Here are the photos that helped us tell this year’s stories

DJ Bullett (center), 7, a student at Bret Harte Elementary School, reacts as he and his classmates perform a volcanic eruption experiment outside the Museum of Science and Industry on Sept. 21. The event was part of a celebration of the museum’s 90th anniversary and an interactive extension of “Pompeii: The Exhibition.” (Pat Nabong/Sun-Times)

Bassist Pete Wentz dives into the crowd with his guitar as he performs with Fall Out Boy on Jan. 25 at Metro on the North Side. (Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times)

Priest Alexander Koranda, cathedral dean at the Holy Trinity Orthodox Cathedral in Ukrainian Village, stands inside the cathedral on Feb. 3. The cathedral’s windows were vandalized in January. (Pat Nabong/Sun-Times)

A man who appears to be homeless sleeps next to an elevator bank near Terminal 2 at O’Hare International Airport on Feb. 16. (Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times)

Students and staff attend a Feb. 21 balloon release to mourn the loss of student 13-year-old William L. Smith at The Montessori School of Englewood at 6936 S. Hermitage Ave. in West Englewood. (Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times)

Olga Libei holds her 3-year-old daughter, Evelina, as she plays with a Ukrainian flag during a Feb. 24 rally and vigil on the anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine outside Saints Volodymyr & Olha Ukrainian Catholic Church in Ukrainian Village. (Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times)

Lori Lightfoot concedes the Chicago mayoral primary during a Feb. 28 election night speech at the Mid-America Carpenters Regional Council in River North. Lightfoot finished third with 16.8% of the vote, behind former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas at 33.9% and Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson with 20.3%. (Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times)

Chicago firefighters set up an American flag in preparation for a procession to the Cook County medical examiner’s office on March 1. Hours earlier, Chicago Police Officer Andres Vasquez-Lasso, 32, was shot to death as he chased an armed suspect in the 5200 block of South Spaulding Avenue in Gage Park. (Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times)

Flanked by family members and supporters, Milena Estepa (in sunglasses) weeps as pallbearers carry the casket of her husband, Chicago Police Officer Andres Vasquez Lasso, to the hearse after his March 9 funeral at St. Rita of Cascia Shrine Chapel. (Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times)

Iggy Pop performs at the Salt Shed on March 10. (Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times)

A health care worker pauses while working at a desk in the Emergency Department at Mount Sinai Hospital on March 21. At the three-year anniversary of COVID-19 shutting down Illinois, the pandemic has ebbed, but Chicago-area hospitals are struggling to cope with the vastly altered health care world the plague left behind. (Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times)

Khodr Kaddoura, whose clothing store was in the Little Village Discount Mall for about 30 years, packs up his shop and moves out of the mall at 3115 W. 26th St. on the Southwest Side on March 28. (Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times)

Chicago mayoral candidate and former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas watches a musical performance on April 2 at the New Life Covenant Church at 7621 S. Greenwood Ave. in Grand Crossing. (Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times)

Leni Manaa-Hoppenworth, a local business owner and political organizer, celebrates at an election night party April 4 at Furama restaurant in Uptown. Manaa-Hoppenworth clinched her bid to make history as Chicago’s first Filipino American City Council member. (Victor Hilitski/For the Sun-Times)

Supporters cheer and dance at Brandon Johnson’s election night party at the Marriott Marquis Chicago on April 4. (Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times)

Brandon Johnson celebrates at his election night party at the Marriott Marquis Chicago after defeating Paul Vallas in the city’s mayoral runoff on April 4. (Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times)

Mayoral candidate Paul Vallas concedes the mayoral race to Brandon Johnson during his April 4 election night party at the Hyatt Regency. (Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times)

Cardinal Blase J. Cupich washes the feet of Venezuelan migrants on April 6, during Holy Thursday Mass at Holy Name Cathedral. (Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times)

Chicago Fire Lt. Jan Tchoryk’s wife, Natalia Kavkun, touches her forehead to his at his funeral April 13 at St. Joseph the Betrothed Ukrainian Catholic Church on the Northwest Side. Tchoryk, 55, a 26-year fire department veteran, died April 5 while battling an extra-alarm blaze in a high-rise on Lake Shore Drive in the Gold Coast neighborhood. He was the second firefighter to die in the line of duty that week.

