Alex Vlasic signed a six-year contract with the Blackhawks. Michael Reaves/Getty Images The Wilmette kid is staying in Chicago for six more years. The Blackhawks signed defenseman Alex Vlasic, the local product coming off a splendid first full NHL season, to a six-year contract Thursday with a $4.6 million salary-cap hit. “Alex made enormous strides this year and proved he is a legitimate top-four defenseman in the NHL,” Hawks general manager Kyle Davidson said in a statement. “In his first full season in the NHL, Alex established himself as an important piece of our young core, and we’r ..read more

The United States and 17 other countries on Thursday called for the release of all hostages held by Hamas. Leo Correa/AP WASHINGTON — U.S. President Joe Biden and other leaders issued a joint statement Thursday calling for Hamas to release hostages held in Gaza, the latest attempt at public pressure to advance negotiations over a potential cease-fire with Israel. The statement was issued by Biden and the leaders of 17 other countries, all of which have citizens who are missing or were taken hostage during the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas. The other countries are Argentina, Austria, B ..read more

House Music 40 founder Vince Lawrence (far left) is joined by Wayne Williams, Curtis McClain, Byron Stingily, Chip E. and Marshall Jefferson, who are scheduled to perform as part of the Chicago House Music Showcase at this summer’s NASCAR weekend in Chicago. Tara Lawrence Some of the biggest names in house music will be celebrating the 40th anniversary of the genre in Grant Park as part of this summer's NASCAR Chicago Street Race Weekend (July 6-7), it was announced Thursday. The Chicago House Music Showcase — in partnership with House Music 40 — will feature a stellar lineup t ..read more

Sun-Times file photo Sun-Times Four armed robberies were reported in downtown Chicago over 30 minutes early Thursday, police said. Eight people were targeted in the robberies that took place between 12:25 a.m. and 12:55 a.m., according to Chicago police. In each case, two robbers pulled up in a sedan and demanded property while showing guns. A 66-year-old woman was walking in the 600 block of North Fairbanks Avenue around 12:25 a.m. when two robbers approached and fired shots, police said. One of the robbers dragged the woman into the street before she let go of her belongings. She was t ..read more

Since 2020, documented hate crimes have increased 275% in Chicago. Sun-Times file We often say that hate has no home here, but in the last year, it has seemingly begun to take root in Chicago. Since October, antisemitic messages have been left on cars and private property in six different Chicago communities. It’s happened in Brookfield, Elmhurst, Evanston and LaGrange Park. In March, white supremacists disrupted a meeting of the Evanston City Council. This month, residents in Lincoln Park found plastic baggies containing pellets approximating rat poison along with antisemitic messages o ..read more

Ted Xenohristos, Cava co-founder and chief concept officer, visits the chain’s new location at 1484 N. Milwaukee Ave. on Wednesday. Zubaer Khan/Sun-Times Nearly 20 years after opening in Maryland and expanding to more than 300 locations, Cava finally will enter the Midwest market on Friday with its first restaurant in Chicago. The fast-casual Mediterranean eatery will open its doors in Wicker Park at 1484 N. Milwaukee Ave. Daily hours are 10:45 a.m. to 10 p.m. Co-founder and chief concept officer Ted Xenohristos and the Cava team visited the restaurant Wednesday, and announced that a sec ..read more

“The People’s Joker” director Vera Drew also stars as a frustrated trans comedian who takes on an alter ego. Altered Innocence As much as I’ve admired many a modern-era superhero movie over the last two decades, some of the more middling efforts are plagued by a sense-dulling sameness, whether it’s yet another by-the-numbers-origin story or one more assemblage of a team to locate the Shiny Glowing Powerful Thingee that gives control of the universe to whoever can harness its power. There is not a single frame in director and co-writer and star Vera Drew’s magnificently subversive, wildly ..read more

A wood carving of bluegills by Don Dubin, who will have carvings through Saturday at the North American Vintage Decoy & Sporting Collectibles Show. Mike Pehanich Riverside Fishing Club's Fishing Tackle & Outdoors Swap Meet is 8 a.m. to noon Saturday, April 27, at the Berwyn Moose Lodge. Admission is $5 to one of the Chicago area's biggest swap meets with, as billed, "58 tables of amazing tackle. Well over 10,000 lures & fishing components on the floor. Crappie, Bass, Muskie, Salmon, Perch & Walleye custom-made lures, hand-crafted baits a lot of items you can’t find in sto ..read more

Flowers are placed in the snow covering the plaques at the monument to the victims of the massacre at Columbine High School, which took place 25 years ago, on Saturday, April 20, 2024, in Littleton, Colo. David Zalubowski/AP As the mayor of a city devastated by the unchecked greed of the firearm industry, I filed the first-of-its-kind lawsuit against irresponsible gun companies and their powerful lobbyists in 1998. At the time, I said the gun industry's "day of atonement" had arrived. Six months later, the massacre of a dozen students and a teacher at Columbine High School galvanized sup ..read more

DEAR ABBY: I have been divorced for nine years. Before that I was a stay-at-home mom raising four children. I had an in-home business, and most of the money went to our family's needs. My husband became an alcoholic 20 years into our 28-year marriage. After we divorced, my two adult daughters abandoned me because I receive spousal support from their father. Whenever I let them know how much I miss them, the only answer they give is that they will resume a relationship when I stop "taking the money." My younger daughter and I were close for years after the divorce. Then, all of a sudden, ever ..read more