social worker

Chicago’s mayor announced Wednesday that the city’s public schools would be closed on Thursday in anticipation of an expected strike by the city’s 25,000 teachers. A strike in the nation’s third largest school district would mean no classes for nearly 400,000 students. Like most workers threatening to walk off the job, the teachers want a raise. But money is only...

A fire raced through a hospital in Rio de Janeiro, forcing staff to wheel patients into the streets on stretchers or in wheelchairs and killing at least 11 people, many of them elderly. Four firefighters were hospitalized after battling the overnight blaze at Badim Hospital and about 90 patients were transferred to other hospitals, the fire department said. A rope...

A former social worker at a suburban Chicago mental health center has been sentenced to 180 days in jail after pleading guilty to a sexual misconduct charge involving a patient with a disability. Christy Lenhardt’s plea entered Friday stems from an investigation into allegations she engaged in sexual misconduct between November 2014 and July 2017 with a patient at the...

A father was charged in the deaths of his 1-year-old twins, who he forgot in the car while he went to work, police said Saturday.

The mother of five children who were killed by their father stunned a South Carolina courtroom Tuesday by asking the jury to spare her ex-husband’s life. “He did not show my children any mercy by any means. But my kids loved him and if I’m speaking on behalf of my kids and not myself, that’s what I have to say,”...

A growing number of celebrities who are branching out to host their own podcasts. Notables including Lena Dunham, Chelsea Handler, Alyssa Milano, “Power’s” Omari Hardwick and “Queer Eye” star Karamo Brown are among those who’ve launched their own approximately hour-long, weekly shows this year.

A retired social worker almost became bankrupt in the blink of an eye after leaving a nearly half a million dollar cashiers check at a restaurant.

It’s OK to feel comforted and to celebrate life when the topic of conversation is death. That’s the idea behind Death Cafe, a group-directed discussion of death with no agenda, objectives or themes.

Former Vice President Joe Biden on Friday made light of his recent controversy about crossing physical boundaries with women, and he signaled in a resolute speech to union activists that’s he’s ready to run for president as a moderate Democrat in party that has been drifting left. Biden, 76, opened his speech to a conference of electrical workers joking that...

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Wednesday ordered an independent review of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services and nominated a new director after the recent deaths of toddlers who were under the child welfare agency’s care.

Alan Naiman was known for an unabashed thriftiness that veered into comical, but even those closest to him had no inkling of the fortune that he quietly amassed and the last act that he had long planned. The Washington state social worker died of cancer this year at age 63, leaving most of a surprising $11 million estate to children’s...

A sea of people wearing red and chanting “UTLA” swarmed City Hall as thousands of educators and their supporters marched in Downtown LA on Saturday.

Barbara Harris, the Tony Award-winning actress who performed in the historic first cast of Chicago’s Second City improvisational theater, has died. She was 83.

On the grounds of the Mount Olivet Cemetery many gathered for a special funeral service Rebeca Perrone had a hand in bringing together.

A judge on Friday refused to recognize the authority of a lawyer who had obtained an elder-abuse restraining order on behalf of Stan Lee, a move that allowed attorneys for Lee’s daughter to reassert their representation of the 95-year-old mastermind behind many of Marvel Comics’ most-recognizable characters. In a tiny Los Angeles courtroom packed with current and former attorneys and...

It has been another epic year for characters Stan Lee helped create, with “Black Panther” and “Avengers: Infinity War” earning more than $3 billion combined globally and “Ant-Man and the Wasp” still to open next week, all three featuring the clever cameos beloved by devoted fans of the Marvel Comics mastermind....
But for Lee himself, the past year has been tough...

A Connecticut school superintendent, principal and assistant principal were arrested, accused of failing to tell authorities about an alleged student “fight club,” according to state police, and have been placed on leave.

Tens of thousands of people sang, cheered and cried as the flag-draped casket of anti-apartheid activist Winnie Madikizela-Mandela was escorted from her official funeral on Saturday, after supporters defended her complex legacy with poetry and anger. Thunder rumbled and it began to rain as the casket left the 40,000-seat stadium — a blessing, witnesses said. Heads of state joined the...

A 53-year-old South Elgin woman who worked as a social worker at a mental health center in the northwest suburbs is accused of sexual misconduct with a patient.

Bill Cosby’s lawyers are asking the judge in his upcoming sexual assault retrial to step aside, arguing he could be seen as biased because his wife is a social worker who’s described herself as an “advocate for assault victims.” Cosby’s lawyers said Thursday that some of Judge Steven O’Neill’s rulings, including his decision to let five additional accusers testify, could...