Ald. Edward Burke (14th) leaves his last Chicago City Council meeting at City Hall on April 19. Chicago’s longest-serving alderman, Burke did not seek reelection and retired in 2023 after 54 years. (Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times)

Neislymar Gonzalez’s 5-year-old daughter and 4-year-old son, asylum-seekers from Venezuela, keep busy at the Central District police station on the South Side on May 1. Chicago’s response to a growing migrant crisis turned police stations into makeshift shelters. (Natalie Garcia/For the Sun-Times)

Mayor Lori Lightfoot and her wife, Amy Eshleman, wave goodbye to supporters as they leave City Hall on May 12 in the back of a 1940s Cadillac convertible on Lightfoot’s final day as mayor. (Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times)

Brandon Johnson hugs Mayor Lori Lightfoot before he is sworn in as mayor of Chicago during the city’s May 15 inauguration ceremony at Credit Union 1 Arena. (Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times)

Sherrif Polk kisses his 1-week-old son, Sherrif Polk Jr., in their home in Rogers Park on May 16. Polk, a father of six, said he has spent most of the stipend he received from Equity and Transformation’s Chicago Future Fund, which gives $500 a month to formerly incarcerated people. (Pat Nabong/Sun-Times)

Joe Burnett stands outside after the (W)rap Drug Court Program graduation at the Cook County Courthouse on May 18. (Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times)

Two fox kits play near their den in the Lurie Garden in Millennium Park on May 22. (Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times)

James Bell Sr., 37, who coaches the Chicago Blitz’s super peewee team, takes a moment to catch his breath after a workout on his back patio in Bronzeville in 2021. Bell lost his vision after he was shot twice in 2007 in West Englewood. Struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder, the single father of four has faced immense loss but has overcome adversity thanks to his family and enduring love of football. (Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times)

James Bell Sr. does an overhead press as he trains alongside his son at Ogden Park in Englewood on June 1. (Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times)

A falcon takes off from a ledge at 100 S. Wacker Dr. in the Loop on June 1. A family of federally protected peregrine falcons are dive-bombing pedestrians passing below their seventh-story nest at an office building near the Chicago River. (Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times)

A man holding what appears to be a gun stands in a makeshift tower during a June 2 stand-off with police and SWAT officers in the 4100 block of West Chicago Avenue in Humboldt Park. (Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times)

Amy Engebretson, left, holds her daughter Shea, as they pose for a selfie in front of the 46-foot long Spinosaurus at the Field Museum on June 2. (Anthony Jackson/For the Sun-Times)

Taylor Swift performs at Soldier Field on June 2. (Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times)

Roman Banks, who is playing Michael Jackson in “MJ the Musical,” poses for a portrait on June 6 at the Nederlander Theatre in the Loop. (Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times)

Environmental activists chant after a June 6 press conference outside City Hall in the Loop, where they gathered to demand that the permit for General Iron to operate in the Southeast Side remain denied. The protest was in response to a judge overruling City Hall’s decision to deny the General Iron permit. (Pat Nabong/Sun-Times)

Dewayne Perkins, co-writer and co-star of the movie “The Blackening,” poses for a June 6 portrait in Chicago. (Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times)

Kaye Larsen Olloway, founder of Fat Cat Rescue, lays in the grass outside of her home with several rescued feral cats, including Johnny Ringo and Baby Blue, at the Wadsworth nonprofit on June 8. (Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times)

A vendor holds a fan with a Puerto Rican flag printed on it during the June 10 Puerto Rican Day Parade on West Division Street in Humboldt Park. (Pat Nabong/Sun-Times)

Surrounded by family members and attorneys, Tyrone Clay raises his arms in celebration as he walks out of Cook County Jail on June 21 after prosecutors dropped charges against him in the 2011 slaying of Chicago Police Officer Clifton Lewis. (Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times)

A woman cycles on the Lakefront Trail as smoke from Canadian forest fires obscures the Chicago skyline, seen from Fullerton Beach on June 27. (Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times)

Spectators gather for the inaugural NASCAR Chicago Street Race in downtown Chicago on July 1. (Manuel Martinez/WBEZ)

An unauthorized vehicle drives on the racetrack of the Nascar Street Race circuit near South Michigan Avenue and East Balbo Drive on July 1. (Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times)

A person with an umbrella leans on the Parker Chase “Ontivity” #24 car at the NASCAR Chicago Street Race on July 2. Record-setting precipitation rained all over Chicago’s much-ballyhooed stock car parade. (Owen Ziliak/Sun-Times)

Mayor Brandon Johnson is covered with umbrellas as he walks through pit road during the Grant Park 220 NASCAR Street Race on July 2. (Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times)

NASCAR driver Shane van Gisbergen #91 holds up the checkered flag as he celebrates his July 2 victory in the Grant Park 220 on the Chicago Street Race Course. (Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times)

