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News

Two youngest victims of Back of Yards mass shooting remain hospitalized: 'I could have lost both of my kids that night,' mom says

Aaron Mendez, 1, suffered kidney damage and may have to have a kidney removed, while his older brother, Isaiah, has been sedated since undergoing surgery.

By David Struett and Kaitlin Washburn

The Watchdogs

'Deceptive' real estate firm tied to Loop's Monroe Capital sued by Kwame Raoul

MV Realty targeted people who had equity in their homes but needed cash — locking them into decadeslong contracts carrying hidden fees, the Illinois attorney general says in a new lawsuit.

By Stephanie Zimmermann

Crime

Kim Foxx won't take sides on request by man facing rape trial for 'certificate of innocence' in murder case

End cars on two subway trains shine their red lights as a CTA worker wearing a yellow vest walks between them.

The Watchdogs

CTA touts its ‘Second Chance’ program for ex-offenders, but few end up with permanent jobs

The Rev. Mark Santo, shown at St. Philip High School in Chicago in the 1960s.

The Watchdogs

Catholic priest accused of sex abuse served in 9 church jurisdictions, including Chicago. So why is he on just one abuser list?

White Sox and Bulls chairman Jerry Reinsdorf and the logos for SportsVision and Stadium.

Sports Media

With Stadium, Jerry Reinsdorf can create something he couldn’t 40 years ago

Commentary

The opinions in and around Chicago that inform, analyze, hold power accountable and entertain.

Alicia Schemel

25 years after my dad was killed, his murder is unsolved. Two bills could spur action on cold cases like his.

Mary Mitchell

Columnist

What’s your Chicago story? We want to hear it.

Natalie Y. Moore

Columnist

‘Shame of Chicago, Shame of the Nation’ looks back at city’s racist housing history

Jeff Agrest

Deputy sports editor

With Stadium, Jerry Reinsdorf can create something he couldn’t 40 years ago

Politics

Rev. Frederick Douglass Haynes III points at Rev. Jesse Jackson as both sit and eat at a red cloth covered table at the Rainbow PUSH Convention, with a packed crowd seen behind them.

Politics

Rainbow PUSH leader’s quick exit underscores challenge of following Rev. Jackson: ‘It’s the most difficult job in Black America’

It’s unclear why the Rev. Frederick Haynes III, a Texas megachurch pastor, suddenly resigned Tuesday as president of the South Side social justice organization. But longtime observers say an out-of-towner was doomed from the start.

By Mitchell Armentrout

Politics

Watchdog group asks feds to probe Trump over $50 million 'nonexistent' loan to his Chicago company

The Watchdogs

Ex-Citi VP in Chicago ripped by judge for bilking elderly clients of $1.5 million, gets 30 months in prison

2024 Democratic National Convention

No cracks in Blue Wall? Top Democrats vow Chicago is ready for convention, despite party divisions

LGBTQIA+

Pride Parade will now allow participants from schools, organizers say

Sports

Blackhawks

Analyzing most encouraging, discouraging aspects of Blackhawks’ 2023-24 season

From Connor Bedard to Lukas Reichel, from Alex Vlasic to Arvid Soderblom, from leadership to coaching, the Hawks’ just-finished season was full of both good and bad signs for the future.

By Ben Pope

Southern California quarterback Caleb Williams

Bears

Once the Bears land Caleb Williams, the real work — and pressure — begins

Bears

Former Bears executive Bill Tobin dies at age 83

Cubs

Polling Place: Is it time for the Cubs to pull Kyle Hendricks from the rotation?

Sports Media

With Stadium, Jerry Reinsdorf can create something he couldn’t 40 years ago

Entertainment and Culture

Pepe Nufrio and Erica Stephan in Guys and Dolls. Photo by Brett Beiner.jpg

Theater

'Guys and Dolls' delivers plenty of camp, comedy and the usual lovable characters in Drury Lane staging

Director/choreographer Dan Knechtges pushes the show to the outermost boundaries of broad comedy.

