Stories by Erica Gunderson

The owner of Gerri’s Palm Tavern appeared in a few WTTW features over the years, including a 1987 special about 47th Street called “Precious Memories.” We revisit that conversation.

Starting a new job is always demanding, but when that job is university president and the year is 2020, it comes with a few extra challenges. We check in with Cheryl Green, the new president of Governors State University.

A vaccine is on the way, but it will likely be months before it is widely available. That means masks and social distancing protocols will need to remain in place, the governor said this week.

The nation’s first COVID-19 vaccine will begin arriving in states Monday morning, U.S. officials said Saturday, after the government gave the final go-ahead to the shots needed to end an outbreak that has killed nearly 300,000 Americans.

This summer, tensions between Black and Latino Chicagoans threatened to explode into violence before activists restored peace, but the incident underlined the sometimes uneasy history between our city’s Black and Latino communities.

The uneasy history between Chicago’s Black and Brown communities. Fighting the stigma of food insecurity. The origins of La Guadalupana. And the Latino takeover at the Lyric Opera of Chicago.

The U.S. gave the final go-ahead Friday to the nation’s first COVID-19 vaccine, marking what could be the beginning of the end of an outbreak that has killed nearly 300,000 Americans. 

Doctors and nurses around the U.S. are becoming exhausted and demoralized as they struggle to cope with a record-breaking surge of COVID-19 patients that is overwhelming hospitals and prompting governors to clamp back down to contain the virus.

The Supreme Court has rejected a lawsuit backed by President Trump to overturn Joe Biden’s election victory, ending a desperate attempt to get legal issues rejected by state and federal judges before the nation’s highest court.

The White House pressures the FDA to grant emergency authorization for Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine, as the virus kills more than 14,000 people in Illinois. 

“Cheer” star Jerry Harris has been indicted on new charges that allege he solicited sex from minors at cheerleading competitions and convinced teenage boys to send him obscene photographs and videos of themselves.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced Friday that Illinois’ ban on evictions caused by the coronavirus pandemic would be extended until Jan. 11 amid a sustained second surge of COVID-19 cases.

President Donald Trump has been pressing for quick approval for the vaccine and tweeted directly at Hahn earlier Friday, complaining that FDA “is still a big, old, slow turtle.” Trump has publicly bashed the pace of the FDA’s vaccine review process.

More than 1,000 Illinoisans have died of the coronavirus this week alone, during a time in which the U.S. has repeatedly set single-day records for COVID-19 fatalities.

Across the country, contact tracers and emergency room doctors are hearing repeatedly from new coronavirus patients that they socialized over Thanksgiving with people outside their households.

Incorporating pollinator habitat into large-scale solar installations makes sense for wildlife, but what about the bottom line? Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago aim to answer that question.

Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin is poised to become the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, making him a key ally of Joe Biden as the president-elect navigates an increasingly partisan climate and some of the most contentious policy areas in Congress. 

New data shows Chicagoans took approximately 640,000 rides on electric scooters during a four-month second trial run. That represents a significant decline from the initial test of the scooters in Chicago between June and July 2019.

Fly dumping, or the illegal dumping of waste, was already a problem at the preserves, but it’s gotten worse in 2020, according to officials.

“Many employees have told us they do not feel safe, nor do they feel the branches are safe for patrons, given the city's current positivity rate,” said Anders Lindall, a spokesman for AFSCME Council 31, which represents about 900 library employees.

Pilsen has long been an enclave for immigrants, and right now, it’s a community with many residents who are struggling because of the coronavirus. 

Former Bears offensive lineman James “Big Cat” Williams previews the Bears matchup Sunday against the Texans.

Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccines are expected to ship to Illinois and the rest of the country as soon as this weekend, with much of that shipment being stored in Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin.

Shots could begin within days, depending on how quickly the Food and Drug Administration signs off, as expected, on the expert committee’s recommendation.

Geoffrey Baer has the story of a famous wagon supply company once based in Chicago. 

“We’ve come very far,” Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike said Thursday. “Let’s keep going and let’s get everybody to the end of this marathon and get back to normal altogether."