WBEZ-FM (Chicago, IL)

2 days ago | wbez.org | Amy Qin

While metro Chicago’s overall population has remained relatively stagnant over the last few years, it’s been a much different picture for some racial or ethnic groups, according to new population estimates released from the U.S. Census Bureau on Thursday. The Census Bureau revises its population estimates every year since the most recent once-in-a-decade census in 2020, and the figures are calculated based upon three core components of population change: births, deaths and migration.

5 days ago | wbez.org | Kyra Senese |Emmanuel Camarillo

The oppressive heat that settled over Chicago this weekend is expected to stick around for at least another day, sending temperatures and heat indices soaring before brief respite arrives in the form of storms. The Chicago area is under an extreme heat warning until very late Monday night. High temperatures during the day Monday are expected to climb near the record for June 23 of 97 degrees. Heat index values — a combination temps and humidity — could be as high as 101 degrees.

1 week ago | wbez.org | Neil Steinberg

Catholic women who got pregnant out of wedlock in Chicago 100 years ago would quietly disappear into the Misericordia Maternity Hospital and Home for Infants on 47th Street to bear their illegitimate babies under the care of the Sisters of Mercy, joined by indigent married women and those “of foreign birth or parentage.”They often emerged without their infants. Most of the healthy children left behind would eventually be adopted.

1 week ago | wbez.org | Lisa Philip

Jose Aguilar’s lifelong dream of getting a degree almost fell by the wayside his sophomore year at the University of Illinois Chicago, when he lost access to federal student loans and grants. His father had not filed his taxes, which messed up Aguilar’s financial aid eligibility. “I’ve always wanted to go to college, because it’s the one place where you can really express yourself and you can really learn a lot about what’s going on in the world,” Aguilar said.

1 week ago | wbez.org | Charlotte West

Juan Hernandez was a teenager when he was sentenced to prison. He was 32 when he finally completed his high school education. The nearly two decades in between tell a story of bureaucratic barriers, arbitrary rules, and one man’s refusal to give up earning his education. It’s not unusual for people locked up in the Illinois Department of Corrections to wait years to get into programming, such as GED or college classes.