We’re looking back at a story from earlier this month about the best Chicago albums of 2025. Our colleagues at our sister station Vocalo nominated their annual picks for the best in new Chicago music. Chicago has always been an eclectic music town where artists borrow from the city’s traditions of blues, jazz and soul. Some of this year’s best local albums blend the genres and even transcend them.

We’re revisiting a story from the WBEZ/Chicago Sun-Times arts and culture desk, in which our bookish colleagues share some of their favorite new books of 2025. Their recommendations range from a wide breadth of genres, including a novel that explores the complexities of friendship and family as well as a memoir detailing New York City nightlife in the '90s.

In a town full of foodies, Chicago pizzamaker Jonathan Goldsmith’s pies rise to the top at his restaurant, Spacca Napoli, located in Ravenswood on Chicago’s North Side. The eatery spent several years on the Michelin Guide’s Bib Gourmand list and an Italian-based website ranked it among the best pizza in the world in 2023.

At the beginning of 2025, the restaurant was named the best pizza in town at the local Banchet Awards. Days later, Goldsmith underwent surgery for stomach cancer. As the year wraps up, we checked back in with Goldsmith to see how his recovery is going and took a look back at the restaurant’s journey.

This holiday season, the Evanston Symphony Orchestra hosted a new kind of concert. The so-called “barrier-free” performance was designed for people with disabilities and their loved ones. That includes accessible parking, an ASL interpreter and a sensory-free room where people could retreat if they got overwhelmed. About a hundred attendees of all ages poured into the performance at the Evanston Township High School Auditorium, where volunteers encouraged the audience to participate in a singalong performance and shake jingle bells.

Faith leaders were denied access to pray with detainees at the Broadview ICE facility today. Illinois is part of a multi-state coalition suing the Trump administration for targeting gender affirming care. A holiday-themed pop-up in Humboldt Park takes inspiration from a Puerto Rican Christmas tradition. And Jake Connelly, a 13-year-old from Arlington Heights, is the newest star of the hit Netflix series “Stranger Things." Plus, one Curious City listener wanted to know: What customs associated with Christmas are distinctly Chicago traditions? Well, Curious City goes behind the scenes of one long-time local tradition: "A Christmas Carol" at the Goodman Theatre.

Who is Gregory Bovino?

For months, the Border Patrol Commander-at-Large led agents through Chicago on an aggressive immigration enforcement campaign, while making sure his noticeably uncovered face was in front of as many cameras as possible.

But there’s very little information online about Bovino’s background, his experience, or his rise to overnight prominence.

So our team went digging – to his hometown in North Carolina, and to California where his Border Patrol career got started.

In “Becoming Bovino,” Sun-Times investigative reporter Lauren FitzPatrick and WBEZ investigative reporter Dan Mihalopoulos sit down with WBEZ’s Patrick Smith to share what they found about Gregory Bovino – from his upbringing, to his efforts to keep himself in the limelight.

The Chicago Bears are the toast of the town after an overtime win Saturday against the Green Bay Packers. The Cook County Clerk’s office has selected the couple who will receive the county’s first marriage license of 2026. Operation North Pole is an annual holiday charity event for children with life-threatening illnesses. It returned for the first time since COVID.

Plus, the biggest life expectancy gap between Chicago neighborhoods is 20 years, from West Garfield Park to the Loop. One of the solutions to closing this gap is playing out in Garfield Park.

The Chicago City Council has approved the revenue portion of a rival, aldermanic-led spending plan that does not include a corporate head tax as Mayor Brandon Johnson wanted. It still requires a second official vote to be fully adopted. The Trump administration said the Chicago Transit Authority’s new security plan “fails to meet the need for immediate, measurable corrective action” and threatened to withhold up to 50 million dollars from the agency. Chicago six-piece soul band Hollyy will play its fifth-annual holiday show at Thalia Hall.

Plus, a state panel documenting alleged abuses by federal immigration agents held its first meeting. The Illinois Accountability Commission plans to interview witnesses and review bystander videos on social media.

A state commission examining wrongdoing by federal agencies during the so-called “Operation Midway Blitz” is now taking testimony. Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson says he will do "whatever it takes" to avoid a government shutdown. A coalition of alders advanced a rival budget proposal, and the plan still needs a full council vote. The Chicago Bears will host arch-rivals the Green Bay Packers Saturday night.

Plus, fans of the novelist Jane Austen celebrated her 250th birthday through a Regency ball – complete with a string quartet, historical snacks, and dancers in gowns stitched from YouTube tutorials.

Chicago's Jewish community continues to mourn the victims of the mass shooting during a Hanukkah celebration in Australia. An Illinois state task force is investigating why violence against women and girls in Chicago is disproportionately high. Chicago officials are urging people to get their vaccines before gathering with friends and family for the holidays.

Plus, a school on Chicago’s southwest side has long had a club to support students without legal status and to raise money to help them go to college. But this year with immigration enforcement tearing families apart, the club has changed course.