The CTA’s Kimball Brown Line L station yard is where dozens of workers in the transit agency’s “Second Chance” program clean train cars overnight in low-paying internships that many hope will lead to permanent, full-time jobs. But that doesn’t usually happen. Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere / Sun-Times Celebrating the “Second Chance” program he helped create, CTA President Dorval Carter lauded it recently as a way to give “individuals with barriers to employment the opportunity to really turn their lives around and provide them with really good CTA, union-paying jobs.” But the Chicago Transit Au ..read more

Uber launched a rider verification program Thursday in Chicago and 11 other cities. Associated Press Uber drivers say the company’s new rider verification program that aims to confirm that riders who are who they say they are is a step in the right direction. Uber drivers have long cited concerns about their safety. To help allay those worries, Uber on Thursday rolled out a new rider verification pilot program to confirm riders' identities in 12 cities, including Chicago. “I want everyone to be safe, and it's good that they're starting the process,” said Lori Simmons, 42, who has driven ..read more

A section of the Congress Expressway on Nov. 25, 1961. The construction of the highway contributed to tearing apart ethnic communities on the West Side, including parts of what were Jewish, Italian, Greek and Black neighborhoods. Sun-Times file  WASHINGTON — When I was growing up, my dad, Jason, would lament how he could not take my sister Neesa and myself to see one of his childhood homes, an apartment on Chicago’s West Side. That’s because the building was torn down in the 1950s to make way for the Congress Expressway, renamed the Eisenhower Expressway, nicknamed “The Ike” and als ..read more

Surveillance image of a vehicle wanted in a hit-and-run in Roseland on Monday. Chicago police Chicago police are looking for the driver of a vehicle that hit and seriously injured a Chicago Public Schools student Monday in Roseland on the South Side. The 15-year-old had just left Fenger High School after his last class and was crossing the street about 3:20 p.m. near 112th and Parnell when he was struck, according to a police community alert and philanthropist Early Walker, who held a news conference Tuesday afternoon near the scene of the crash with the teen's family. . The teen, who wa ..read more

Chicago Fire Department ambulance | Sun-Times file photo Sun-Times file photo A motorcyclist was critically wounded in a collision with a car Tuesday afternoon in Belmont Gardens on the Northwest Side. The man, 20, was riding in the bicycle lane in the 4000 block of West Diversey Avenue when he hit a car turning into a parking lot about 3:30 p.m., Chicago police said. He was transported to Illinois Masonic Medical Center in critical condition, police said. No other injuries were reported. Citations were pending ..read more

Just before 2 a.m. Tuesday, Illinois State Police responded to a crash on northbound Interstate 57 near Posen. Sun-Times file photo Two people were killed and another was injured in a car crash on northbound Interstate 57 in south suburban Posen Tuesday morning, police said. Just before 2 a.m., Illinois State Police responded to a crash near 147th Street in which a man and woman were both ejected from the car. The woman was dead on the scene and the man was taken to a nearby hospital, where he died, according to state police. Neither victim has been identified, and the circumstances surr ..read more

Traffic Monday morning on westbound I-90 was backed up considerably, according to a post from O’Hare Airport on the social media platform X. Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times file A group of demonstrators protesting American response to the carnage in Gaza blocked traffic on westbound Interstate 90, cutting off traffic to O'Hare Airport on Monday morning. Chicago police officers were called to the 10,000 block of West O'Hare Avenue at 7:50 a.m. for a gathering of people obstructing motorists, causing a considerable traffic jam, according to Chicago police and a post from the airport on the socia ..read more

Cars race up and down South Columbus Drive near East Ida B. Wells Drive near the Loop. Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times Inflation and supply chain problems continue to impact Americans. Auto insurance rates have risen as a result, along with the prices of new and used cars, medical care and even car maintenance. State-required car insurance limits haven’t followed suit, however, and even drivers with higher limits may not be protected. If you’re driving around with only the minimum amount of car insurance required, then you’re probably underinsured. Here are four ways to make sure you h ..read more

A 46-year-old man was driving a motorcycle northbound in the 5500 block of South Pulaski Road when a woman in a Chevy SUV turned left and collided with the man, police said. Sun-Times file A motorcyclist was struck and killed in a crash in West Elsdon on Sunday night, according to Chicago police. A 46-year-old man was driving a motorcycle northbound in the 5500 block of South Pulaski Road about 7:18 p.m. when a woman in a Chevy SUV turned left and collided with the man, police said. The man was taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he later died. No other injuries were report ..read more

Several of Amtrak’s scheduled runs were canceled Friday and Saturday. Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times Amtrak canceled several of its scheduled runs in Illinois this weekend due to “equipment issues,” the rail agency said. At least seven trains departing from or heading to Chicago were called off — four scheduled for Friday and three on Saturday. Buses were substituted in some cases. “A supply chain backlog from key vendors has delayed replacement parts needed to support required routine maintenance inspections,” an Amtrak spokesperson said. “Customers are being notified of some cancellations in t ..read more