The annual “Christmas Around the World” exhibit at Museum of Science and Industry. (Credit: Heidi Peters / Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago)

Global Christmas traditions, a risqué “Nutcracker” and drive-thru light displays usher in the holiday weekend. Here are 10 things to do in and around Chicago.

(Courtesy Chicago Loop Alliance)

A pop-up street art festival, summer workouts, circus acts and the sounds of nature usher in the holiday weekend. Here are a dozen things to do in and around Chicago.

(robyrad /Pixabay)

International wines, a festive 5K, dance performances and a theater festival usher in the weekend. Here are 10 things to do in Chicago this weekend.

(Courtesy of Navy Pier)

A carnivale celebration, polar plunge, neighborhood photographs and concerts usher in the weekend. Here are 10 things to do in and around Chicago this weekend.

(Photo by Heidi Peters / Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago)

Global Christmas traditions, holiday lights, festive floral arrangements and comics usher in the holiday weekend. Here are 10 things to do in and around Chicago.

In this May 3, 2017 file photo, former President Barack Obama points as he arrives at a community event on the Presidential Center at the South Shore Cultural Center in Chicago. (AP Photo / Nam Y. Huh)

“Michelle and I could not be more excited to break ground on the Obama Presidential Center in the community that we love,” the former president says, seated beside his wife, in a video announcement shared first with The Associated Press.

With a bulldozer and road closures in place, construction on the Obama Presidential Center began Monday, Aug. 16, 2021. (WTTW News)

Five years after Barack Obama chose Chicago as the site for his legacy project, construction officially began Monday on the Obama Presidential Center.

The latest rendering of the Obama Presidential Center tower. (Courtesy of Obama Foundation)
,

A coalition of 16 Chicago museums and cultural institutions has weighed in on the ongoing battle over the Obama Presidential Center, coming down firmly on the side of the center versus those who would block its construction in historic Jackson Park.

The latest rendering of the Obama Presidential Center tower. (Courtesy of Obama Foundation)

Opponents of the Obama Presidential Center’s location in Jackson Park lost a bid to have their case heard by the U.S. Supreme Court. The nonprofit Protect Our Parks called the decision disappointing but not surprising. 

The latest rendering of the Obama Presidential Center tower. (Courtesy of Obama Foundation)

The Obama Foundation is sharing new details related to its landscape plan for the proposed Obama Presidential Center, which it says will “create a model of sustainability.”

Visitors have been flocking to Jackson Park to catch the cherry trees in bloom. (Courtesy of Chicago Park District)

With its cherry trees finally in full bloom, thousands of people have been flocking to Jackson Park daily. But hurry, the breathtaking blossoms won’t last for long.

Design rendering of the Obama Presidential Center. (Courtesy of The Obama Foundation)

Nearly five years after former President Barack Obama picked Jackson Park for his presidential library, Chicago and Illinois leaders celebrated as work finally began to transform the historic South Side park. A formal groundbreaking is expected in the fall.

The latest rendering of the Obama Presidential Center tower. (Courtesy of Obama Foundation)
,

The legal wrangling over the Obama Presidential Center’s construction in Jackson Park is far from over, opponents say. Meanwhile, the Obama Foundation has just revealed a new architectural detail about the center’s tower.

Jackson Park in Chicago. (WTTW News)

We speak with Protect Our Parks founder and president Herb Caplan about the latest in the legal battle over the $500 million project planned for Chicago’s South Side.

"Green Lady" in Jackson Park is the latest sculpture to breathe new life into one of Chicago's dead ash trees. (Chicago Sculpture International)
,

Since 2014, the Chicago Tree Project has commissioned more than two dozen sculptures across the city, bringing new life to dead ash trees. The latest is a work by artist Gary Keenan.

(Credit: The Obama Foundation)

The proposed 20-acre Obama Presidential Center in Jackson Park is raising new concerns about property values and lower-income residents getting pushed out of the area.