CHICAGO -- It's hard to believe Block Club has been around for more than six years, covering the neighborhoods and telling stories of real Chicago.

While we surpassed 26,000 published stories this year, here are a few that stood out to our reporters and editors.

If you value this work, consider subscribing today to help us reach our year-end goal -- and keep the neighborhood news flowing in 2025 and beyond.

By Mina Bloom

A week after their teacher left, the students were growing restless.

Despite promises that a permanent new teacher was coming, students in the sophomore-level chemistry class at Roberto Clemente Community Academy were sitting in their classroom with little to do. Though a substitute teacher was assigned to the room, the students quickly concluded that he didn't know much about chemistry.

Carolina Carchi was struck by the reaction of one of her classmates: "They forgot about us."

"When I heard that, this spark and passion grew in me," Carolina said. She told herself: "No, you're not going to be left out, they didn't forget about you, and I'm going to be here to prove that."

The following day, the 15-year-old got up in front of the class and began to teach her peers about the properties of liquids and solids and how to balance chemical equations.

Carolina went on to teach the class for two months during the winter of her sophomore year. A permanent teacher didn't take over the classroom until the following fall.

When Clemente was built in the mid-1970s, the school was a symbol of hope in Humboldt Park and West Town, offering the promise of a new beginning for the Puerto Rican families who had settled in the area.

But now, 50 years later, Clemente students are missing critical instruction because so many teachers are regularly absent and positions go unfilled for long stretches.

Clemente is emblematic of a broader problem: CPS schools -- and many other public schools across the country -- are hamstrung by funding constraints and a nationwide teacher shortage, education experts said.

When a shooting more than 30 years ago left Angelo Perez paralyzed from the chest down, he never thought he'd bike or play sports again -- much less compete in triathlons.

But Perez has excelled in adaptive sports. Now, the 54-year-old Uptown resident is hoping to compete in next year's Chicago Marathon. To do so, Perez is fundraising to buy a racing chair that will help him not only compete in the marathon but continue to inspire other athletes with disabilities.

A native of the Southwest Side, Perez was wounded in a shooting as a young man in 1991. Navigating life with his disability through the early years of the Americans with Disabilities Act was difficult, and he's struggled with his health at different points since the shooting, Perez said.

Block Club readers helped Perez reach his goal to buy a chair. Read more of his story here.

By Jamie Nesbitt Golden

Nothing is the same at the apartment building where Mary Buford raised her family.

The original entrance to her old building inside of the Rosenwald Apartments is gone, replaced by an office. The once-neglected courtyards on the side of the building are flush with grass and a rainbow of florals. In her first visit back in decades, Buford was quietly impressed at what has become of the complex.

Not that Buford was ashamed or embarrassed to have been away so long.

She'll be the first to tell you that living in the former Michigan Boulevard Garden Apartments was one of the high points of her life, and she is forever indebted to the chosen family of neighbors who saw her and her children through weddings, funerals and all of those moments in between.

Read more of Jamie's deep dive into the historic Rosenwald Apartments here.

By Francia Garcia Hernandez

Kenn Cook Jr. carries his camera everywhere he goes. He captures glimpses of life on the West Side: precious family moments, beautiful people and a community where "so much great stuff is happening" that is not always portrayed, he said.

"I love where I'm from," Cook said on a recent weekday. "The West Side is beautiful."

Photography is more than just taking pictures, Cook said -- it can create social change. The intimate, black-and-white photos in his #MyWestSideStory collection are "weapons" of change that starts with making people feel seen, he said.

"A lot of my people on the West Side, they don't feel seen," Cook said. "This is my way of fighting to curb violence and to build community in my community."

Kenn Cook Jr. was just named artist-in-residence for the Legler Regional Library, where he will continue to uplift life on the West Side. Read more about his journey here.

By Alex V. Hernandez

Neighbors living in a small portion of Lincoln Square and Ravenswood helped roll back an obscure law that's kept their area "dry" for 117 years.

Unlike its neighboring "wet" precincts, the 9th precinct of the 47th Ward's dry status blocks all businesses in its boundaries from getting a liquor license. That's because people who lived in the precinct 100 years ago pushed the City Council to make their neighborhood dry as a bone.

