Luft Balloons is bringing smiles, the best medicine, to front-line hospital workers, with massive helium-filled displays of gratitude.

The news is increasing familiar, yet heartbreaking. In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, yet another much-beloved live music series is being silenced this summer. 

“We know physicians find it very difficult to ask for help,” said Dr. Smita Gautam, co-founder of the Physician Support Line, a free, national and confidential support line. “We’re here for you, and you deserve this help.”

Watch the May 4, 2020 full episode of “Chicago Tonight.”

Italy started stirring Monday, with millions of people allowed to return to work as Europe's longest coronavirus lockdown started to ease, while the U.S. took halting steps to lift some restrictions even as tens of thousands of new cases were reported every day.

The lawsuits say students should pay lower rates for the portion of the term that was offered online, arguing that the quality of instruction is far below the classroom experience. Colleges, though, reject the idea that refunds are in order. 

The ruling came hours after the pastor behind a lawsuit targeting Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s executive order led dozens of worshipers through a Sunday morning service at The Beloved Church in Lena.

Flowers are sprouting and migrating birds are overhead, but even as nature is doing its thing, the coronavirus pandemic has put a dent in a traditional spring rite of passage: graduation.

Illinois labs ran 19,417 coronavirus tests during a 24-hour period from Saturday to Sunday – a state record that nearly doubles the 10,000 per day goal Gov. J.B. Pritzker set in early April that took nearly all of last month to reach.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker says he’s grateful for the 600,000 swabs Illinois will receive from the federal government, but that the Trump administration should have done more — and still can — to help Illinois and other states.

The Migration Policy Institute found that 20% of the U.S. workers in vulnerable industries facing layoffs are immigrants, even though they only make up 17% of the civilian workforce. 

With coronavirus restrictions dragging on, interest in bird-watching has soared as bored Americans notice a fascinating world just outside their windows. 

The governor’s latest stay-at-home order will expire at the end of May. But Mayor Lori Lightfoot did not take the possibility of an extension off the table. “We’re going to stay in the status quo as long as we need to,” she said. 

“Don’t make us treat you like a criminal,” Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Saturday, “but if you act like a criminal and you violate the law and you refuse to do what is necessary to save lives in this city during a pandemic we will take you to jail, period.”

The steady rise of cases is “really is a function of doing more tests,” Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Saturday as labs processed 15,208 specimens in a single day – more than double the tests that were being processed a month ago.