Chicago’s top doc on upping the vaccine booster rate. Why Mayor Lori Lightfoot is sitting on federal COVID relief money. A look at why Cook County Forest Preserves is asking voters for a small tax hike. And Hedy Weiss reviews new productions.

The tunnel of gory scenes snaking through the northwest side church basement is one of, if not the, longest-running haunted house experiences in Chicago. What began in 1979 with just a few classic horror characters in the St. Pascal’s boiler room has transmogrified into a 15-minute tour of terror run entirely by volunteers in support of the parish school.

Hedy Weiss joins “Chicago Tonight” to preview a new program from Joffrey Ballet, Goodman Theater’s production of “Swing Stat” and to recap the Joseph Jefferson Awards. 

Reuben Jonathan Miller, a sociologist, criminologist and social worker, whose work studies the long-term impacts of incarceration on individuals and their families, was awarded a MacArthur fellowship. 

Chicago Department of Public Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady said COVID hospitalizations remain a point of some concern in the city.

For the eighth year in a row, Chicago reigns supreme over Orkin’s Rattiest Cities list, but not everyone is convinced the city deserves the dubious distinction.

The FBI labeled the Proud Boys as an antisemitic white supremacy organization and several current and former members of the Proud Boys have been charged with seditious conspiracy for their role in the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection.

It's rare when newspaper editorial boards and fiscal watchdog groups recommend that residents vote to increase their property taxes. But that's exactly the case as Cook County voters face a binding question on their election ballot: Do you want to pay a little more to help fund the Cook County Forest Preserves?

A love affair between two artists who share a gift for letter-writing. And then a wonderfully devised celebration of Broadway classics. Talk about a study in contrasts. You could not have found a more ideal example of just such a pairing of personalities and styles than the unusual concert performed last week on the Lyric Opera stage by the golden-voiced soprano Renee Fleming and baritone Rod Gilfry, both of whom can shift easily between opera and musical theater.

Derrel McDavid on Monday filed an 18-page motion through his attorneys seeking a court order that would grant him the fees following what his attorneys called a “vexatious, frivolous, and bad faith” prosecution.

Gig workers like ride-hailing drivers and delivery people are a key part of the modern U.S. economy. Most of those workers are contracted, and therefore not considered full employees with all the benefits included.

A 66-year-old man — identified through Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office records at Salim Khamo — was killed after he was shot once in the chest inside a store in the 6300 block of North Western Avenue.

Meltwater carries dissolved road salt into streams and rivers, which can cause salinity to spike to deadly concentrations for freshwater fish and other wildlife. 

One year after the Chicago City Council approved what Lightfoot calls the Chicago Recovery Plan, city officials have spent just $130.5 million of the $1.227 billion earmarked for a host of programs including affordable housing, mental health, violence prevention, youth job programs and help for unhoused Chicagoans, according to data released as part of the mayor’s 2023 budget proposal.

One-on-one with Sen. Dick Durbin ahead of crucial midterms. Where to vote early in Chicago. Could gig workers become full-time employees? Two downtown high rises hit the market. And a new local art exhibit.