But some residents of the precinct were asked if they want to repeal the dry status by voting no on the following question in the Nov. 5 election: "Shall the prohibition of the sale at retail of alcoholic liquor be continued in the 9th Precinct of the 47th Ward of the City of Chicago (as such precinct existed as of the last general election)?"

The 47th Ward's 9th precinct is bounded by West Montrose Avenue to the south, North Lincoln Avenue and North Leavitt Street to the west, West Giddings Street and West Leland Avenue to the north and North Damen Avenue to the east, according to Chicago Board of Election Commissioners records.

Chicago's location near the southern tip of Lake Michigan makes it one of the top inland birding hotspots in the country. And as winter sets in, you can spot hawks, waterfowl, snowbirds and possibly some rare feathered visitors making their way through the city.

So what makes winter birding in Chicago so special? A Block Club reporter joined bird walks and chatted with experts to find out.

Chris Holden has been birding for more than 20 years and has helped many people discover the joys of watching birds in Chicago.

Since moving to the city in 2013, he's become a board member of the Chicago Ornithological Society. This year, he has organized over 100 free bird walks.

"This might sound funny but also very true -- a main reason that makes winter a great time to learn how to bird is because there's no leaves," Holden said.

Read more about Chicago's unlikely bird-watching season here.

By Molly DeVore

The thickets of invasive buckthorn that used to crowd LaBagh Woods have gradually been replaced by wildflowers and native shrubs.

While the restoration of the popular Northwest Side oasis may look similar to work that's been done at other forest preserves, volunteers say there is one key difference: This one is for the birds.

"It's unique thesis that we're working off of, the idea that if you focus on bird restoration, other elements of the ecosystem will fall in line like a domino," said Arthur Wawrzyczek, LaBagh's apprentice steward.

For the past decade, a team of volunteers led by the Cook County Forest Preserves with support from the Chicago Ornithological Society has been removing buckthorn and replacing it with native shrubs to ensure the many migratory birds that rely on LaBagh Woods still have adequate food and shelter.

They work night shifts to get to the ballpark early, pounding hands into baseball mitts with zen-like patience, ready to make a play if a ball ever comes their way.

Wrigley Field's famed "ballhawks" -- the people who stand on Waveland and Sheffield avenues hoping to catch home run balls that fly out of the park -- are still a fixture of game days in Wrigleyville.

But it doesn't rain baseballs on Waveland and Sheffield like it used to.

As the Cubs have pushed back its outfield walls to add seats in renovations to its historic ballpark, only a handful of ballhawking holdouts still regularly try their luck outside Wrigley Field without a ticket to the game. The controversial addition of giant video boards behind the bleachers also hampered ballhawks' efforts.

Major League Baseball's crackdown on steroids hasn't helped the cause either, ballhawks said. And the middling Cubs, on the brink of playoff elimination with a 78-75 record after Thursday night's win, rank fifth-to-last in baseball for home runs hit at home, according to Chicago sports historian Jack Silverstein.

Just two in-game homers have flown out of Wrigley this season. One legendary ballhawk, Dave Davison, got his hands on both of them.

There's still the pre-game batting practice to keep an eye on, but that volume is dropping, too.

"Back in the day, we'd get 1,200 balls a year. Now, we're down to a couple hundred, if we're lucky," Davison said. "There's not enough balls."

Read more on Wrigley Field's famed "ballhawks" here.

By Ariel Parrella-Aureli

Over 200 people welcomed the opening of Logan Square's first community-funded mental health center over the weekend, expressing feelings of gratitude, accomplishment and hope.

The LoSAH Center of Hope, called Centro de Esperanza in Spanish, is open at 3555 W. Armitage Ave. after almost seven years in the making. LoSAH -- short for Logan Square, Avondale and Hermosa -- offers bilingual, affordable mental health services to residents in the three neighborhoods, regardless of insurance.

The center's opening caps off years of work by organizers, elected officials and neighbors to bring the center to the neighborhood and prioritize mental health.

Read more about the opening of Logan Square's long-awaited mental health clinic here.

By Ariel Parrella-Aureli and Mina Bloom

Before dawn, Angelica and Daniel set up colorful signs and a small table in Humboldt Park, ready to serve hot coffee and Venezuelan empanadas.

