The coronavirus pandemic has made internet access more essential than ever as people work and learn from home. But not everyone has a device to connect to the web — or internet access itself.

Congressional negotiators closed in Wednesday on a $900 billion COVID-19 relief package that would deliver additional “paycheck protection” subsidies to businesses, $300 per week jobless checks, and $600 or so stimulus payments to most Americans.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot introduced a measure Wednesday to expand protections for immigrants by blocking Chicago Police from cooperating with federal immigration agents.

CPS CEO Janice Jackson and school leaders say 77,343 students plan to return to schools beginning in January and February 2021. That’s about about 37% of eligible pre-K through eighth grade students.

Watch the Dec. 16, 2020 full episode of “Chicago Tonight.”

President-elect Joe Biden is set to introduce former presidential rival Pete Buttigieg on Wednesday as his nominee for transportation secretary. The 38-year-old former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, would also be the first openly gay person confirmed by the Senate to a Cabinet post. 

During the winter holidays, the demand on food pantries spikes, and this year, the COVID-19 pandemic has already exacerbated hunger around the U.S. How food pantries are keeping their clients and volunteers safe.

A nonprofit on Chicago’s Lower West Side is getting creative this holiday season. We check out the 2020 Pilsen Christmas Window Walk.

He is a crafty artist who uses a gas-powered paintbrush and tree trunks as his canvas. Meet Eric Widitz, a Chicago-area entrepreneur who has been using chainsaws to make wood sculptures for nearly 40 years.

A recent investigation finds immigrant teenagers are illegally employed working night shifts in suburban factories. ProPublica reporter Melissa Sanchez joins us with the story.

Aldermen on Tuesday advanced a scaled-back effort to test whether Chicago’s affordable housing crisis could be eased by permitting basement, attic and coach house dwellings in five areas of the city.

Facing a nearly $4 billion budget hole, Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Tuesday outlined millions in cuts that he called a “first step” toward balancing the state’s budget.

Travelers coming to Chicago from nearly every U.S. state, plus Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia, must quarantine for 10 days or record a negative test for COVID-19, Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s office announced Tuesday.

The unanimous opinion issued Monday is the first public enforcement of rules governing the use of social media by elected officials in Chicago. In keeping with the ethics board’s rules, the official was not named.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says the monarch butterfly warrants inclusion on the endangered species list but due to a lack of resources is being wait-listed behind higher-priority plants and animals.