Tracy Swartz

Whitney M. Young Magnet High School senior Emory Pope, 17, wears the homecoming dress her father, Exavier Pope, picked out. Pope had a few ground rules. The dress couldn't have a plunging neckline, and the hemline had to be at "a reasonable level."

Homecoming hemlines and the fight over fall formal fashion: ‘The dresses are shorter than ever’

October 7, 2022 at 10:14 p.m.

Chicago dad Exavier Pope will tell you he aced homecoming dress selection for his 17-year-old daughter, Emory. He had a few ground rules, of course. The dress couldn't have a...

Vegetation hangs from a tree on Aug. 23 in the 2400 block of South State Street at the site of a proposed Near South Side high school, which was once home to the Ickes Homes public housing complex.

Plan for new South Side high school narrowly passed by Chicago Board of Education, amid both opposition and praise

October 3, 2022 at 5:26 p.m.

Despite declining student enrollment in Chicago Public Schools and lingering concerns from neighborhood groups, the Chicago Board of Education on Wednesday narrowly approved a plan to purchase land and take...

Veronica Rico, representing the Brighton Park Neighborhood Council, hands out flyers to parents sharing concerns with student-based budgeting outside Brighton Park Elementary School in Chicago on Sept. 19, 2022.

CPS loses another 8,300 students, its 11th straight year of enrollment declines

October 3, 2022 at 6:29 p.m.

Chicago Public Schools appears to have lost its title as the nation's third-largest school district, with enrollment falling for the 11th consecutive year, according to data released Wednesday. CPS is...

Mickey McGhee, center, listens with other attendees of an Aug. 23 community meeting at Mount Carmel Baptist Church to discuss the redevelopment of the former Ickes Homes, where a new high school is planned.

CPS moves forward with Near South Side high school plan, despite opposition

October 3, 2022 at 6:28 p.m.

A proposed $120 million Near South Side high school is moving closer to reality, with the Chicago Board of Education set to consider purchasing land and commissioning design services Wednesday,...

Parents pick up students on Feb. 14, 2022, outside the newly renamed Harriet Tubman Elementary School after an assembly to mark the school's official name change from Agassiz Elementary School.

Chicago’s Harriet Tubman school — once united over its name change — now in turmoil over principal’s leadership; council has sought her dismissal

October 3, 2022 at 6:28 p.m.

Chicago Public Schools leaders and elected officials gathered seven months ago to celebrate the renaming of a Lakeview elementary school to honor the abolitionist Harriet Tubman. The change was heralded...

Donnie Rudd is wheeled into the Cook County Courthouse for the second day of his murder trial on June 27, 2018, in Rolling Meadows. He would be convicted of killing his wife, Noreen Kumeta Rudd, 45 years earlier.

Donnie Rudd dies in prison: Ex-attorney was convicted of killing his wife in a staged car crash 45 years after her death

September 19, 2022 at 6:22 p.m.

Convicted murderer Donnie Rudd has died while serving his prison sentence — 49 years to the day after the death of his wife, whom he was found guilty of killing...

Naydelin Guerrel takes a brief break as Nelson Serrano puts away groceries from a food pantry at Adalberto United Methodist Church, Sept. 1, 2022, in Chicago. Two buses of migrants from Central and South American countries were bused to Chicago from Texas on Aug. 31. The church was housing more than a dozen migrants from recent busing relocations, including Guerrel, who arrived Wednesday, and Serrano, who arrived on Aug. 16.

Governor signs disaster declaration, calls up National Guard to assist with migrants bused from Texas

September 15, 2022 at 2:21 p.m.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker has signed a disaster proclamation to secure resources for the asylum-seekers bused to Illinois from Texas and has deployed 75 National Guard members to assist with the...

Pete Leki walks students through the grounds of Waters Garden next to Waters Elementary School on Aug. 27, 2022, in Chicago.

Pete Leki ‘made a magical place’ at a North Side school garden. Now his job — and the ecology program he created — is on the line. What went wrong?

October 3, 2022 at 6:28 p.m.

Pete Leki, longtime director of the award-winning ecology program at a North Side elementary school, typically spends the first week of school welcoming students, ordering materials for the fall curriculum...

Chicago police officers investigate the scene where a teenage boy was shot and killed near Kenwood Academy High School on Sept. 9, 2022.

Kenwood high school ‘community member’ shot multiple times, dies on South Side, officials say

October 3, 2022 at 6:28 p.m.

A teenage boy described as a Kenwood Academy High School "community member" who was fatally shot on the South Side Friday afternoon has been identified, officials said Saturday. Kanye Perkins,...

Urban Prep founder and CEO Tim King, pictured in 2016, says in a new court filing that he was unfairly forced to resign.

Former Urban Prep CEO who was forced to resign says sexual misconduct investigation was ‘flawed’: court filing

October 3, 2022 at 6:27 p.m.

The former CEO of Urban Prep Academies — a celebrated Chicago charter school network that specifically serves Black male teens — says in new court documents that he was forced...

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