Heidi Stevens

Gyros Planet owner Erika Castro hugs her daughter, also named Erika, as Castro's husband, Pablo Sanchez walks through the entrance to their Evanston restaurant on Feb. 24, 2021.

Column: Evanston students auction time and talents to save Gyros Planet, a struggling restaurant feeding thousands of hungry families

November 30, 2020 at 6:35 p.m.

A group of Evanston Township High School students and alums is rallying around a family business near their school in the sort of gesture that lights the way for all...

Roscoe Village resident Marci Sieracki pulls a lasagna out of the oven while her daughter Charlotte, 8, watches on Nov. 25, 2020. Sieracki bakes and delivers lasagna for free to healthcare workers and other people impacted by COVID as part of a national Lasagna Love movement.

Column: Free lasagnas may not cure all ills, but they go a long way during a pandemic. One Chicagoan has helped make hundreds.

November 26, 2020 at 5:00 a.m.

Marci Sieracki is a certified public accountant with 8- and 5-year-old daughters e-learning at home and, lately, a couple of lasagnas in the oven. Back in September, Sieracki saw a...

Column: Finally, a gay couple in a Hallmark Christmas movie. And the bigots never seemed less relevant.

November 24, 2020 at 1:25 p.m.

Two men kissed during a Hallmark Christmas movie this week, and the Earth continued to spin on its axis. What a difference a year makes. "The Christmas House," which premiered...

Kimani, 19, works with other teens to make holiday wreaths at the LUV Institute in Chicago's Kenwood neighborhood on Nov. 19, 2020.

Column: Looking for a holiday wreath? This nonprofit sells festive decor made by Chicago’s at-risk youth.

November 20, 2020 at 2:56 p.m.

Cosette Nazon-Wilburn had her hands full seven years ago with the LUV Institute, the nonprofit she founded a year earlier to build career and entrepreneurship skills in young people who've...

Margaret Orozco pushes her bike to get tested for coronavirus outside Loretto Hospital in Chicago on April 27, 2020.

Column: How did you get it? And what good are masks if they didn’t protect you? Answers to common reader questions about my COVID-19 ordeal.

November 19, 2020 at 6:09 p.m.

On Monday I wrote about my October COVID-19 diagnosis and subsequent hospitalization, and hundreds of readers have reached out through email and social media with support, questions and a few...

Dolly Parton performs at her 50th Opry Member Anniversary at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee, on Oct. 12, 2019.

Column: Dolly Parton is the closest thing we have to a universally beloved icon. And that was before she helped fund Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine.

November 18, 2020 at 12:41 p.m.

Through wars and social movements and a wild ride of presidential administrations, Dolly Parton has remained one of the closest things we have to a universally beloved national figure. And...

All Stories

Column: Evanston students auction time and talents to save Gyros Planet, a struggling restaurant feeding thousands of hungry families

Column: Free lasagnas may not cure all ills, but they go a long way during a pandemic. One Chicagoan has helped make hundreds.

Column: Finally, a gay couple in a Hallmark Christmas movie. And the bigots never seemed less relevant.

Column: Looking for a holiday wreath? This nonprofit sells festive decor made by Chicago’s at-risk youth.

Column: How did you get it? And what good are masks if they didn’t protect you? Answers to common reader questions about my COVID-19 ordeal.

Column: Dolly Parton is the closest thing we have to a universally beloved icon. And that was before she helped fund Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine.

Column: Pie It Forward challenge preserves best of annual South Side Pie Challenge, but with COVID-19 precautions

Column: I took a COVID-19 test as a precaution. A week later, I was hospitalized.

Column: Was it realistic to expect college students to follow COVID-19 protocols? The science suggests no.

Column: We owe each other better than the toxic, tragic self-interest on display at that Rose Garden ceremony