By Catey Sullivan | For the Sun-Times

Obituaries

Jun Mhoon, producer who toured as Staple Singers' drummer in 6th grade, dies at 69

Movies and TV

Ebertfest in Champaign a time for discovery and rediscovery

Inking Well

Chicago tattoo artist Allie Marie gives pets a permanent spot on their owners' bodies

Entertainment and Culture

Review: Taylor Swift's 'The Tortured Poets Department' is great sad pop, meditative theater

All latest stories

Cubs

Jed Hoyer hopes resiliency is a hallmark for Cubs team this season

“It’s been a really resilient group,” Jed Hoyer said of the Cubs.

By Kyle Williams

Someone to Watch in ’24

Rising singer-songwriter Kara Jackson opening first U.S. tour with sold-out Chicago show

The Oak Park folk musician and former National Youth Poet Laureate who sings of love and loss is “Someone to Watch in 2024.”

By Erica Thompson

City Hall

Mayor Brandon Johnson's $1.25B borrowing plan sails through City Council

With interest, the plan could cost the city $2.4 billion over 37 years, officials have said. Johnson’s team says that money will be more than recouped by property tax revenue flowing back to the city’s coffers from expiring TIF districts.

By Mitchell Armentrout

City Hall

City Council OKs $70 million in additional funding for migrant crisis

By a vote of 30-18, council members approved the latest round of funding for a crisis that has highlighted racial divisions in the city

By Mitchell Armentrout

Religion

Chicago's Jewish community prepares to celebrate Passover

Passover, which starts before sundown Monday and ends after nightfall on April 30, commemorates the liberation of Jews from slavery in Egypt.

By Mohammad Samra

Middle age grey-haired man suffering for back injury sitting on bed at bedroom

Columnists

Old age isn't fun

Columnist Gene Lyons was out for a few weeks after he was diagnosed with several illnesses. Now that he’s back in the saddle, he writes about aging and what felt like a near-death experience.

By Gene Lyons

Northwestern football helmets at an NCAA college football against Stanford in Evanston, Ill, Saturday, Sept. 5, 2015.

College Sports

NCAA approves helmet radios for next football season

An NFL-style two-minute warning was also OK’d.

By Associated Press

Jim Gwinn, who has worked at Conn-Selmer for 11 years, works on a trombone at the factory in Elkhart, Indiana Wednesday, March 27, 2024. | Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times

Picture Chicago: 18 must-see Sun-Times photos from this week in news

By Sun-Times staff

Artist Jason Messinger stands with the murals he created hanging in the Ogden stationhouse at the Illinois Medical District stop on the Forest Park branch of the CTA Blue Line.

Chicago muralist hopes to ease patients arriving at Illinois Medical District CTA station through his art

By Genevieve Bookwalter

Suburban Chicago

Two dead after apparent murder-suicide in Lemont motel

The bodies of Richard Crane, 62, and an unidentified woman were found shot at the D-Lux Budget Inn in southwest suburban Lemont.

By Sun-Times Wire

Iranian women without wearing their mandatory Islamic headscarf walk past a banner showing missiles being launched from Iranian map in northern Tehran, Iran, Friday, April 19, 2024. Iran fired air defenses at a major air base and a nuclear site near the central city of Isfahan after spotting drones early Friday morning, raising fears of a possible Israeli strike in retaliation for Tehran's unprecedented drone-and-missile assault on the country.

Nation/World

Iran fires at apparent Israeli attack drones near Isfahan air base and nuclear site

The strike came just days after Tehran’s unprecedented drone-and-missile assault on Israel.

By Associated Press

President Joe Biden speaks at a campaign event at Montgomery County Community College in Blue Bell, Pa., on Jan. 5, 2024.

How Biden will win women

Women might be upset with President Biden over issues like inflation, but Donald Trump’s legal troubles and his role in ending abortion rights are likely to turn women against him when they vote.

By Steven V. Roberts

Crime

Man stabbed to death in Pilsen

The man was found with stab wounds around 4:15 a.m., police said.

By Sun-Times Wire

Dear Abby

Dear Abby: Groom worries about tattooed cousin at his wedding

He fears the free-spirited guest, with her ink and underarm hair, will steal focus from the bride and draw ridicule.

