Claire Hao

Vanessa Williams Johnson wrote the book "No Hugs, No Bugs" in April, when she thought CPS would resume in-person learning in September.

Inspired by a student’s hug, principal on Chicago’s South Side pens children’s book about returning to school during COVID-19

August 30, 2020 at 4:05 p.m.

One of Vanessa Williams Johnson's students tried to hug her while picking up a homework packet in April. The innocent gesture, innocuous any other year, made the South Side principal...

A concrete block is placed on a corner in the 600 block of North Michigan Avenue, Aug. 27, 2020, in Chicago. A public safety drill took place between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. in the Central Business District on Thursday.

Appealing to sense of togetherness, Chicago’s top cop outlines plans to avoid yet another violent weekend

August 28, 2020 at 9:18 p.m.

Flanked by community organizers and children running about, Chicago police Superintendent David Brown appealed to a sense of togetherness Friday as he spoke about the coming weekend and preventing violence...

Loyola Academy in Wilmette moved to remote learning for two weeks after six students tested positive for COVID-19, while 63 others were placed in quarantine.

More Catholic schools delay opening because of COVID-19 cases as teachers at other Chicago-area private schools resist in-person classes

August 28, 2020 at 8:49 p.m.

More Chicago-area Catholic schools have delayed the start of in-person classes because of positive cases of COVID-19 in their communities, as teachers at other private schools show resistance to returning...

A person walks by the former Won Kow Restaurant on Wentworth Avenue in Chicago's Chinatown neighborhood on July 16, 2020.

Why a Chicago police officer’s accidental death struck a chord with Chinese Americans: ‘A lot of residents feel so vulnerable’

August 24, 2020 at 1:18 p.m.

In a summer of pandemic and unrest, the accidental death of Chicago police Officer Xu Meng resonated deeply among those of Chinese descent here and across the country. A hardworking...

Loyola University student Sal Carfagno III is from New Jersey and returned to Chicago because he can't get out of his lease.

Even as classes shift online, college students are returning to campuses. Will that spread COVID-19?

August 20, 2020 at 4:34 p.m.

Sarah Hashim will start school as a transfer student at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in less than a week. Despite the risks of a potential coronavirus outbreak and a...

CPS schools, including Carl Von Linne Elementary School, will be starting the year with remote learning.

Chicago Public Schools’ new fall plan includes full days of remote and live learning, but prompts union grievance

August 19, 2020 at 1:31 a.m.

Chicago Public Schools had barely released its fall remote learning plan Tuesday when the Chicago Teachers Union announced it had filed a grievance over the guidance that union President Jesse...

Avonna Brown, center, helps two toddlers under the age of 2 do a paint project at Carole Robertson Center for Learning in Chicago on Aug. 7, 2020. Children in this age group do not need to wear facial masks.

Can little kids really social distance? Lessons from child care centers that have stayed open during the pandemic, and why it might not work in schools

August 17, 2020 at 6:00 a.m.

Earlier this summer, when Chicago Public Schools still planned to reopen in September, Chicago's top public health official said even elementary-age children are capable of following measures to fight the...

DePaul University is the latest school to retreat from earlier fall plans and will teach mostly online classes.

DePaul University shifts ‘vast majority’ of classes online, closes residence halls to most students

August 12, 2020 at 8:29 p.m.

DePaul University will move the "vast majority" of its fall classes online and limit its residential halls to students with exceptional circumstances in response to the worsening COVID-19 pandemic, the...

Passersby look over damage at the Jonathan Adler store on Aug.10, 2020.

Police shooting of Englewood man reignites political debate and looting as Mag Mile trashed, 13 cops injured, 2 people shot

August 11, 2020 at 1:55 a.m.

Hundreds of people swept through the Magnificent Mile and other parts of downtown Chicago early Monday, smashing windows, looting stores and confronting police after officers shot a suspect in Englewood...

Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced CPS schools will begin the school year with an all-remote model. At left is CPS CEO Janice Jackson.

CPS backtracks and moves to all-remote learning for fall, but officials say they won’t be ‘cobbling things together’ like last spring

August 6, 2020 at 1:09 a.m.

After weeks of defending a proposal to reopen Chicago Public Schools this fall, Mayor Lori Lightfoot and CPS CEO Janice Jackson announced Wednesday that the new school year will begin...

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