DJ Bullett (center), 7, a student at Bret Harte Elementary School, reacts as he and his classmates conduct a volcanic eruption experiment outside the Museum of Science and Industry on Sept. 21. The event is part of a birthday component of the museum’s 90th anniversary and an interactive extension of “Pompeii: The Exhibition. “
Pat Nabong/Sun-Times
Bassist Pete Wentz dips into the crowd with his guitar as he performs with Fall Out Boy on Jan. 25 at Metro on the North Side.
Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times
Father Alexander Koranda, dean of the Holy Trinity Orthodox Cathedral in the Ukrainian village, highlights the cathedral on Feb. 3. The cathedral’s windows were vandalized in January.
Pat Nabong/Sun-Times
Feb. 16: A man who appears to be homeless sleeps next to an elevator near O’Hare International Airport’s Terminal 2.
Tyler Pasciak LaRivière/Sun-Times
Students attend a balloon release Feb. 21 to mourn the loss of 13-year-old student William L. Smith at Englewood Montessori School, 6936 S. Hermitage Ave. in West Englewood.
Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times
Olga Libei holds her 3-year-old daughter, Evelina, as she plays with a Ukrainian flag at a demonstration and vigil on February 24 to mark the anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, in front of the Ukrainian Catholic Church of Saints Volodymyr and Olha . , in the Ukrainian town.
Tyler Pasciak LaRivière/Sun-Times
Lori Lightfoot concedes Chicago’s number one mayoralty in a Feb. 28 speech to the Mid-America Regional Council of Carpenters in River North. Lightfoot finished third with 16. 8% of the vote, behind former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas with 33. 9% and Cook County commissioner. Brandon Johnson with 20. 3%.
Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times
Chicago firefighters unfurled an American flag in preparation for a procession to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office on March 1. Hours earlier, Chicago police officer Andres Vasquez-Lasso, 32, shot and killed while chasing an armed suspect in the 5,200 block of South. Spaulding Avenue to Gage Park.
Tyler Pasciak LaRivière/Sun-Times
Flanked by family members and well-wishers, Milena Estepa (wearing sunglasses) weeps as pallbearers carry the casket of her husband, Chicago police officer Andres Vasquez Lasso, to the hearse after his funeral March 9 in the chapel of the Shrine of Santa Rita. in Cascia.
Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times
Iggy Pop will play at the Salt Shed on March 10.
Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times
A fitness employee takes a break while running at an emergency branch of Mount Sinai Hospital on March 21. On the third anniversary of Illinois’ COVID-19 lockdown, the pandemic has receded, but Chicago-area hospitals are struggling to cope with the global crisis. of physical care especially disturbed by the plague.
Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times
Khodr Kaddoura, whose clothing store was in the Little Village Discount Mall for about 30 years, packs up his shop and moves out of the mall at 3115 W. 26th St. on the Southwest Side on March 28.
Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times
Chicago mayoral candidate and former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas watches a musical April 2 at New Life Covenant Church, 7621 S. Greenwood Ave. at Grand Crossing.
Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times
Leni Manaa-Hoppenworth, a business owner and political organizer, holds an election evening on April 4 at the Furama restaurant in the city center. Manaa-Hoppenworth won his attempt to make history as the first Filipino-American member of the Chicago City Council.
Victor Hilitski/For the Sun-Times
Fans clap and dance at Brandon Johnson’s election evening at the Marriott Marquis Chicago on April 4.
Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times
Brandon Johnson celebrates his election at the Marriott Marquis Chicago after defeating Paul Vallas in the city’s mayoral runoff on April 4.
Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times
Mayoral candidate Paul Vallas concedes the mayoral race to Brandon Johnson during his April 4 election night party at the Hyatt Regency.
Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times
Cardinal Blase J. Cupich washes the feet of Venezuelan migrants on April 6, during Holy Thursday Mass at Holy Name Cathedral.
Tyler Pasciak LaRivière/Sun-Times
Chicago Fire Lt. Jan Tchoryk’s wife, Natalia Kavkun, touches her forehead to his at his funeral April 13 at St. Joseph the Betrothed Ukrainian Catholic Church on the Northwest Side. Tchoryk, 55, a 26-year fire department veteran, died April 5 while battling an extra-alarm blaze in a high-rise on Lake Shore Drive in the Gold Coast neighborhood. He was the second firefighter to die in the line of duty that week.
Edward Burke (14th) leaves his final Chicago City Council meeting at City Hall on April 19. Burke, Chicago’s longest-serving councilmember, sought re-election and retired in 2023 after 54 years.
Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times
Neislymar Gonzalez’s 5-year-old daughter and 4-year-old son, asylum-seekers from Venezuela, keep busy at the Central District police station on the South Side on May 1. Chicago’s response to a growing migrant crisis turned police stations into makeshift shelters.
Natalie Garcia/For The Sun-Times
Mayor Lori Lightfoot and her wife, Amy Eshleman, wave goodbye to supporters as they leave City Hall on May 12 in the back of a 1940s Cadillac convertible on Lightfoot’s final day as mayor.
Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times
Brandon Johnson hugs Mayor Lori Lightfoot before being sworn in as mayor of Chicago at the city’s rite of determination on May 15 at Credit Union 1 Arena.
Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times
Sherrif Polk kisses his 1-week-old son, Sherrif Polk Jr., in their home in Rogers Park on May 16. Polk, a father of six, said he has spent most of the stipend he received from Equity and Transformation’s Chicago Future Fund, which gives $500 a month to formerly incarcerated people.
Pat Nabong/Sun-Times
Joe Burnett stands outside after the (W)rap Drug Court Program graduation at the Cook County Courthouse on May 18.
Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times
Two fox kits play near their den in the Lurie Garden in Millennium Park on May 22.
Tyler Pasciak LaRivière/Sun-Times
James Bell Sr. , 37, who coaches the Chicago Blitz super peewee team, takes a moment to catch his breath after working out in his backyard in Bronzeville in 2021. Bell lost his sight after being shot twice in 2007 in West Englewood. Battling post-traumatic stress disorder, this single father of four faced immense loss, but overcame adversity thanks to his family and his undying love of football.
Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times
James Bell Sr. does an overhead press as he trains alongside his son at Ogden Park in Englewood on June 1.
Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times
A falcon takes off from a ledge at 100 S. Wacker Dr. in the Loop on June 1. A family of federally protected peregrine falcons are dive-bombing pedestrians passing below their seventh-story nest at an office building near the Chicago River.
Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times
A man holding what appears to be a gun stands in a makeshift tower in a June 2 standoff with police and SWAT officers in the 4100 block of West Chicago Avenue in Humboldt Park.
Tyler Pasciak LaRivière/Sun-Times
Amy Engebretson, left, holds her daughter Shea in her arms, as they pose for a selfie of the 46-foot-long Spinosaurus at the Field Museum on June 2.
Anthony Jackson/For the Sun-Times
Taylor Swift will play at Soldier Field on June 2.
Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times
Roman Banks, who is playing Michael Jackson in “MJ the Musical,” poses for a portrait on June 6 at the Nederlander Theatre in the Loop.
Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times
Environmental activists chant after a June 6 press conference outside City Hall in the Loop, where they gathered to demand that the permit for General Iron to operate in the Southeast Side remain denied. The protest was in response to a judge overruling City Hall’s decision to deny the General Iron permit.
Pat Nabong/Sun-Times
Dewayne Perkins, co-writer and co-star of the movie “The Blackening,” poses for a June 6 portrait in Chicago.
Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times
Kaye Larsen Olloway, founder of Fat Cat Rescue, lies on the grass outside her home with several rescued feral cats, including Johnny Ringo and Baby Blue, at the Wadsworth nonprofit on June 8.
Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times
A vendor holds a fan with a Puerto Rican flag posted at the June 10 Puerto Rican Parade on West Division Street in Humboldt Park.
Pat Nabong/Sun-Times
Surrounded by a circle of family members and lawyers, Tyrone Clay raises his arms to celebrate his release from the Cook County Jail on June 21 after prosecutors dropped charges against him in the 2011 killing of Chicago police officer Clifton Lewis.
Tyler Pasciak LaRivière/Sun-Times
A rides his motorcycle along the Lakefront Trail as smoke from Canadian wildfires obscures the Chicago skyline, as seen from Fullerton Beach on June 27.
Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times
Spectators at the inaugural NASCAR Chicago Street Race in downtown Chicago on July 1.
Manuel Martinez/WBEZ
An unauthorized vehicle rides at the Nascar Street Race track near South Michigan Avenue and East Balbo Drive on July 1.
Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times
A user with an umbrella leans on the car “Ontivity” No. 24 Parker Chase during the NASCAR Chicago street race on July 2. Record rain rained down on Chicago’s high-profile inventory car parade.
Owen Ziliak/Sun-Times
Mayor Brandon Johnson is covered with umbrellas as he walks through pit road during the Grant Park 220 NASCAR Street Race on July 2.
Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times
#91 NASCAR driver Shane van Gisbergen takes the checkered flag as he celebrates his victory on July 2 at Grant Park 220 in the Chicago Street Race.
Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times
Jyran Mitchell sits in his family’s home on a cul-de-sac in south suburban Matteson on July 5. Mitchell was a star football player when he was injured in 2018 while being detained by an Illinois State Police trooper tied to extremism.
Brian Ernst/Sun-Times
Twins Jesenia and Jasi, 9, from New Jersey, cover their heads with coats as they walk south on the Magnificent Mile on July 12.
Owen Ziliak/Sun-Times
With parts of her roof sticking out of the garden after a tornado hit the domain overnight, Marion Novak speaks on the phone outside her home in Countryside on July 13.
Pat Nabong/Sun-Times
Mdou Moctar will perform on July 23, the third day of the Pitchfork Music Festival at Union Park.
Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times
JPEGMafia will perform on July 23, the third day of the Pitchfork Music Festival in Union Park.
Owen Ziliak/Sun-Times
Jenyerberth grabs the cone of a training consultation organized through the German Bundesliga soccer team Borussia Dortmund with local immigrants and youngsters on Aug. 2 at the Humboldt Park soccer cage.
Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times
Billie Eilish plays the first day of Lollapalooza at Grant Park on Aug. 3.
Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times
A red-tailed hawk will be released in rural western Illinois on Aug. 3 after becoming trapped earlier this month at O’Hare International Airport, where wildlife control reaches tens of thousands of birds and other animals a year.
Mark Black/For the Sun-Times
People jump into Lake Michigan in Montrose Harbor on Aug. 4, in the tenth week of the Friday Morning Swim Club. The swim club is set up a few hours before swimming is allowed in an area that is never supervised by lifeguards.
Owen Ziliak/Sun-Times
A person jumps into Lake Michigan at Montrose Harbor on Aug. 4 during the tenth week of Friday Morning Swim Club. The weekly club has grown from a small group of friends in 2021 to thousands in its third season.
Owen Ziliak/Sun-Times
A user screams after falling into the mosh pit of DJ Diesel’s set on the second day of Lollapalooza in Grant Park on Aug. 4.
Owen Ziliak/Sun-Times
Olympic gold medalist Simone Biles competes on the uneven bars at the U. S. Classical Gymnastics Festival. The U. S. Opener opens Aug. 5 at the Now Arena in Hoffman Estates.
Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times
Aidan Dow of Palos Township will dress up as Nightwing from the DC Universe at Fan Expo Chicago 2023 in August at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont.
Owen Ziliak/Sun-Times
Members of Bringing Out Talent dance during the annual Bud Billiken Parade along South Martin Luther King Jr. Drive on Aug. 12 in Bronzeville.
Pat Nabong/Sun-Times
Children play in an inflatable space at a back-to-school event Aug. 16 at Richard T. Crane Medical Prep High School on the West Side.
Pat Nabong/Sun-Times
Family members mourn at the funeral for Willie Perry Jr. , also known as “DJ Casper,” Aug. 19 at Holy Temple Cathedral in Harvey. Casper is known to music and dance enthusiasts around the world for his popular song/dance line “Cha-Cha Slide. “
Alex Wroblewski/For the Sun-Times
Wilson Silva Morale, an asylum-seeker from Venezuela, walks out on a cement barrier at Leone Beach in Rogers Park on Aug. 22. Morale, 43, spent significant time on Lake Maracaibo and now finds himself living again next to another great lake in Chicago.
Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times
Lily Cetina holds an umbrella above her head as she cools off in Lake Michigan in Oakwood Beach on Aug. 24, the first 100-degree day in Chicago since 2012, according to the National Weather Service.
Pat Nabong/Sun-Times
On Aug. 24, the second day of a record-breaking heat wave in the Chicago area, a man who lives on Lower Wacker Drive receives bloodless bottled water from the Night Ministry Street medical van. The man asked to be identified.
Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times
Chicago police officials are scouring the outside of the guaranteed fare box after two women were injured in a shooting inside the stadium at the Chicago White Sox vs. Chicago White Sox. Oakland Athletics on Aug. 25.
Tyler Pasciak LaRivière/Sun-Times
Aug. 27: An athlete runs down the Lakefront Trail at the 2023 Chicago Triathlon.
Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times
Southland College Prep Charter High School’s marching band performs during the Battle of the High School Bands on Sept. 2 at the Chicago Football Classic Scholarship Fund, Inc.’s Reunion at Soldier Field. The Reunion also featured a college and career fair with Historically Black Colleges and Universities, tailgating, and a football game between Central State University and Mississippi Valley State University.
Pat Nabong/Sun-Times
Chicago Bears receiver #11 Darnell Mooney celebrates with teammates after scoring a third-quarter landing against the Green Bay Packers on Sept. 10 at Soldier Field.
Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times
Chicago singer, violinist and guitarist Heather Lynne Horton, who released a new album titled “Get Me To A Nunnery,” poses for a portrait at her home in Orland Park on Sept. 14.
Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times
Hundreds of people invade the Loop to celebrate Mexican Independence Day, Sept. 15.
Tyler Pasciak LaRivière/Sun-Times
Members of the Insane Clown Posse spray Faygo soda at the crowd while the hip-hop duo performs on Sept. 16, day two of Riot Fest in Douglass Park on the Southwest Side.
Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times
L.S. Dunes frontman Anthony Green walks back to the stage after crowd surfing as the band performs on Sept. 17, day three of Riot Fest in Douglass Park.
Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times
An aerial view of the Garfield Park Fieldhouse at 100 N. Central Park Ave. in West Garfield Park on Sept. 20.
Quinn Harris/For the Sun-Times
Nazareth Garcia, 18, and her 2-year-old daughter Aranza, asylum seekers from Venezuela, communicate at their home at the Austin District Police Station, 5701 W. Madison St. , on the West Side, on Sept. 25.
Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times
Asylum-seekers from Venezuela, 15-year-old Marleivis Subero holds her sleeping 2-year-old sister, Anthonela, while their 6-year-old sister Paulina plays with their dog outside their tent at the Austin District police station at 5701 W. Madison St. on the West Side on Sept. 25.
Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times
Chicago Bears fans react to the score during the fourth quarter against the Denver Broncos on Oct. 1 at Soldier Field. The Bears lost 31 – 28.
Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times
On Oct. 3, a slew of asylum seekers take safe haven in a round-trip waiting area near O’Hare International Airport’s Terminal 2. Hundreds of asylum seekers from Texas and other states are housed at the airport, according to the Bureau. Emergency Management and Communications.
Pat Nabong/Sun-Times
People surf near the Sista Strut level, a breast cancer awareness march attended by survivors, recent cancer campaigners and their supporters, on Oct. 7 in front of the Army’s Hello Kroc Center on the far south.
Pat Nabong/Sun-Times
Asylum seekers, mostly from Venezuela, camp out at the Grand Crossing police station at 7040 S. Grove Ave. Cottage at Woodlawn, October 10. Less than a week earlier, a 28-year-old Venezuelan migrant, Yerlianny Romero, was shot dead and wounded while holding her son outside the police station.
Tyler Pasciak LaRivière/Sun-Times
William Harris Lee III, who opened his rope tool business, Williams Harris Lee
Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times
Master luthier Gary Garavaglia works on a cello roll in October at William Harris Lee
Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times
Illinois state Rep. Abdelnasser Rashid hugs Oday Al-Fayoume, father of 6-year-old Wadea Al-Fayoume, at a news conference Oct. 15 at the Northwest Muslim Community Center. Wadea Al-Fayoume was stabbed to death by the family’s owner. in Plainfield because of his Muslim faith, the government said.
Jim Vondruska/For the Sun-Times
Flanked by family members and well-wishers, Oday Al-Fayoume (wearing a black T-shirt) prays at the funeral of his 6-year-old son, Wadea Al-Fayoume, on Oct. 16 at the Bridgeview Mosque Foundation. The Palestinian-American boy was stabbed to death because of his Muslim faith, the government said.
Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times
Thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators march to the Israeli consulate on Oct. 18, more than 24 hours after the bombing of the Al Ahli Arab hospital in the Gaza Strip.
Tyler Pasciak LaRivière/Sun-Times
Keshawn Price, a player from the Beautiful Lives project, chases a ball at the Court of Dreams on Oct. 19 at the Flames Athletic Center at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Members of the UIC Flames women’s basketball team taught basketball skills to players from the Beautiful Lives Project, which organizes events for people with disabilities with the goal of “overcoming isolation within the disability network and sparking deeper conversations about the cost of integrating other people with disabilities into the network,” according to their website. .