Jyran Mitchell sits in his family’s home on a cul-de-sac in south suburban Matteson on July 5. Mitchell was a star football player when he was injured in 2018 while being detained by an Illinois State Police trooper tied to extremism. (Brian Ernst/Sun-Times)

Twins Jesenia and Jasi, 9, from New Jersey, hold a coat over their heads while walking south on the Magnificent Mile on July 12. (Owen Ziliak/Sun-Times)

With parts of her roof jutting from the yard after a tornado blew through the area overnight, Marion Novak speaks on the phone outside her home in Countryside on July 13. (Pat Nabong/Sun-Times)

Mdou Moctar performs on July 23, day three of the Pitchfork Music Festival in Union Park. (Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times)

JPEGMafia performs on July 23, day three of the Pitchfork Music Festival in Union Park. (Owen Ziliak/Sun-Times)

Jenyerberth grabs the cone during a drill session hosted by German Bundesliga soccer team Borussia Dortmund with migrants and local youth on Aug. 2 at the soccer cage in Humboldt Park. (Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times)

Billie Eilish performs on day one of Lollapalooza in Grant Park on Aug. 3. (Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times)

A red-tailed hawk is prepared for release in rural western Illinois on Aug. 3 after being caught earlier in the month at O’Hare International Airport, where wildlife management involves tens of thousands of birds and other animals each year. (Mark Black/For the Sun-Times)

People jump into Lake Michigan at Montrose Harbor on Aug. 4 during the tenth week of Friday Morning Swim Club. The swim club takes place hours before swimming is allowed in an area that’s never patrolled by lifeguards. (Owen Ziliak/Sun-Times)

A person jumps into Lake Michigan at Montrose Harbor on Aug. 4 during the tenth week of Friday Morning Swim Club. The weekly club has grown from a small group of friends in 2021 to thousands in its third season. (Owen Ziliak/Sun-Times)

A person yells after falling in the mosh pit during DJ Diesel’s set on day two of Lollapalooza in Grant Park on Aug. 4. (Owen Ziliak/Sun-Times)

Olympic all-around gold medalist Simone Biles competes on the uneven bars in the U.S. Classic gymnastics competition on Aug. 5 at Now Arena in Hoffman Estates. (Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times)

Aidan Dow, from Palos Township, dresses as Nightwing from the DC Universe at Fan Expo Chicago 2023 on Aug. 11 at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont. (Owen Ziliak/Sun-Times)

Members of Bringing Out Talent dance during the annual Bud Billiken Parade along South Martin Luther King Jr. Drive on Aug. 12 in Bronzeville. (Pat Nabong/Sun-Times)

Kids play in a bounce house during a back-to-school event on Aug. 16 at Richard T. Crane Medical Prep High School on the West Side. (Pat Nabong/Sun-Times)

Family members mourn at a funeral service for Willie Perry Jr., also known as “DJ Casper,” on Aug. 19 at Holy Temple Cathedral in Harvey. Casper was known to music and dance fans around the globe for the hugely popular line dance/song the “Cha-Cha Slide.” (Alex Wroblewski/For the Sun-Times)

Wilson Silva Morale, an asylum-seeker from Venezuela, walks out on a cement barrier at Leone Beach in Rogers Park on Aug. 22. Morale, 43, spent significant time on Lake Maracaibo and now finds himself living again next to another great lake in Chicago. (Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times)

Lily Cetina holds an umbrella over her head while cooling off in Lake Michigan at Oakwood Beach on Aug. 24, Chicago’s first 100-degree day since 2012, according to the National Weather Service. (Pat Nabong/Sun-Times)

On Aug. 24, the second day of a record-breaking heatwave in the Chicago area, a man living on Lower Wacker Drive receives cold bottled water from The Night Ministry’s street medicine van. The man asked not to be identified. (Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times)

Chicago police officers keep watch outside Guaranteed Rate Field after two women were injured in a shooting inside the stadium during the Chicago White Sox game against the Oakland Athletics on Aug. 25. (Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times)

An athlete runs on the Lakefront Trail during the 2023 Chicago Triathlon on Aug. 27. (Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times)

Southland College Prep Charter High School’s marching band performs during the Battle of the High School Bands on Sept. 2 at the Chicago Football Classic Scholarship Fund, Inc.’s Reunion at Soldier Field. The Reunion also featured a college and career fair with Historically Black Colleges and Universities, tailgating, and a football game between Central State University and Mississippi Valley State University. (Pat Nabong/Sun-Times)