The couple, asylum seekers from Venezuela, have become a staple at the neighborhood's busy intersection of North and California avenues. They're reaping the benefits of the area's foot traffic, catering to people waiting in the long line at the state's human services and family community resource building, many of whom are other asylum seekers from Latin America.

"We've had a lot of opportunities to try new things like this," Angelica said in Spanish. Block Club isn't publishing their last name for safety reasons. "Even though we can't work legally in businesses yet, we have made new friends and received a lot of support for migrants from the local community and organizations."

The couple is among a few vendors who sell homemade food, coffee and soft drinks five days a week in the area as they wait for official work permits. Like thousands who have entered the country seeking asylum in the past two years, they can't legally work -- so many have had to get creative to make ends meet while adjusting to a new city and life.

Read more about Angelica and Daniel's journey here.

By Quinn Myers

When Helena Madej took over Podhalanka in 1986, the surrounding neighborhood was still home to numerous Polish-run businesses.

There were Polish delis and other restaurants. Polish-owned taverns lined Division Street, once known as "Polish Broadway."

Wicker Park was then on the cusp of its transformation into a gentrifying enclave for artists and musicians, to be followed by luxury developments and corporate chains.

But in the mid-80s, the clientele at Podhalanka was almost entirely Polish. People crowded in at the restaurant's counter for Madej's homemade pierogi, potato pancakes, borscht, stuffed cabbage and other specialties.

Decades later, the area bears little resemblance to the "Polish Downtown" it once was. Podhalanka today stands as the last Polish restaurant operating in the Polish Triangle area, the intersection and plaza formed by Division Street and Milwaukee and Ashland avenues.

Neighbors came and went, and Podhalanka has endured tough times, especially during the pandemic. The unassuming restaurant at 1549 W. Division St., however, has endured.

But now, after almost 40 years in business, Madej is preparing to serve her final plates of pierogi and bowls of borscht.

Read more about the beginning -- and the end -- of Podhalanka here.

By Maxwell Evans

For Rogers Hardy, an aptly named Alabama native, hard labor came easy.

Hardy came to Chicago as the second Great Migration entered its final years. He began at Interlake Steel Corporation's South Deering furnace plant in 1964 as a laborer. Over the next four decades, he rose through the company's ranks, served in combat during the Vietnam War, saw his employer's name change from Interlake to Acme Steel, and became an assistant supervisor and union shop steward before retiring in 2002.

"I thought I was pretty smart, and I could do this stuff, you know?" said Hardy, now 79. "I had come from down South, plowing a mule and all that. All this physical labor wasn't nothing but a joke to me."

Hardy is one of many Black steelworkers who gave their labor, health -- and in many cases, their lives -- to an industry that promised stability on the South Side in exchange for those sacrifices.

For decades, the steelworkers found some semblance of that stability. Major plants like Acme, U.S. Steel's South Works, Wisconsin Steel and Republic Steel supplied paychecks and benefits that paid for homes, generations of college educations, cars and more, retirees said.

Dave Matthews' relationship with Chicago is a storied one. Earlier this summer, Matthews was spotted in the infield seats at Wrigley Field, with an unsuspecting fan in a DMB T-shirt sitting in the bleachers, nary the wiser.

But not every Chicagoan has had such a near-miss with Dave.

Thursday marks the 20th anniversary of a moment that, for fans of Chicago music culture, will live in dysentery: The day a Dave Matthews Band tour bus dumped 800 pounds of feces into the Chicago River, offering an unpleasant shower to the unsuspecting passengers of a tour boat passing underneath.

On the afternoon of Aug. 8, 2004, a charter bus belonging to the Dave Matthews Band drove across the Kinzie Street Bridge and emptied its septic tank over the Chicago River. The sewage ran through the metal grates of the bridge, and rather than landing in the water -- itself a health hazard -- it splattered onto more than 100 people on a sightseeing boat operated by the Chicago Architecture Foundation.

Neighbors kept calling 911 about the vacant bungalow at 849 N. St. Louis.

Still, the drug business there went on as usual.

Even a stretch of bitter cold in mid-January didn't slow traffic: People gathered in front of the boarded-up house and on the sidewalk and street. When customers approached on foot or pulled over in their cars, the sellers -- mostly young men and women -- exchanged baggies for cash.

On Jan. 17, neighbors once again alerted police, including an officer who had given out his cellphone number so they could contact him directly. In a text, he noted the buyers and sellers were out early that morning.

