Stories by Heather Cherone

After 85 days, limited indoor dining and drinking can resume in Chicago and suburban Cook County on Saturday, officials with the Illinois Department of Public Health announced. But the long-awaited news came with a warning.

Members of the Chicago City Council are deeply split on how to stop a barrage of carjackings that has Chicagoans throughout the city terrified to leave their houses for fear of becoming the latest victim.

Limited indoor dining and drinking is set to resume in Chicago and suburban Cook County on Saturday under Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s revised plan to slow the spread of COVID-19, according to data released Friday by the Illinois Department of Public Health.

Limited indoor dining and drinking is set to resume in Chicago under Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s revised plan to slow the spread of COVID-19, according to data released Thursday by the Illinois Department of Public Health.

Since March, city inspectors have conducted more than 8,000 investigations and cited 416 businesses for violating COVID-19 regulations, officials said.

“My word for you is patience,” Dr. Allison Arwady, the commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health, said Thursday. “I know a lot of you will be frustrated.”

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot praised President Joe Biden’s inaugural address Wednesday, telling WTTW News she was “grateful” to hear him deliver a soaring defense of democracy two weeks after supporters of former President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol.

The mayor on Wednesday updated the order for the fourth time to allow it to expire at 12:01 a.m. Friday. Meanwhile, the city is poised to meet state requirements to move from what officials call Tier 2 to Tier 1 on Thursday.

Inspector General Joseph Ferguson announced Wednesday that his probe of the botched raid in February 2019 that left Anjanette Young handcuffed while naked and pleading for help would focus on “possible misconduct” by city officials.

The advisory, which has now been extended by the mayor three times, is scheduled to be in effect until two days before Chicago Public Schools elementary school students are scheduled to go back to in-person class.

City officials are taking precautions ahead of potential unrest, though they're not aware of any "actionable activity" being planned in Chicago on Inauguration Day.

Aldermen unanimously advanced a measure on Tuesday that would expand protections for immigrants by blocking Chicago police from cooperating with federal immigration agents in all cases.

City officials fired an employee of the Chicago Department of Transportation after he sent “unprovoked offensive, racist, harassing and violent” messages to a Chicagoan on Facebook during the protests sparked by the death of George Floyd in late May, according to a report from the city’s watchdog.

The city of Chicago’s tentative vaccine distribution plan estimates that there will not be enough COVID-19 vaccine available for all Chicagoans ages 16 and older until May 31, the city’s top doctor announced Monday.

City officials fired an animal care officer assigned to work at the city’s shelter after an investigation determined they sexually assaulted two co-workers while off-duty and outside of the office, according to a report from the city’s watchdog.

The city of Chicago will pay $115,000 to two Chicago men who alleged they were subjected to excessive force during the protests sparked by the death of George Floyd in late May, marking the first of what could be a costly wave of lawsuit settlements.

Chicago and suburban Cook, Lake, Kane, McHenry and DuPage counties moved Monday from Tier 3 to Tier 2 after the Illinois Department of Public Health launched a new plan to add hospital staff and beds where the need is greatest.

Aldermen are set to consider a revised proposal backed by Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Tuesday that would expand protections for immigrants by blocking Chicago police from cooperating with federal immigration agents.

The 21st Ward alderman sued the Chicago Board of Ethics after it unanimously found he had violated the city’s Ethics Ordinance by defending clients — including former Ald. Proco “Joe” Moreno — in criminal cases involving the Chicago Police Department.

Inspectors found the River North eatery to be in full compliance with COVID-19 regulations after a probe on Thursday, said Isaac Reichman, a spokesman for the Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection.

The effort to inoculate all 850,000 health care workers and long-term care facility residents in Illinois from COVID-19 will be “substantially complete” next week, Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced Friday.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Friday the toughest restrictions in place to stop the spread of the coronavirus will lift in three Illinois regions — but will stay in place in Chicago and suburban Cook County.

A variant of the coronavirus first discovered in the United Kingdom and believed to be more transmissible is present in Chicago, city health officials announced Friday.

Officers who lounged, slept and snacked in the burglarized South Side office of U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush in the early morning hours of June 1 as unrest swept the South and West sides of the city have been disciplined, the Chicago Police Department announced Thursday.

Drivers will get one written warning before they have to pay $35 to resolve the infraction after March 1, when the new law will take full effect, officials said.

No one was injured in the fire, which was caused when the restaurant’s fireplace damper malfunctioned around 9 p.m. Wednesday, said Liz Lombardo Stark, a spokesperson for the Rush Street landmark.