Chicago Bears wide receiver Darnell Mooney #11 celebrates with teammates after scoring a touchdown during the third quarter against the Green Bay Packers on Sept. 10 at Soldier Field. (Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times)

Chicago songbird, violinist and guitarist Heather Lynne Horton, who recently released a new album titled, “Get Me To A Nunnery,” poses for a portrait at her home in Orland Park on Sept. 14. (Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times)

Hundreds of people flood the Loop to celebrate Mexican Independence Day on Sept. 15. (Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times)

Members of the Insane Clown Posse spray Faygo soda at the crowd while the hip-hop duo performs on Sept. 16, day two of Riot Fest in Douglass Park on the Southwest Side. (Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times)

L.S. Dunes frontman Anthony Green walks back to the stage after crowd surfing as the band performs on Sept. 17, day three of Riot Fest in Douglass Park. (Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times)

An aerial view of the Garfield Park Fieldhouse at 100 N. Central Park Ave. in West Garfield Park on Sept. 20. (Quinn Harris/For the Sun-Times)

Nazareth Garcia, 18, and her 2-year-old daughter Aranza, asylum-seekers from Venezuela, chat in their space at the Austin District police station at 5701 W. Madison St. on the West Side on Sept. 25. (Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times)

Asylum-seekers from Venezuela, 15-year-old Marleivis Subero holds her sleeping 2-year-old sister, Anthonela, while their 6-year-old sister Paulina plays with their dog outside their tent at the Austin District police station at 5701 W. Madison St. on the West Side on Sept. 25. (Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times)

Chicago Bears fans react to the score during the fourth quarter against the Denver Broncos on Oct. 1 at Soldier Field. The Bears lost 31 - 28. (Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times)

Hundreds of asylum-seekers take shelter inside a waiting area for shuttles near O’Hare International Airport’s Terminal 2 on Oct. 3. Hundreds of asylum-seekers from Texas and other states are sheltered in the airport, according to the Office of Emergency Management and Communications. (Pat Nabong/Sun-Times)

People swag surf near the stage during Sista Strut, a walk for breast cancer awareness that was attended by survivors, those currently fighting the disease and their supporters, on Oct. 7 outside the Salvation Army Kroc Center on the Far South Side. (Pat Nabong/Sun-Times)

Asylum-seekers, mostly from Venezuela, camp at the Grand Crossing police station at 7040 S. Cottage Grove Ave. in Woodlawn on Oct. 10. Less than a week earlier, a 28-year-old Venezuelan migrant, Yerlianny Romero, was shot and wounded while holding her child outside the station. (Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times)

William Harris Lee III, who opened his string instrument business, Williams Harris Lee & Co., in 1978 in the Fine Arts Building, is one of the historic building’s longest tenants, pictured on Oct. 11. The Fine Arts Building at 410 S. Michigan Ave. is celebrating its 125th anniversary in October. (Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times)

Master violin maker Gary Garavaglia works on the scroll of a cello Oct. 11 at William Harris Lee & Co. at the Fine Arts Building at 410 S. Michigan Ave. across from Grant Park. (Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times)

Illinois state Rep. Abdelnasser Rashid embraces Oday Al-Fayoume, father of 6-year-old Wadea Al-Fayoume, during an Oct. 15 news conference at the Muslim Community Center on the Northwest Side. Wadea Al-Fayoume was stabbed to death by the family’s landlord in Plainfield because of his Muslim faith, authorities said. (Jim Vondruska/For the Sun-Times)

Flanked by family members and supporters, Oday Al-Fayoume (in black T-shirt) prays during the funeral for his 6-year-old son, Wadea Al-Fayoume, Oct. 16 at the Mosque Foundation in Bridgeview. The Palestinian American boy was fatally stabbed because of his Muslim faith, authorities said. (Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times)

Thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters march toward the Israeli Consulate on Oct. 18, less than 24 hours after the bombing of the Al Ahli Arab Hospital in the Gaza Strip. (Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times)

Keshawn Price, a Beautiful Lives Project participant, chases a ball during the Oct. 19 Court of Dreams event at the University of Illinois Chicago’s Flames Athletic Center. Members of the UIC Flames women’s basketball team taught basketball skills to participants of the Beautiful Lives Project, which organizes events for people with disabilities with the aim of “defeating isolation within the disabled community and sparking deeper conversations about the value of integrating individuals with disabilities into the workforce,” according to their website. (Pat Nabong/Sun-Times)

