Stories by Kristen Thometz

Burgers, country music and secret gardens usher in the weekend. Here are 10 things to do in and around Chicago.

“When parents are incarcerated, children are serving a life sentence as well, and unfortunately, it shows up in their health behaviors,” said Dr. Nia Heard-Garris, a pediatrician and lead author of the study.

Watch the July 10, 2018 full episode of “Chicago Tonight.”

A video shot in a Cook County forest preserve has caught fire on social media and is prompting blowback from county officials on both sides of the aisle.

After nearly half a century of answering questions ranging from the trivial to the technical to the taboo, the Chicago Reader’s informative and irreverent weekly column has ended.

The city’s mega-food fest returns to Grant Park. We get a preview of the Taste of Chicago.

Organic gardener Jeanne Nolan stops by our organic vegetable garden, where we’ve already begun to harvest some of our early starters.

Three-quarters of Cook County residents familiar with the high-profile case believe suspended police Officer Jason Van Dyke is guilty, according to a survey conducted on behalf of the defense.

The battle has just begun over President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee to replace Justice Anthony Kennedy.

New analysis of a child’s foot from an ancient fossil shows that human ancestors had adaptations that allowed them to climb trees, similar to their apelike cousins.

What is most impressive about this romantic comedy, the first work to be produced in Folks Operetta’s “Reclaimed Voices” series, is the exceptional beauty of the voices in the show’s large cast, and the performers’ comic swagger.

A Chicago-area native talks about efforts led by a hospital ship to provide free surgeries to patients in West Africa and Central Africa.

What viewers had to say about Saturday’s anti-violence march on the Dan Ryan Expressway.

The governor’s solution to violence touches on a common theme: reducing burdens on businesses and lowering property taxes, which he says will grow economic opportunities and jobs.

Their recovery has been a national concern for decades. What’s happening locally in the effort to save the Mexican wolf.

Watch the July 9, 2018 full episode of “Chicago Tonight.”

In its investigative series “Driven Into Debt,” ProPublica Illinois and WBEZ found Chicago has issued 20,000 duplicate tickets since 2007. We speak with the reporters who broke the story.

We visit a local nonprofit that offers free scuba training to adults and children with special needs.

The Rev. Michael Pfleger says the response to Saturday’s massive anti-violence march has been extremely positive, calling the protest “a huge success.” What his follow-up plan is.

A new transportation and logistics hub is expected to bring about 2,000 jobs to Chicago’s Southeast Side, but some area activists are taking issue with the way the project was introduced.

Director Diane Paulus taps into the pain and high comedy of the story, but Chicago’s Cadillac Palace Theatre is far too big a venue for this essentially intimate show.

The president is expected to announce his pick to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy on Monday night.

The elaborately produced 75-minute show has all the energy and magic necessary to keep young audiences engaged. At the same time, the adult aspects of the story emerge with particular force and clarity.

A controversial plan for an anti-violence march along a portion of the Dan Ryan Expressway got a green light Saturday from the Illinois State Police.

Despite the growing number of farmers markets in Illinois and across the U.S., a number of reports in recent years show that sales across the country are down. How markets are adapting to reach today’s consumers.

The school district says this will be its largest capital spending plan in more than two decades. But the Chicago Teachers Union believes it’s a “hollow and dishonest” election-year stunt by Mayor Rahm Emanuel.