Stories by Heather Cherone

The Chicago City Council’s Latino Caucus on Wednesday rejected a call to charge an independent commission with redrawing the boundaries of Chicago’s 50 wards, saying aldermen are best equipped to ensure that the new map is equitable. 

The Chicago City Council on Wednesday wasted no time in symbolically turning the page on the Trump administration by voting to expand protections for undocumented immigrants that had been stalled by the former president’s crackdown.

A Chicago man has been indicted in connection with the carjacking of an Uber Eats driver in Chicago, another carjacking in Cicero and an attempted carjacking in Oak Park, federal prosecutors announced Wednesday.

Two measures that would make it harder to convert some small apartment buildings into single-family homes in rapidly gentrifying neighborhoods advanced Tuesday as part of a renewed effort from city officials to boost Chicago’s supply of affordable housing.

Since March, city inspectors have conducted more than 8,236 investigations and cited 417 businesses for violating COVID-19 regulations, officials said.

Eight more cases of a COVID-19 variant first discovered in the United Kingdom and believed to be more transmissible have been discovered in Chicago and suburban Cook County, state health officials announced Monday.

An effort by city officials to finish a project to expand cargo operations at O’Hare Airport by borrowing $55.6 million advanced Monday after a monthslong delay prompted by concerns that the effort failed to meet the city’s self-imposed diversity goals.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot vowed to redouble efforts to get the vaccine to those in neighborhoods hit hardest by the coronavirus pandemic by earmarking doses for those Black and Latino communities as the state begins the second phase of its vaccination effort.

Aldermen agreed Monday to settle a lawsuit brought by a Chicago man who was shot by police during a traffic stop in February 2015 that officials ruled was unjustified by paying him $525,000 and forgiving approximately $45,000 in debt he owes to the city.

After 85 days, limited indoor dining and drinking can resume in Chicago and suburban Cook County on Saturday, officials with the Illinois Department of Public Health announced. But the long-awaited news came with a warning.

Members of the Chicago City Council are deeply split on how to stop a barrage of carjackings that has Chicagoans throughout the city terrified to leave their houses for fear of becoming the latest victim.

Limited indoor dining and drinking is set to resume in Chicago and suburban Cook County on Saturday under Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s revised plan to slow the spread of COVID-19, according to data released Friday by the Illinois Department of Public Health.

Limited indoor dining and drinking is set to resume in Chicago under Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s revised plan to slow the spread of COVID-19, according to data released Thursday by the Illinois Department of Public Health.

Since March, city inspectors have conducted more than 8,000 investigations and cited 416 businesses for violating COVID-19 regulations, officials said.

“My word for you is patience,” Dr. Allison Arwady, the commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health, said Thursday. “I know a lot of you will be frustrated.”

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot praised President Joe Biden’s inaugural address Wednesday, telling WTTW News she was “grateful” to hear him deliver a soaring defense of democracy two weeks after supporters of former President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol.

The mayor on Wednesday updated the order for the fourth time to allow it to expire at 12:01 a.m. Friday. Meanwhile, the city is poised to meet state requirements to move from what officials call Tier 2 to Tier 1 on Thursday.

Inspector General Joseph Ferguson announced Wednesday that his probe of the botched raid in February 2019 that left Anjanette Young handcuffed while naked and pleading for help would focus on “possible misconduct” by city officials.

The advisory, which has now been extended by the mayor three times, is scheduled to be in effect until two days before Chicago Public Schools elementary school students are scheduled to go back to in-person class.

City officials are taking precautions ahead of potential unrest, though they're not aware of any "actionable activity" being planned in Chicago on Inauguration Day.

Aldermen unanimously advanced a measure on Tuesday that would expand protections for immigrants by blocking Chicago police from cooperating with federal immigration agents in all cases.

City officials fired an employee of the Chicago Department of Transportation after he sent “unprovoked offensive, racist, harassing and violent” messages to a Chicagoan on Facebook during the protests sparked by the death of George Floyd in late May, according to a report from the city’s watchdog.

The city of Chicago’s tentative vaccine distribution plan estimates that there will not be enough COVID-19 vaccine available for all Chicagoans ages 16 and older until May 31, the city’s top doctor announced Monday.

City officials fired an animal care officer assigned to work at the city’s shelter after an investigation determined they sexually assaulted two co-workers while off-duty and outside of the office, according to a report from the city’s watchdog.

The city of Chicago will pay $115,000 to two Chicago men who alleged they were subjected to excessive force during the protests sparked by the death of George Floyd in late May, marking the first of what could be a costly wave of lawsuit settlements.

Chicago and suburban Cook, Lake, Kane, McHenry and DuPage counties moved Monday from Tier 3 to Tier 2 after the Illinois Department of Public Health launched a new plan to add hospital staff and beds where the need is greatest.