Stories by Hedy Weiss

Any description of Rajiv Joseph’s mini-play — the newest entry in Steppenwolf Theatre’s NOW series of virtual programming that runs about 11 minutes — might make it sound like just a quick virtual doodle. But it is much more than that.

Prosecutors asked a judge Wednesday for a new arrest warrant for an Illinois teen charged with shooting three people, killing two of them, during a protest over police brutality in Wisconsin after he apparently violated his bail conditions.

The Chicago Musical Pathways Initiative is preparing gifted students for higher education and careers in music — and debunking myths along the way.

In Illinois there are more than 1,400 laws regulating the lives of people who are formerly incarcerated. A new book by Reuben Jonathan Miller examines these laws and how they affect the lives of people with felonies once they are out of prison.

Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin on efforts to get President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 relief plan passed as Republicans decry a “partisan” approach from Democrats.

Chicago’s convention industry took a huge financial hit when COVID-19 shut down the city. McCormick Place, North America’s largest convention center, is looking to rebound this summer with dozens of events scheduled through the end of the year.

Watch the Feb. 3, 2021 full episode of “Chicago Tonight.”

Illinois legislators are now eligible to get the coronavirus vaccine as part of phase 1B, Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced Wednesday, but the governor says he’s going to wait his turn to be vaccinated.

Illinois health officials announced Wednesday that they are temporarily redirecting approximately 97,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses that have not yet been used in order to increase the limited supply of vaccine to those who are eligible under phase 1B.

The young readers edition is for ages 10 and up and includes a new introduction from Michelle Obama.

The Invisible Institute, a journalism nonprofit based on the city’s South Side, has published an online archive documenting former Chicago police Cmdr. Jon Burge’s "violence against more than 100 Black men, from the 1970s to the 1990s.”

Chicago Public Schools and Chicago Teachers Union negotiators spent Tuesday back at the bargaining table as they attempt to reach an agreement on how to reopen schools safely. Districts and teachers throughout the Chicago area have likewise worked to broker agreements, to varying degrees of success.

The first round of COVID-19 vaccination administration to skilled nursing homes in Illinois is complete, and assisted living sites are set to finish their first round by Feb. 15. We discuss the state of the pandemic in nursing homes.

The neighborhood has long been the epicenter of the city’s Puerto Rican community, but in recent years, fears of gentrification and displacement have grown — and in some cases, become reality. A new business incubator hopes to help change that. 

President Joe Biden told Republican senators during a two-hour meeting Monday night he’s unwilling to settle on an insufficient coronavirus aid package after they pitched their slimmed down $618 billion proposal that’s a fraction of the $1.9 trillion he is seeking.

The decision by city officials to cancel St. Patrick Day parades in 2020 was one of the first signs that COVID-19 was going to upend every aspect of normal life — and the fact that the parades will not take place this year is more evidence the pandemic is far from over.

After getting walloped by two big snowstorms, the area is now bracing for bitter cold later this week. We asked Argonne National Laboratory climate scientist Scott Collis what to expect, and what’s driving the arctic chill.

Inspectors found 26 people inside a Roseland storefront on Friday who had paid a cover charge in an establishment licensed only for tax preparation services, according to city officials. The illegal club featured a DJ and dancers — but no masks or social distancing, they said.

Ald. Gilbert Villegas (36th Ward) announced Tuesday he will no longer serve as Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s City Council floor leader, an indication that tensions between the mayor and a majority of the City Council remain high.

With the move to Phase 4, suburban Cook County joins Chicago under the lowest level of state-imposed restrictions since the beginning of October and before the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic swept the state.

Find out what the hit Netflix series gets right — and wrong — about gossip in the 1800s when Newberry Library scholars host a lighthearted virtual chat this week.

Pressure is building on school systems around the U.S. to reopen classrooms to students who have been learning online for nearly a year, pitting politicians against teachers who have yet to be vaccinated against COVID-19.

Watch the Feb. 2, 2021 full episode of “Chicago Tonight.”

The scheduler will include appointments at mass vaccination sites operated by the city as well as those offered by AMITA Health, Erie Family Health, Innovative Express Care and Rush University Medical Center.

Researchers said that based on a fall trial involving about 20,000 people in Russia, the vaccine is about 91% effective and appears to prevent inoculated individuals from becoming severely ill with COVID-19. But it is unclear if Sputnik V can stop transmission. 

It’s Groundhog Day. Will it be six more weeks of winter or an early spring?