Stories by Heather Cherone

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.

Chicago restaurants and bars have been prohibited from serving patrons indoors since Oct. 30, when a sustained and grave surge of coronavirus cases threatened to overwhelm the city and state’s hospitals and health care system.

New mass vaccination sites will open on Friday at Olive Harvey City College, on Tuesday at Kennedy-King City College and on Wednesday at Truman City College, officials announced.

A Chicago man has been charged in connection with the pro-Trump riot that swept the Capitol on Jan. 6 after he posted a picture on Instagram outside House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office with the caption “WHOS HOUSE? OUR HOUSE!”

City health officials will allow Chicagoans 65 and older to be vaccinated against COVID-19 starting next week — if there are doses available after health care workers and residents of long-term care facilities are vaccinated, the city’s top doctor told aldermen Wednesday.

Investigators with the city’s Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection conducted 105 investigations from Thursday through Sunday.

The fine, approved by an unanimous vote Monday, marks the first time the ethics board has levied the maximum fine allowed for violations of the city’s campaign finance law — three times the amount of the improper campaign contributions.

Under the new system, which will take effect Friday, a state will be placed in one of two categories — orange or yellow — based on whether it has more than 15 new COVID-19 cases per day, per 100,000 population, officials said.

Dozens of aldermen peppered school and health officials with questions Monday about the effort underway to reopen Chicago Public Schools for in-person learning after a 300-day closure prompted by the coronavirus pandemic.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Monday replaced the director of the Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs after a COVID-19 outbreak at the LaSalle Illinois Veterans Home was linked to the deaths of 36 veterans.

A resolution signed by 35 aldermen comes days after police union head John Catanzara praised the rioters who stormed and invaded the U.S. Capitol building.