Stories by Heather Cherone

Visitors from Wisconsin to Chicago will soon be required to quarantine for two weeks in an effort to stop the spread of the coronavirus, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Monday.

Chicagoans who lost their jobs or found their paychecks scaled back because of the coronavirus pandemic can apply for a second round of grants of up to $3,000 to help them pay their rent or mortgages.

City officials fined five businesses and shut down a Beverly bar for violating rules designed to slow the spread of the coronavirus, officials said Monday.

While some aldermen praised Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s decision to take down the statues of Christopher Columbus, others said Friday she should not have acted unilaterally in the middle of the night.

Even though the Obama Presidential Center has yet to receive final approval to break ground, Woodlawn’s real estate market is already bubbling, with the median sale price for single-family homes rising 90% from 2010 to 2019.

The three-week reprieve ordered by Gov. J.B. Pritzker allows state officials time to set up a program to distribute more than $300 million in help to landlords and tenants struggling to make ends meet during the coronavirus pandemic.

President Donald Trump will send “more than 100” federal agents to crack down on surging crime in Chicago — but will not order a Portland-style paramilitary strike force to patrol the city.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot has repeatedly said 30 days’ notice is not nearly enough time for a single person, let alone a family, to find a new place to live and move. Now, long-term renters will get more notice of an eviction without cause.

The Chicago Police Department can no longer impound cars that may have been used to commit a crime following a unanimous vote Wednesday to rein in the program in an effort to ease the debt burden imposed on low-income residents.

An effort by Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration to settle a lawsuit that sought to force the Chicago Police Department to turn over nearly five decades’ worth of secret files stalled Wednesday amid opposition from progressive aldermen.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot sought to calm fears Tuesday that the president plans to send 150 unidentified, secret federal agents to Chicago, saying she has been told it will not be a “Portland-style” deployment. “We do not welcome dictatorship,” she said. 

For the second week in a row, Mayor Lori Lightfoot expanded the city’s quarantine order. Starting Friday, visitors from Kansas will be required to quarantine for two weeks in effort to stop the spread of the coronavirus. 

Mayor Lori Lightfoot says President Donald Trump’s plan to send 150 federal agents to Chicago would do much more harm than good, warning the president in a letter Monday that agents would “foment a wave massive wave of opposition.”

Chicago voters will get a chance to weigh in on three issues of citywide concern during the Nov. 3 election — but they will not get a chance to have their say on the hot-button issues of police accountability or the sale of e-cigarettes.

Aldermen agreed on Monday to settle a class-action lawsuit that claimed the city’s impound program was unconstitutional, and made it impossible for Chicagoans to get their cars back after they were towed away.

Aldermen on Monday advanced an agreement to settle a lawsuit that sought to force the Chicago Police Department to turn over nearly five decades’ worth of secret files detailing allegations of misconduct by officers.

Chicago bars will no longer be able to serve customers indoors starting Friday as part of a rollback ordered by Mayor Lori Lightfoot following an increase in the number of coronavirus cases.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot vowed Friday to hold Commonwealth Edison to “account” for its conduct after the state’s largest utility agreed to pay a $200 million fine to resolve federal corruption charges stemming from a “yearslong bribery scheme.” 

Aldermen endorsed a measure Friday that would scale back the power of the Chicago Police Department to impound cars that may have been used to commit a crime, as city lawyers recommended officials settle a lawsuit claiming the program is unconstitutional.

With Illinois’ ban on evictions set to expire in two weeks, Gov. J.B. Pritzker is considering extending the coronavirus-spurred prohibition as state officials work to set up a program to distribute more than $300 million in help to landlords and tenants.

The city of Chicago should pay $500,000 to settle a lawsuit that sought to force the Chicago Police Department to turn over nearly five decades’ worth of secret files detailing allegations of misconduct by officers, city lawyers recommended.

The Chicago Cubs got the green light Thursday to play home games on weekend nights, the “extraordinary circumstances” imposed by the coronavirus pandemic breaking a decadeslong ban on games under lights on Fridays and Saturdays.

Inspector General Joseph Ferguson released a report Thursday that concluded Former Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson lied repeatedly about the incident and what happened afterward.

Aldermen advanced an agreement that will allow anonymous complaints against police sergeants, lieutenants and captains to be investigated, despite concerns that it does not go far enough to hold police brass accountable for misconduct.

Some 10,000 scooters will be scattered throughout Chicago when the city’s second pilot program starts next month. It’s designed to settle once and for all the question of whether scooters should be allowed on Chicago’s streets.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Wednesday delivered a blunt warning to young adults in Chicago: you are spreading the coronavirus, and threatening the tentative progress Chicago has made in fighting the pandemic.