfield.

Metered parking is already in place at lakefront destinations like Rainbow Beach, North Avenue Beach, 31st Street Beach, 63rd Street Beach and Foster Avenue Beach. Now it’s coming to Montrose Harbor — and some residents aren’t happy about it.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot said the revised ordinance was “better” than her administration originally proposed and will “put our city on the right track to full ensuring that our residents have clean air, no matter what ZIP code in which they reside.” 

A union representative who works with Loretto Hospital staff says members have complained about so-called VIP lists of vaccine recipients since the vaccine rollout began in January.

A Loretto Hospital emergency room technician who appeared Tuesday on “Chicago Tonight” said he witnessed what he calls “VIP” lines of patients coming in to be vaccinated at the West Side hospital.