By Abigail Van Buren

2024 Democratic National Convention

Democratic convention events getting Chicago treatment with new hospitality vendors

Five event production companies, nearly all based in Chicago, will be throwing the official parties for the Democratic National Convention in August.

By Amy Yee

Wanda Jemison, who has worked at Conn-Selmer for 18 years, soders a complete Vincent Bach trumpet by hand at the factory in Elkhart, Indiana Wednesday, March 27, 2024. | Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times

Look inside the Indiana company trying to re-create the world's best trumpets

By Neil Steinberg

Chicago’s Next Voices

From Archer Heights to downtown Chicago, Chicago's Next Voices columnist climbed that steep ladder

Southwest Side native Valery Pineda writes of how she never thought the doors of the downtown skyscrapers would be open to her — and how she got there and found her career.

By Valery Pineda

A boatload of people, including two children in life vests, enjoy an outing with Chicago No Limits Fishing on a boat last.

Outdoors

This Chicago fishing group opens the outdoors for people with disabilities

Chicago No Limits Fishing provides boating and fishing experiences around downtown on Lake Michigan and the Chicago River.

By Dale Bowman

Blackhawks

Blackhawks rally, then crumble, in season-ending loss to Kings

The Hawks finished their season 23-53-6 — with the most losses in franchise history — after a 5-4 overtime defeat Thursday in Los Angeles. They ripped off three third-period goals to take the lead, but conceded late in regulation and then six seconds into overtime.

By Ben Pope

Horoscopes

Horoscope for Friday, April 19, 2024

By Georgia Nicols

Blackhawks

With ACL recovery on track, Blackhawks’ Taylor Hall used lost season to ‘refresh mentally’

Hall participated in Hawks morning skate Thursday — on the last day of the season — for the first time since his surgery in November. He expects to be fully healthy for training camp next season.

By Ben Pope

Blackhawks

Connor Bedard assesses rookie season with Blackhawks: 'I was OK'

Bedard entered the season finale Thursday with 61 points in 67 games, making him the most productive Hawks teenager since Patrick Kane in 2007-08, but he’s not entirely pleased with his performance.

By Ben Pope

White Sox

You can put it on the board ... no! Numbers don't look so good for White Sox

A bevy of low averages glares in the first weeks of the season.

By Daryl Van Schouwen

Crime

Joliet mother charged in death of girl, 12, who ingested heroin, fentanyl

Mya King, 12, was found unresponsive Sunday morning and died Wednesday. Her mother, Colette Bancroft, was charged with possession of a controlled substance.

By Sun-Times Wire

Cubs

Opening game of Marlins-Cubs series postponed; split doubleheader scheduled for Saturday

The Cubs still made a series of roster moves, activating right-hander Jameson Taillon and Patrick Wisdom from the IL.

By Maddie Lee

Miracle Boyd, wearing a pink shirt and green headband, gives public comment while standing at a lectern microphone during a Chicago Police Board meeting at CPD Headquarters on April 18, 2024.

Dexter Reed Shooting

Protesters demand firing of top cop and officers who fatally shot Dexter Reed

At a rally at police headquarters, community members called for greater transparency of the investigation, a halt to the use of tactical units and an end to pretextual traffic stops.

By Emmanuel Camarillo

Cubs

Cubs reliever Mark Leiter Jr.'s family makes history, while he starts season strong in pivotal role

Leiter’s cousin Jack debuted for the Rangers on Thursday.

By Maddie Lee

Bulls

Bulls get chance for revenge against Heat in Miami

The Heat lost to the 76ers on Wednesday and have lost Jimmy Butler to a knee injury. The Bulls could take advantage of Butler’s absence Friday.

By Joe Cowley

A woman shields herself from the rain as she crosses North Wabash Avenue near East Washington Street, in The Loop, as rain falls across the Chicagoland area, Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2023.

News

Showers, winds move through Chicago Thursday; temperatures to cool down through the rest of the week

Rain started moving through the area and is expected to continue into Friday, according to meteorologist Zachary Wack with the National Weather Service.

By Sun-Times Wire