Stories by Alexandra Silets

After 736 days, Illinois finally has a budget. But it’s not all good news: At the moment, funding is locked up for all of the state’s public schools. Will schools open on time?

For most of us, procrastination means periodically putting off tasks, but some people make delaying responsibilities a way of life. Meet a researcher who has studied procrastination for two decades.

The man who led the prosecution of Richard Speck for the brutal murder of eight Chicago nurses died Friday. We revisit last year’s interview with William Martin.

Four webbed-feet members of a rare and endangered duck species have a new home in Chicago.

We meet one of the curators of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C.

Thirty businesswomen from 27 African countries are traveling to Chicago this week to hone their entrepreneurial skills and make connections with their American counterparts.

First went the plastic bags, then the plastic straws. Now they’re coming for more. The Shedd Aquarium announces a new initiative to significantly reduce or eliminate the use of disposable plastic bottles by 2020.

Older adults who say their lives have meaning are more likely to get a good night’s sleep and less likely to suffer from sleep apnea and restless leg syndrome, according to a new study.

The Chicago Teachers Union claims Saucedo Academy teacher Sarah Chambers was suspended and later fired by the Board of Education in retalation for blowing the whistle on special education law violations.

A senior state transportation official allowed an unlicensed pilot to fly state helicopters multiple times over the course of nearly 10 years, according to a newly published report from the state’s top watchdog.

We toast the analytical chemist and former South Side resident by switching up the elements of a classic Manhattan.

Sepsis affects more than 1 million hospital patients each year in the U.S., but detecting it can take days. Now, scientists at the University of Illinois are developing a rapid test to detect the potentially deadly condition.

Lawmakers finally pass a budget, but Illinois bonds may still face a junk rating. Holiday weekend violence despite increased police presence. Can the underperforming Cubs right the World Series ship?

Researchers of demographic shifts in the Chicago region have some interesting takeaways following analysis of census data. One calls the findings “staggering.”

Some 87 people were shot and 15 killed over this year’s four-day holiday weekend, with the lion’s share coming on the Fourth of July.

Watch the July 6, 2017 full episode of "Chicago Tonight."

U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth says President Donald Trump is not behaving as the commander in chief of the United States military should and is ceding too much power to military commanders.

Illinois Senators discuss the newly passed budget and explain why they voted the way they did.

At long last, Illinois has a budget – its first in more than two years. And residents will be sending more of their paychecks to state government to help pay for it.

When a developer painted over a beloved and iconic mural on a shuttered Pilsen community center last month, the response was swift and strong.

In the late 1950s, the Chicago Defender and Pabst Brewing Company sponsored the Miss Wonderful 1958, an all African-American beauty contest. Meet Ernestine Terry, who was one of the contestants.

Life as an amphibian is no easy hop through the woods. Why Chicago scientists are measuring levels of cortisol (the stress hormone) in Lake County frogs.

A lawsuit alleges Secretary of Education Betsy Devos violated federal law and abandoned “critical federal protections” for students that were set to take effect this month.

As more cruises and kayaks join commercial barges on the river, some tour boat operators are concerned about safety. Learn the “rules of the road” for Chicago waterways.

For more than a decade, a network of nonprofit organizations has been addressing gang violence by hosting summer basketball games in neighborhoods across the city.

For 30 years, Paul Meincke covered local, national and international news for Chicago’s ABC7. Now, he’s in the midst of another adventure: a canoe trip along the length of the mighty Mississippi River. We check in via Skype.