Most people are either buried or cremated when they die, but there is another practice that’s gaining steam. It’s called natural organic reduction or “human composting.” Illinois is poised to become the seventh state to approve the practice.

Live reaction to the “ComEd Four” verdict. Plans to turn an old South Shore school into a shelter for migrants. A look at the neighborhood around Pontiac Prison. And saying goodbye to Lincoln Park Zoo’s oldest inhabitant.

City officials are calling this a humanitarian crisis, with stretched resources and few housing options, now that more than 8,000 migrants have arrived.

Lincoln Park Zoo said farewell today to a 300-year-old bur oak, but the tree will live on in multiple ways.

Ex-ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore, former ComEd lobbyist Mike McClain, retired ComEd executive John Hooker and ex-City Club of Chicago president and former ComEd consultant Jay Doherty were each found guilty of bribery conspiracy, bribery and willfully falsifying the company’s books.

The town is also home to Pontiac Correctional Center, one of only three maximum security Illinois state prisons. Just outside the prison’s doors is a neighborhood of single-family homes and a playground.

The community is responding to more migrants arriving in Chicago from Texas. A crucial deadline for Medicaid recipients. The threat of a rising Mississippi River. And the challenges inside Pontiac Prison.

Chicago officials say they are having a hard time finding places for migrants to stay, with dozens now sleeping at police facilities.

During the pandemic, the number of low-income and disabled people who received government-backed health care grew in Illinois, and across the country, because at the height of COVID Congress made it illegal for states to kick anyone off Medicaid.

The peak water levels this spring will likely rank in the top 10 of all time in many places, but the National Weather Service said river levels will generally remain well below past records. 

The conditions that come with Pontiac Correctional Center’s age are just part of the reason inmates and advocates call it inhumane. Another reason is the climate inside. WTTW News details the issues facing the maximum security prison. 

Among Pontiac Prison’s challenges is its status as the most short-staffed facility in IDOC. But former director Rob Jeffreys said having a lower incarceration rate could work in the agency’s favor.

A humanitarian crisis in Chicago after a new surge of migrants. How the CTA is trying fill its ranks with bus and rail operators. And James “Big Cat” Williams gives his take on the Chicago Bears’ draft moves.