Stories by Heather Cherone

Starting Friday, Chicago residents older than 16 can simply show up at one of the city’s mass vaccination sites for a shot — no appointment necessary, Chicago’s top doctor announced Thursday. “If you want a vaccine in Chicago, you can absolutely get one,” she said. “You can get one today. No excuses.” 

Federal prosecutors defended their decision to hit Ald. Ed Burke (14th Ward) with a 14-count corruption indictment in a court filing released Wednesday, saying Chicago’s longest-serving aldermen is “thoroughly corrupt and worthy of prosecution.”

The 42-8 vote was a victory for Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who promised during the campaign to overhaul the city’s laws to reduce the affordable housing gap of nearly 120,000 homes in Chicago. 

Four aldermen say the guilty verdicts will likely avert large protests and civil unrest in Chicago — while acknowledging they have much more work to do to reform the Chicago Police Department, particularly in the wake of the police shooting death of 13-year-old Adam Toledo.

Aldermen on Tuesday advanced a plan designed to boost the number of affordable homes across Chicago by requiring developers that get special permission from the city or a subsidy to build more units and pay higher fees.

“We need to send out the alarm to everyone that make sure that Black South Siders understand: You must get the vaccine. It is safe,” Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Tuesday after touring the city’s mass vaccination site at Chicago State University.

Visitors to Chicago from Wisconsin no longer have to quarantine for 10 days or record a negative test for COVID-19, city officials announced Tuesday, but Indiana could be added in two weeks.

Chicago is prepared to handle protests and unrest that might be triggered by the verdict in the trial of Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer charged with murder in the death of George Floyd, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Tuesday. “Don’t test us, because we are ready,” she said.

As Chicago reeled — again — from the police killing of a teenager recorded on video, Inspector General Joseph Ferguson offered aldermen a way to reverse what he called the city’s “long history” of covering up police misconduct. “We are out of runway with respect to the public’s patience and beliefs that we care to reform,” he said.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced he has activated the Illinois National Guard at the request of Mayor Lori Lightfoot “to support the Chicago Police Department with a verdict expected in the trial of Derek Chauvin,” the former Minneapolis police officer charged in connection with the death of George Floyd.

The proposal authored by Ald. Gilbert Villegas (36th Ward) would send 5,000 families $500 per month for a year as part of an effort to study whether a universal basic income could help Chicagoans recover from the economic catastrophe of the coronavirus pandemic and fight poverty.

The expansion of vaccine eligibility to any Chicago adult regardless of their age, health or employment comes a week after Gov. J.B. Pritzker ordered restrictions lifted on the state’s supply of vaccine from the federal government. Supplies of the Moderna and Pfizer vaccine are still limited, however.

The finding by the inspector general is the second time in recent months that Ferguson has detailed misconduct within Chicago Animal Care and Control.

The inspector general released an audit earlier this week that found that the department’s rules designed to prevent discrimination and sexual harassment are “insufficient.” 

In all, 888 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. 

Mayor Lori Lightfoot pleaded for calm Thursday, hours before city officials released body camera footage showing the police shooting of 13-year-old Adam Toledo in Little Village. Lightfoot said Toledo did not shoot at police, but she declined to discuss the details of what the videos show in advance of their release. 

Mayor Lori Lightfoot wants to set aside about half of the $1.9 billion the city of Chicago expects to get from the American Rescue Plan signed by President Joe Biden in March to cancel high-interest debt.  

Nearly five years after former President Barack Obama picked Jackson Park for his presidential library, Chicago and Illinois leaders celebrated as work finally began to transform the historic South Side park. A formal groundbreaking is expected in the fall.

Policies governing the Chicago Fire Department—which is 90% male and 66% white—may comply with federal, state and local laws but they “are insufficient,” according to an audit released Wednesday by Inspector General Joseph Ferguson.

Health officials said they were acting “out of an abundance of caution” following six cases of a rare and severe type of blood clot in individuals who got the one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

With tens of thousands of Chicagoans working from home for the first time and thousands more becoming entrepreneurs because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the City Council is poised to ease the rules governing the operation of home businesses.

Chicago employers would be required to give workers time off to get vaccinated against COVID-19 under a proposal advanced Tuesday by aldermen. Firms that violate the measure could face fines ranging from $1,000 to $5,000.

One year ago, crews imploded the smokestack at the defunct Crawford coal plant, sending a plume of dust over Little Village but illuminating the impact that toxic air pollution caused by industrial operations has had on South and West side neighborhoods for decades.

The board reduced the fine it levied against Ald. Carrie Austin (34th Ward) by more than 96% after considering “after considering the equities of the situation," officials said.

Determined to close a loophole in a seven-year-old city law, aldermen advanced a measure Monday that would ban pet stores from selling dogs, cats and rabbits at a profit.

The expansion of vaccine eligibility to any Illinois adult regardless of their age, health or employment does not include the city of Chicago. However, Chicagoans can travel outside of the city to be vaccinated, officials said, though supplies are still limited.