Stories by Heather Cherone

Just 3.5% of the approximately 5,500 residential search warrants served by Chicago police officers between 2017 and 2020 targeted white Chicagoans, according to a new report from the inspector general’s office.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who campaigned on a promise to root out corruption in City Hall, has repeatedly called for Ald. Ed Burke, the other indicted member of the Chicago City Council, to step down. But on Wednesday she stopped short of calling on the 11th Ward alderman to resign.

The former 22nd Ward alderman pleaded not guilty Wednesday after being indicted on charges that he drained more than $38,000 from the bank account of the City Council’s Progressive Reform Caucus and used those funds to pay for trips, jewelry, iPhones and tickets to sporting events.

As the COVID-19 pandemic eases, a plan takes shape for a number of Chicago events this summer and fall, the “latest step in our mission to fully restore a sense of normalcy within our city,” Mayor Lori Lightfoot said.

The 113th edition of the Chicago Auto Show will be the first convention to return to Chicago since the pandemic began in March 2020, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Tuesday, and it marks a major step toward normalcy after a harrowing year.

Concerned that a surge in violence that begin in 2020 will turn into a bloody summer, aldermen urged city officials to spend the city’s $1.9 billion share of the latest federal COVID-19 relief package on efforts to stop shootings and murders by funding mental health services and job programs.

The Hoosier State is the only state to be added to the most restrictive level of city’s COVID-19 travel order, which was updated Tuesday.

Renaming 17 miles of Lake Shore Drive for Jean Baptiste Point DuSable, Chicago’s first permanent non-Indigenous settler, would be a massive undertaking without precedent in the city’s history, city officials told aldermen Thursday.

The next round of grants, set to open this month, could provide residents with 15 months of rental assistance to cover past-due rent from the previous 12 months and three additional months.

In all, 2,069 cases involving the variant, known as B.1.1.7, have been found in samples of COVID-19 positive tests from Illinois since Jan. 15, officials said.

For the first time in 30 years, the city is soliciting new proposals for its electric utility. It is a clear indication that the city’s relationship with the scandal-plagued utility is at an all-time low and perhaps nearing the breaking point.

The former 22nd Ward alderman was indicted Thursday for draining the bank account of the City Council’s Progressive Reform Caucus and using those funds to pay for trips, jewelry, iPhones and tickets to sporting events.

The grandson of former Mayor Richard J. Daley, who has served as the 11th Ward alderman since 2015, was indicted Thursday on seven charges that he lied to federal bank regulators and filed false tax returns in connection with a federal probe of a Bridgeport bank that failed in 2017.

There is evidence that officers committed dozens of acts of misconduct during the botched raid of Anjanette Young’s home in February 2019, leaders of the city agency responsible for investigating misconduct by members of the Chicago Police Department announced Thursday.

The United Center will be allowed to operate at 25% of its normal capacity, allowing fans of the Chicago Blackhawks and Chicago Bulls to cheer on the teams in person.

An effort to test whether the city’s affordable housing crisis can be eased by permitting basement, attic and coach house dwellings in five areas of the city will start Saturday, ending a 64-year ban on tiny homes in Chicago.

Chicagoans who are vaccinated against COVID-19 could get a “Vax Pass” allowing them to attend summer events and concerts like Lollapalooza, Chicago’s top doctor said Tuesday.

Eight weeks after federal and state officials opened a COVID-19 mass vaccination site at the United Center, it will close to first-dose walk-in appointments on May 11, Chicago’s top doctor announced Tuesday.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot has long complained about the flow of illegal guns into Chicago from Indiana, where gun control laws are much more relaxed than they are in Illinois.

Illinois has now lost a seat in the U.S. House after the past three census counts. The results of the 2020 census continue the steady decline of Illinois’s clout in Washington, D.C., since the size of its House delegation peaked at 27 seats in 1943. In 2022, there will be 17.

Work is underway on a yearslong effort to repair Chicago’s crumbling streets, sidewalks, bridges and shoreline with billions of dollars of borrowed money, Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced Monday. 

Plans to expand a medical marijuana dispensary on Chicago’s Far Northwest Side are on hold after members of the City Council’s Black Caucus blocked them from advancing over concerns that none of its owners are Black or Latino.

The Illinois Department of Public Health, the Chicago Department of Public Health and the Cook County Department of Public Health restarted administering the Johnson & Johnson vaccine on Saturday, as officials said it is safe and effective.

A permanent casino could open as soon as 2025 in Chicago, although slot machines could start ringing at O’Hare and Midway airports much sooner — with tentative plans for a temporary gaming palace also in play. 

Since Jan. 15, nearly 1,300 cases involving the variant, known as B.1.1.7, have been found in samples of COVID-19 positive tests from Illinois, officials said. 

Large-scale protests and unrest failed to materialize after former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin was convicted of murdering George Floyd.