Stories by Kristen Thometz

The older brother of Mayor Rahm Emanuel spoke about the “tremendous impact” of the Affordable Care Act and related topics at a conference in Chicago on Thursday.

Watch the Oct. 17, 2018 full episode of “Chicago Tonight.”

With her force-of-nature personality, powerhouse voice and galvanic emotional range, E. Faye Butler was clearly was born to play Mama Rose.

A Halloween parade, costumed canines, a zombie apocalypse and international films usher in the weekend. Here are 10 things to do in and around Chicago.

You may know it as bocce ball, bocci or bocce. But however you say it (or spell it) this ancient Italian sport is gaining in popularity with U.S. players. We visit north suburban Highwood for a look – and a lesson.

A new survey finds Americans are optimistic about manufacturing. But with a looming trade war and uncertainty over a new deal with Canada and Mexico, there’s still some concern for the future.

From Thursday through Sunday, volunteers who help transcribe labels from the museum’s massive collection of physical specimens get free admission for the day and a behind-the-scenes tour.

A first-of-its-kind program in Illinois allows inmates to earn college credits and liberal arts degrees inside the maximum-security prison some 40 miles from Chicago.

Ten minority staffers working for J.B. Pritzker’s gubernatorial campaign have filed suit in federal court for racial discrimination and harassment, alleging they were subject to less favorable treatment than their white counterparts.

How has covering the White House changed under President Donald Trump? We talk with Judy Woodruff of the “PBS NewsHour.”

Watch the Oct. 16, 2018 full episode of “Chicago Tonight.”

A 10th case of a polio-like illness is diagnosed in Illinois. We discuss acute flaccid myelitis – and what parents should be on the lookout for – with Dr. Nirav Shah of the Illinois Department of Public Health.

A market that has grown used to cheap money over the past decade is becoming increasingly concerned that the Federal Reserve will aggressively raise benchmark interest rates.

Their effectiveness can’t be judged by their size: We visit the Barrington nonprofit Mane in Heaven to discover the therapeutic mission of these miniature horses.

Geoffrey Baer takes a peek at a 1930s burlesque-style show and remembers the Chicago Daily News sporting events of yesteryear in this encore edition of Ask Geoffrey.

A Chicago apartment building from the 1920s has been radically reimagined. It is now an unusual art gallery designed by a world-renowned architect. 

New video shows an off-duty Chicago police officer shooting and wounding an unarmed, developmentally disabled teen as he stood outside a Far South Side home late last summer.

J.B. Pritzker is on track to spend his entire 2017 income on his gubernatorial campaign, while Bruce Rauner has spent roughly half his annual income on the race, tax forms show.

More than two decades after first being accused of sexual abuse, a longtime Chicago-area gymnastics coach was arrested Monday on charges of sexually assaulting at least one teenage girl who trained with him in the far southwest suburbs. 

A common but preventable gum infection may facilitate the onset of Alzheimer’s disease, according to a new study by the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Watch the Oct. 15, 2018 full episode of “Chicago Tonight.”

In his final budget before leaving office, Mayor Rahm Emanuel is promising no major tax or fee increases, but there are significant new costs. How will they be paid for?

Bradley Tusk served as deputy governor under Rod Blagojevich. Now he advises tech startups. What it was like working for the now-imprisoned former governor.

Could profits from public assets like Midway Airport help fund Chicago’s pensions? The former mayor of Highland Park thinks so.

A recent study shows two-thirds of millennials in the U.S. have not heard of Auschwitz. A priest and a holocaust survivor are trying to change that. 

Visitors to the Field Museum this fall will have a chance to soak up Chicago’s rich beer history, with a focus on the immigrant communities that established the city’s first breweries.