Frayeli Montoya (left), of Venezuela, hugs Elaine Pierce on Oct. 19 as she relaxes on her living room couch in Pierce’s house in Oak Park, which has become a home for migrants who had been stuck at Chicago police stations. A retiree with terminal cancer, 68-year-old Pierce opened her bungalow to migrant families in early August. Advocates say she’s an example of the resolve needed to turn the migrant crisis into an opportunity. (Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times)

Thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters gather on Michigan Avenue during an Oct. 21 rally in the Loop, where they called for a ceasefire, an end to U.S. military aid to Israel and an end to Israeli occupation amid the Israel-Hamas war. (Pat Nabong/Sun-Times)

New Chicago Sky head coach Teresa Weatherspoon celebrates with her team jersey at an Oct. 24 introductory news conference in Chicago. (Jim Vondruska/For the Sun-Times)

Pedestrians cross State Street in the Loop as snow showers dust the Chicago area, on Oct. 31. (Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times)

Freddy Ortiz eats candy inside his tent outside the Near North police station at 1160 N. Larrabee St. in River North on Oct. 31 as temperatures dip to 37 degrees in Chicago. (Pat Nabong/Sun-Times)

Hannibal Buress looks in the mirror in his dressing room as he gets ready to perform stand-up comedy and music as Eshu Tune on Nov. 2 at The Chicago Theatre in the Loop. (Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times)

Hundreds of pro-Palestinian demonstrators rally and protest at the corner of West Hubbard and North Armour streets near where President Joe Biden was attending a Nov. 9 fundraising event in West Town. Demonstrators were demanding that Biden and other politicians use their power to broker a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas, whose conflict has killed thousands of civilians. (Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times)

The United States flag is reflected on the glasses of Harold Moore, who served in the army for four years, as he speaks to a reporter during the City of Chicago’s Veterans Day Commemoration Ceremony on Nov. 11 at Soldier Field. (Pat Nabong/Sun-Times)

Hiola G. Alston, 79, sits in a pew at St. Sabina Church in Auburn Gresham on Nov. 12. Alston was among those who dropped off four boxes of petitions earlier this week urging the Illinois Commerce Commission to vote against the Peoples Gas proposed rate hike. (Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times)

Chicago Fire Department personnel mourn outside Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center after a firefighter died battling an early morning blaze on Nov. 13 in the 2400 block of North Lincoln Avenue in Lincoln Park. Firefighter Andrew “Drew” Price, 39, who joined the department in 2009, was taken from the fire to Illinois Masonic where he died of his “significant injuries,” authorities said. (Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times)

Chicago Fire Department and Chicago Police Department personnel triage patients at the scene on Nov. 16 after a Chicago Transit Authority train crashed into a piece of equipment that was on the rails near the Howard CTA station on the North Side. (Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times)

Stephen Helmer holds his granddaughter Caroline Costello in his daughter’s home in Skokie on Nov. 17, one day after the CTA Yellow Line train he was riding crashed into a snowplow. He, his wife, his daughter and two grandkids were injured in the crash. Margaret Costello, his daughter, said the stroller that her twins were strapped into saved their lives. (Pat Nabong/Sun-Times)

Asylum-seekers receive winter wear after getting off a bus at 800 S. Desplaines St. on Nov. 24. Staff from the Office of Emergency Management and Communications met them and they were provided with blankets and jackets. (Pat Nabong/Sun-Times)

Protesters scream at Starbucks customers during a Nov. 24 Black Friday protest on the Magnificent Mile, where hundreds called for divestment from major companies that support Israel and an end to the Israel–Hamas war. (Pat Nabong/Sun-Times)

GardaWorld, the controversial contractor picked to build Mayor Brandon Johnson’s “winterized base camps” for migrants camped out at police stations, begins pitching the first of its tents at the Brighton Park construction site at South California Avenue and West 38th Street on Nov. 29. (Brian Ernst/Sun-Times)

An aerial view of the migrant camp construction site at South California Avenue and West 38th Street on Dec. 5,. hours after Gov. J.B. Pritzker said the state is ending development of the proposed migrant camp in Brighton Park. (Brian Ernst/Sun-Times)

A group of friends ride a hot tub, which they rented on Dec. 8 from the Chicago River Hot Tub Boat Cruises in the Loop, as a person wearing a winter jacket rides a ferry nearby. (Pat Nabong/Sun-Times)

Flanked by family members and attorneys, former Ald. Edward Burke (14th) walks out of the Dirksen Federal Courthouse after being found guilty of racketeering, bribery and attempted extortion on Dec. 21. Burke is the 38th alderperson to be convicted since 1973, and the fourth in five years. (Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times)