Stories by Brandis Friedman

Chicago Public Schools says it will recommend a merger of two Near North Side elementary schools after an 18-month review process fueled largely by community members.

More details emerge about alleged gun dealing, racist and sexist behavior by a politically connected subordinate at the city’s Department of Water Management.

Hear what viewers had to say about our discussion of whether or not hate crimes are on the rise.

Watch the May 15, 2017 full episode of "Chicago Tonight."

A new chapter in Chicago’s cultural offerings begins this week.

The latest on one of the world’s most extensive cyberattacks ever.

Seventy-eight percent of Americans think a special prosecutor should be appointed to investigate Russian meddling in the U.S. election, according to a new NBC-Wall Street Journal survey.

The monarch butterfly’s remarkable migration is in peril. Its habitat has been decimated by rapid urbanization and changing agricultural practices. Could cities come to the rescue?

They can play blackjack, dance and climb walls. The Museum of Science and Industry brings back its interactive exhibition – with a few new additions.

More than 5,000 conversations across the Chicago area are set to take place Tuesday as part of the Chicago Community Trust’s annual On the Table initiative.

Tweaking Illinois' landmark energy bill would trigger more than $2 billion in wind farm construction, a state senator says. 

Students at James Madison Elementary may be a few years away from entering the workforce full time, but that isn’t stopping them from getting a leg up on the interviewing process.

Leaving segregated neighborhoods reduces blood pressure in African-Americans, according to the findings of a 25-year longitudinal study.

Starting next week, the Lakefront Trail will be closed between Diversey and North avenues as the project to separate the bike and pedestrian paths continues.

Each year 60 million Americans experience heartburn. A nonprofit now hopes stronger labeling on over-the-counter medicines for heartburn will increase awareness of its association with esophageal cancer.

Cook County's affordable housing supply has not kept up with demand, according to a report issued by the Institute for Housing Studies at DePaul University.

As the city and Chicago Public Schools scramble to find funding to keep classrooms open through the end of the school year, the Chicago Teachers Union is taking up a staff-wide referendum vote of no confidence in district CEO Forrest Claypool.

The city’s top watchdog is coming back for another four-year term, Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced Friday.

A first-of-its-kind study shows that forests in Chicago face significant threats from climate change, with native trees especially vulnerable to increases in temperature, precipitation and other changes.

President Trump fires the FBI director investigating his connections to Russia. Lawmakers put Gov. Rauner in a bind on the “abortion bill.” And the Cubs early season struggles continue.

Watch the May 11, 2017 full episode of "Chicago Tonight."

Cook County has approved hundreds of low-dollar legal settlements in connection with conditions at the Cook County Jail.

Chicago Police Board President Lori Lightfoot talks about misconduct findings against all 15 officers who faced discipline last year.

Legislation proposed this week in the Illinois Senate would require electronics manufacturers to pay for permanent recycling drop-off sites set up by counties.

The Chicago Police Department documented 72 hate crimes in 2016 – a 20-percent spike compared to 2015. That increase falls in line with hate crime upticks in other large U.S. cities, like New York City, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.

How young is too young for a student to be expelled from school? A new bill going through the state Legislature would keep preschoolers from being kicked out of class.