Grad rate up to 73 percent:

Figures released by Chicago Public Schools show continued improvement in the district’s graduation rate. The nation’s third-largest school district announced Monday just over 73 percent of students who entered Chicago high schools as freshmen in 2011 graduated by summer of 2016. The first day of the school year is today. More than 20,400 students graduated in 2016. A year ago, the district readjusted its graduation statistics and no longer counts students who leave for job training or GED programs as transfer students. They are now counted as dropouts. That change is reflected in the numbers released Monday.

Monarch numbers lower:

Butterfly observers in Illinois are seeing a phenomenon this year that is playing out nationally: As monarchs start their near-3,000-mile winter migration from Canada to Mexico, their observed numbers are extremely low. Chicago Academy of Sciences chief curator Doug Taron told The Chicago Tribune the monarch is “the second- or third-most common species” of butterfly that observers record, but that this year, it’s the “seventh.” Taron says this summer has been “pretty dismal” for butterflies in general in Illinois. Observers typically record 85 species a year, but current reports show 68 this summer. Monarch Joint Venture co-chair Karen Oberhauser says the monarchs’ difficult summer began March 9 in forested mountains near Mexico City, where tens of millions of them spend their winters. An intense storm lashed the area with rain, hail and snow, killing large numbers of the butterflies and inflicting heavy damage to their habitat.

At least 11 shot to death:

At least 11 people were killed and 33 others were wounded in shootings over Labor Day weekend in Chicago, ABC 7 reported on its website. One of the victims was an 80-year-old man who was found dead from a gunshot to his face at a senior housing building on the 2800 block of East 77th Place. Among the wounded, Crystal Meyers, who relatives said was 9 months’ pregnant, was shot in the abdomen and leg and her boyfriend, Albert Moore, was shot in the back Monday afternoon on the 900 block of West 53rd Street. Family said the couple were planning to move out of state once the baby was born.

Third suspect arrested:

Police arrested a third man suspected of carjacking a state trooper. Cicero police arrested the 18-year-old suspect after a short standoff Saturday night at his home. Police said three men stole an off-duty state trooper’s car last week in Cicero. Two of the suspects were arrested shortly after running away, authorities said. Police said they recovered the trooper’s vehicle and gun in her car.

2 more Safe Passage schools:

Chicago Public Schools is adding two more routes to its Safe Passage program to escort students on their walks to school. The two new routes bring the number of schools participating in the Safe Passage program to 142. Workers are stationed on the routes, which are meant to provide students safe travel to and from school. The new schools in the program are Al Raby High School in the East Garfield Park neighborhood and Dyett School of the Arts on Chicago’s South Side. Both are in some of the most violent neighborhoods of the city. The Safe Passage program began in 2009 with 35 schools and now serves more than 75,000 students daily.