Pat Nabong/Sun-Times
Frayeli Montoya (left) of Venezuela hugs Elaine Pierce on Oct. 19 as she relaxes on the couch in her living room at Pierce’s home in Oak Park, which has a home for migrants stranded at Chicago police stations. Pierce, 68, a retiree with terminal cancer, opened his bungalow to immigrant families in early August. Advocates say she is an example of the determination needed to turn the migrant crisis into an opportunity.
Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times
Thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters gather on Michigan Avenue during an Oct. 21 rally in the Loop, where they called for a ceasefire, an end to U.S. military aid to Israel and an end to Israeli occupation amid the Israel-Hamas war.
Pat Nabong/Sun-Times
New Chicago Sky head coach Teresa Weatherspoon celebrates with her team jersey at an Oct. 24 introductory news conference in Chicago.
Jim Vondruska/For the Sun-Times
Oct. 31: Pedestrians on State Street in the Loop as snowshowers dot the Chicago area.
Tyler Pasciak LaRivière/Sun-Times
Freddy Ortiz eats candy inside his tent outside the Near North police station at 1160 N. Larrabee St. in River North on Oct. 31 as temperatures dip to 37 degrees in Chicago.
Pat Nabong/Sun-Times
Hannibal Buress looks in the mirror in his dressing room as he gets ready to perform stand-up comedy and music as Eshu Tune on Nov. 2 at The Chicago Theatre in the Loop.
Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times
Hundreds of pro-Palestinian demonstrators rally and protest at the corner of West Hubbard and North Armour streets near where President Joe Biden was attending a Nov. 9 fundraising event in West Town. Demonstrators were demanding that Biden and other politicians use their power to broker a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas, whose conflict has killed thousands of civilians.
Tyler Pasciak LaRivière/Sun-Times
The U. S. flag is reflected in the glasses of Harold Moore, who served in the Army for 4 years, as he speaks to a reporter at the Chicago Veterans Day rite on Nov. 11 at Soldier Field.
Pat Nabong/Sun-Times
Hiola G. Alston, 79, sits in a pew at St. Louis. Sabina at Auburn Gresham on November 12. Alston was among those who filed four boxes of petitions earlier this week urging the Illinois Commerce Commission to vote against the Peoples Gas project. emerging rates.
Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times
Staff at the Chicago Chimney Branch mourn outside the Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center after a firefighter died while battling a chimney Nov. 13 in the 2400 block of North Lincoln Avenue in Lincoln Park. Firefighter Andrew “Drew” Price, 39, who joined the branch in 2009, was pulled from the chimney of the Illinois Masonic where he died from his “serious injuries,” the government said.
Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times
Chicago Fire Department and Chicago Police Department personnel triage patients at the scene on Nov. 16 after a Chicago Transit Authority train crashed into a piece of equipment that was on the rails near the Howard CTA station on the North Side.
Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times
Stephen Helmer holds his granddaughter Caroline Costello at his daughter’s home in Skokie on Nov. 17, a day after the CTA’s Yellow Line exercise in which she crashed into a snowplow. He, his wife, daughter and two grandchildren were injured in the crash. Margaret Costello, his daughter, said the stroller her twins were strapped to saved their lives.
Pat Nabong/Sun-Times
Asylum-seekers receive winter wear after getting off a bus at 800 S. Desplaines St. on Nov. 24. Staff from the Office of Emergency Management and Communications met them and they were provided with blankets and jackets.
Pat Nabong/Sun-Times
Demonstrators shout at Starbucks customers a Black Friday protest on Nov. 24 on the Magnificent Mile, where many people called for divestment from big business that helps Israel and an end to the war between Israel and Hamas.
Pat Nabong/Sun-Times
GardaWorld, the arguable contractor selected to build Mayor Brandon Johnson’s “winter base camps” for immigrants camped out at police stations, begins pitching the first of its tents at the Brighton Park structure at South California Avenue and West 38th Street on Nov. 29.
Brian Ernst/Sun-Times
An aerial view of the migrant camp construction site at South California Avenue and West 38th Street on Dec. 5,. hours after Gov. J.B. Pritzker said the state is ending development of the proposed migrant camp in Brighton Park.
Brian Ernst/Sun-Times
A group of friends enjoy a hot tub they rented Dec. 8 from Chicago River Hot Tub Boat Cruises in the Loop, while dressed in a winter jacket they meet on a nearby ferry.
Pat Nabong/Sun-Times
Flanked by family members and lawyers, former Ald. Edward Burke (14th) leaves the federal courthouse in Dirksen after being found guilty of extortion, bribery and attempted extortion on December 21. Burke is the 38th councilmember convicted since 1973. and the fourth in five years.
Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times