Stories by Alexandra Silets

With one week to go on the fifth floor of City Hall, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel sat down with Paris Schutz to talk about anti-Semitism, his leadership style, the looming pension problem and his own transparency. 

Global markets slowed Monday, including the main U.S. indexes, as a trade war between the United States and China intensifies.

In partnership with local PBS news programs around the country, the second in our series looking at the legalization of marijuana in communities across the U.S.

At a time of Jim Crow laws, how did a black man compete to become the fastest athlete of his time? A new book by Michael Kranish tells the story a trailblazing cyclist and his connection to Chicago. 

In Illinois, African American women are six times as likely to die of pregnancy-related conditions than white women. A new initiative aims to close that gap in three Chicago communities, with the help of a $4.7 million grant.

The Trump administration has proposed $2.8 billion in cuts to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, including a decrease of more than $1.4 billion in funding for states. 

Watch the May 13, 2019 full episode of “Chicago Tonight.”

A number of extraordinary pianists have played on the Symphony Center stage during the past season or two. Sunday’s concert brought four encores, extended standing ovations and volcanic applause.

“Empire” will return for its final season this fall on Fox — with Jussie Smollett a question mark — and should count itself lucky.  Fox is hitting the reset button for the 2019-20 season by cancelling eight shows and adding 10 new ones.

The Doris Day Animal Foundation confirmed Doris Day died early Monday at her Carmel Valley, California, home. She was 97. 

To his supporters, Rahm Emanuel was the brash, bright, big-city mayor who unapologetically raised Chicago’s profile as a global city. To his critics, he was a heavy-handed, top-down leader. On Monday evening, the outgoing mayor joins us in discussion.

“Chicago Tonight” has won three prestigious Lisagor awards for the best in Chicago journalism, for the best in arts, education and government news.

A concert by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra featuring the transcendent Mitsuko Uchida. A visit by Maestro Riccardo Muti and several master musicians to a juvenile detention center. And a virtuosic chamber concert.

More than 100 people gathered Friday along a chain-link fence outside a badly damaged Illinois silicone factory to remember four men who died in an explosion at the facility.

Paris Schutz and guests discuss a state bill that would direct publicly traded companies in Illinois to boost their boardroom hiring of women and people of color.

Mayor-elect Lori Lightfoot visits Washington, D.C. Legalized pot and a progressive income tax face hurdles in Springfield. And Cubs fans boo the return of Addison Russell.

The new habitat will also bring a new pride of lions, with the zoo’s current group set to depart for a Kansas zoo in the coming weeks. 

Last year, about 5,400 detainees at Cook County Jail received treatment for opioid use – an average of 375-400 each month. The county will be able to expand its services for opioid use disorder, thanks to a new grant. 

Judge LeRoy Martin Jr. insisted Friday he was merely transferring the matter, not recusing himself. 

JoAnn Cunningham and Andrew Freund Sr. of Crystal Lake appeared in McHenry County court Friday, the day after a 30-page grand jury indictment was handed down in the case.

The Nation of Islam leader who was recently banned from Facebook spoke Thursday in a wide-ranging sermon that hit upon some of the anti-Semitic and black nationalist themes he has come to be known for.

How to raise children to be successful adults? That’s the million-dollar question for every parent. A new book by Joy Thomas Moore has some suggestions.

If the discovery is confirmed, it would be the first evidence that black holes and neutron stars can pair up to form binary systems.

Outgoing Mayor Rahm Emanuel is the latest supporter of a retirement income tax. A look at the potential impact on Illinois, Chicago – and seniors.

Elephants, uranium and the oddest wedding you’ve ever seen: A new book takes readers inside the unusual world of the University of Chicago scavenger hunt.

U.S. Sens. Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth are among those urging the EPA to take “immediate action” against Southeast Side industrial facilities for emitting potentially harmful levels of brain-damaging manganese dust.