Illinois

The Chicago Sky family has a new addition: Jana Christine Vandersloot Quigley, the daughter of captain Courtney Vandersloot and longtime star Allie Quigley. The couple welcomed their first daughter on April 8, according to People magazine. Jana is named for Vandersloot’s mother, Jan, who died last June after a two-year battle with cancer. Quigley and Vandersloot first met as players on a flight back from Slovakia after facing off in their EuroLeague season championships. The pair immediately connected when Quigley was signed as a training camp player in 2013. They...

Cardinal Blase Cupich, the archbishop of Chicago, said on Sunday that he thinks Pope Leo XIV will carry forward Francis’s commitment and focus on immigration, climate change and human trafficking. “I think he’s going to help complete and complement our political agenda,” Cupich told ABC News’s Martha Raddatz in a “This Week” interview from the Vatican City. “He’ll still talk a lot about the immigrants as well because he knows about the sufferings of people and the real needs that they have for a better life. And he knows too...

A new business hub featuring businesses focusing on Black-owned and/or wellness businesses opened in Evanston at 2223 Washington Street on May 10. Named The Aux, the hub will be able to house up to 12 businesses at its building when fully occupied. The Aux so far hosts a Wintrust Bank kiosk, a community kitchen, a gym, a laundromat/cafe, a podcast studio, a hair salon, a doula office, a startup office and open spaces for socializing and community. Co-developer Tiffini Holmes said that while people might assume wellness only adheres to...

• Beyoncé thanked her fans as she concluded the Los Angeles leg of her "Cowboy Carter" tour with five shows at SoFi Stadium. • The tour, supporting her Grammy-winning country album, features a 39-song set list blending music genres, fashion and political themes. • Beyoncé's "Cowboy Carter" album has broken multiple records, including making her the first Black woman to win a Grammy for best country album. • The nine-city tour continues across the U.S. and Europe, culminating in Las Vegas on July 26. Beyoncé Knowles-Carter is closing out her...

Chicago’s Union Station has borne witness to the gamut of emotions, its cavernous waiting room echoing with everything from raucous laughter to profound despair ever since the first train arrived there 100 years ago this month. The imposing station that sprawls along Canal Street west of the Loop was artistically inspired by the massive ruins of Rome’s Baths of Caracalla. On a more practical level, its blueprints addressed a problem identified earlier by architect Daniel Burnham in his 1909 “Plan of Chicago.” With 22 railroad lines converging on Chicago, the...

The town of Ottawa lies in central Illinois 12 miles from a nuclear power plant and a wind turbine farm that stretches past the horizon. However, these facilities sit on the other side of an invisible boundary between two regional power grids. By mutual agreement among utilities that own the grids and power plants, that nuclear plant and wind station sell much of their power to Chicago, Ohio and the East Coast. Ottawa gets most of its power from southern Illinois, western states and even the Canadian province of Manitoba,...

Chicago is at the center of an airline brawl. United Airlines UAL -2.69 %decrease; red down pointing triangle and American Airlines AAL 0.73 %increase; green up pointing triangle are battling for the hearts and wallets of travelers coming through O’Hare International Airport. At the fourth-busiest U.S. airport, the carriers are marketing splashy new destinations, debuting their fanciest new planes and refreshing amenities for customers. American is turning up the heat. This month, it sued the city of Chicago to halt a plan that would award United more gates at the...

• Blue Ivy Carter, daughter of Beyoncé and Jay-Z, acknowledged a fan's sign calling her "manager Blue" during a recent concert. • The 13-year-old has been performing as a lead dancer on her mother's "Cowboy Carter" tour. • Beyoncé's tour continues with its next dates in Chicago. Blue Ivy Carter may be young but she's already an icon — and she knows it, giving the name "manager Blue" a big stamp of approval. The 13-year-old daughter of Beyoncé and Jay-Z has had the internet buzzing as she's shown off her...

When it comes to liquid assets, a Chicago startup is finding that stocks and bonds may have nothing on bourbon. Unicorn, a five-year-old online auction platform for wines and spirits, has quickly established itself as the eBay of imbibing, authenticating, digitizing, storing and auctioning more than $125 million worth of prized booze since inception. More than 100,000 customers have been raiding their liquor cabinets to trade everything from the bargain bin to rare single-barrel bourbons. The weekly auctions have turned more than a few dusty but unopened bottles into five-...