A spacecraft designed by an Illinois researcher and professor will orbit Earth’s outermost atmospheric layer to better understand powerful bursts of radiation from the sun, also known as solar flares. Lara Waldrop tells us more.

Representatives of a Portage Park high school on Tuesday unanimously approved a measure saying students and staff will not be allowed into the building following winter break “until it is safe to return to in-person learning.”

The resignation was announced 3 1/2 years after Randy Conner took the top job amid a furor caused by the city watchdog’s determination that the Department of Water Management was rife with “overtly racist and sexist behavior and attitudes.” 

Disposable mask dispensers are being installed on 200 buses serving 20 routes, including the No. 56 Milwaukee, No. 91 Austin and No. 77 Belmont. If successful, the program will expand to all bus routes, as well as to rail stations, the CTA said.

Chicago Public Schools on Tuesday announced that 5,833 of its 7,002 pre-K and cluster program staff members will be heading back to schools when in-person learning resumes for those students on Jan. 11.

Travelers from the Badger State can avoid the 10-day quarantine if they record a negative test for COVID-19 within 72 hours, according to the city’s COVID-19 travel order.

As part of the city’s campaign to convince those skeptical about the coronavirus vaccine to get inoculated, Dr. Allison Arwady, the commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health, got the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine at the new clinic.

Watch the Dec. 29, 2020 full episode of “Chicago Tonight.”

The police department late Monday issued a community alert seeking information about the Dec. 23 incident that resulted in the deaths of Araceli Gutierrez and 12-year-old Giovanne Bucio in the Gage Park neighborhood.

Beginning late Tuesday afternoon, a mix of snow that could be heavy at times and freezing rain will descend on the Chicago area, according to the National Weather Service.

Illinois’ recreational marijuana program was set up to right the wrongs of a war on drugs by giving a leg up to those from disadvantaged communities or who had been punished for low-level drug crimes. But nearly a year later, social equity applicants remain locked out.

Success rates for organ transplantation have grown through the years, but disparities impacting communities of color remain. A Northwestern Medicine transplant surgeon is providing care curated specifically for the Latino community.

An attorney for a U.S. Army special forces sergeant arrested in what authorities called an apparently random shooting at an Illinois bowling alley that left three people dead said client may suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder. 

Theater in Chicago shut down in March and won’t be returning anytime soon. A new effort is a reminder of the ongoing support that exists within the theater community.