President Trump declares a national emergency as the coronavirus prompts event cancellations and school closures across the city and state. And primary races are down to the wire as Illinois voters head to the polls Tuesday.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker is ordering the closure of all public and private K-12 schools across the state, including Chicago Public Schools, starting Tuesday. It’s the largest closure to date related to the spread of the novel coronavirus in Illinois.

Here we are a nation on edge, the future uncertain, civilization as we know it seemingly on the brink of collapse. And our very first survival instinct is to hoard toilet paper. 

To help alleviate the impact of coronavirus-related declines in restaurant sales, Chicago-based Grubhub announced a temporary change to its fee structure and a charitable fund to support impacted restaurants and drivers nationwide.

President Donald Trump on Friday declared the coronavirus pandemic a national emergency in order to free up more money and resources. But he denied any responsibility for delays in making testing available for the new virus.

A Cook County jury on Friday convicted Shomari Legghette of gunning down Chicago police Cmdr. Paul Bauer outside the Thompson Center, a shocking murder that marked the highest-ranking Chicago officer to be killed in the line of duty in decades.

Complete coverage of the novel coronavirus from WTTW News and “Chicago Tonight.”

Think things are bleak on planet Earth? At lease it’s not raining metal. That’s the kind of bizarre climate scientists recently observed on an ultra-hot exoplanet they’ve dubbed WASP-76b, located 640 million light-years away.

Mass at all Archdiocese of Chicago churches will be suspended starting Saturday until further notice in an effort to limit the spread of the novel coronavirus. “This is not a decision I made lightly,” Archbishop Blase Cupich said in a statement. 

The spotted lanternfly, oak wilt, gypsy moth and boxwood blight are among the latest threats in the plant world. And citizen scientists have a role to play when it comes to stopping the next plague.

You’re washing your hands countless times a day to try to ward off the coronavirus. You should also wash that extension of your hand and breeding ground for germs — your phone. But cleaning your phone improperly can damage it. 

Lawyers for a short-order cook shot by Chicago police trying to arrest him for using a subway train’s gangway doors filed a lawsuit Wednesday alleging officers used excessive force in violation of policies laid out in court-monitored police reforms.

Healthy students should still go to school, but for the next 30 days there should be no more parades, professional sports game, rock concerts and no banquets anywhere in Illinois as officials seek to prevent further spread of the novel coronavirus.

If it hasn’t already, an invitation should be arriving in the mail any day now – an invitation to participate in the 2020 U.S. Census. And for the first time, it’s possible to respond to the census over the internet.

The economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic is being felt by industries and businesses in Chicago and across Illinois, from large hotel chains and restaurants to independent movie theaters and music venues.