Yes, one of the neighbors responded, they're out there every morning.

Within a couple hours, police were conducting a "surveillance operation" on the vacant house, according to a report filed later that day. One officer saw a man walk up to the empty house and shove several items inside a hole in the crumbling masonry.

The officer relayed what he'd seen to another cop, who went to the vacant home, reached into the opening in the brick and pulled out 24 baggies -- 21 filled with apparent heroin and three with crack cocaine. In total, police estimated the drugs had a street value of $450.

But the officers said they lost track of the man who stashed the baggies. After the police left, the heroin and crack business soon resumed.

And, once again, the neighbors wondered why no one seemed willing to do anything about the abandoned home, especially since it's owned by a city agency: the Chicago Housing Authority.

Read more about the investigation into CHA-owned abandoned homes here.

By Kelly Bauer

The former chief financial officer at Loretto Hospital who was at the center of a COVID vaccine scandal in the early days of the pandemic has been charged with defrauding the safety net hospital out of $15 million.

Anosh Ahmed, 40, was indicted by a federal grand jury on eight counts of wire fraud, four counts of embezzlement and three counts of money laundering, federal prosecutors announced Friday.

His friend, medical supply company owner Sameer Suhail, 47, was also charged in the same indictment. He's facing six counts of wire fraud, six counts of aiding and abetting embezzlement and two counts of money laundering.

The federal charges came after a Block Club Chicago investigation that began with allegations Ahmed funneled hard-to-get vaccines early in the pandemic to his neighbors at Trump Tower and to workers at high-end businesses he frequented. The vaccines were meant for the city's poorest people but ended up in areas where Chicago's wealthiest lived and played.

Samora Hicks' heart pummeled against her chest as her plane from Baltimore prepared to land at Midway Airport last summer.

"Is this really happening?" Hicks asked herself repeatedly, unable to stop the tremors in her hands.

It was the first flight to Chicago Hicks could find on short notice. Hours earlier, she was awakened from her sleep with news she wasn't prepared for: Her mother, a veteran Chicago Transit Authority employee, was dead.

Time moved slowly -- minutes felt like days -- but Hicks' journey back home was necessary for her to find answers. Before she left the plane she'd already decided where she was going: first to the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office and then to the CTA's 103rd Street garage.

Hicks' mother, Antia Lyons, a 14-year driver for the United States' third-largest transit agency, had suffered a medical emergency while she sat behind the wheel at the start of her bus route. The 63-year-old was later pronounced dead from complications with her heart.

A Block Club Chicago investigation into the circumstances around Lyons' death raises questions about the safety of CTA drivers as the agency is touting improved working conditions in an attempt to bolster its staff.

Read more about Manny's investigation into Lyons' death here.

By Patrick Filbin

The Wild Mile, a floating eco-park on the Chicago River, is expanding as part of a multi-year project that will convert a full mile of riverfront into a walkable and biodiverse green space.

Over the past few months, Urban Rivers -- a nonprofit that works to transform city rivers into urban sanctuaries -- and a team of volunteers have installed floating walkways and garden beds and hauled in over 30,000 pounds of rock aggregate to bring to life the second phase of the Wild Mile.

"There's not a lot of data on what would work here in the river and what wouldn't," said Nick Wesley, executive director of Urban Rivers. "Throughout this process, we've had to guess which plants would do well, and it's been really interesting to find out the ones we thought would be rock stars just didn't turn out well and the ones we thought would have a tough time turned out really well. So we're still figuring that stuff out and using that to inform future decisions."

Read more about the evolution of the Wild Mile here.

By Michael Liptrot

Hundreds gathered at the Garfield Park Conservatory for the annual FLEUROTICA fashion show and fundraiser.

The annual fashion show sees local designs make garments from and inspired by plants and natural materials, with proceeds benefitting the Garfield Park Conservatory Alliance.

"Chicago's floral designers are amazing human beings, so creative, and they've been inspired by the Garfield Park Conservatory to create these incredible looks that should be on Bravo [TV network]," said Jennifer Van Valkenburg, president and CEO of the Garfield Park Conservatory Alliance. "It's our goal to change lives through the power of nature and these dresses are just a way to showcase the beauty and power of nature."

Read more about this dazzling show here.