Stories by Heather Cherone

Aldermen are set to consider a revised proposal backed by Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Tuesday that would expand protections for immigrants by blocking Chicago police from cooperating with federal immigration agents.

The 21st Ward alderman sued the Chicago Board of Ethics after it unanimously found he had violated the city’s Ethics Ordinance by defending clients — including former Ald. Proco “Joe” Moreno — in criminal cases involving the Chicago Police Department.

Inspectors found the River North eatery to be in full compliance with COVID-19 regulations after a probe on Thursday, said Isaac Reichman, a spokesman for the Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection.

The effort to inoculate all 850,000 health care workers and long-term care facility residents in Illinois from COVID-19 will be “substantially complete” next week, Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced Friday.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Friday the toughest restrictions in place to stop the spread of the coronavirus will lift in three Illinois regions — but will stay in place in Chicago and suburban Cook County.

A variant of the coronavirus first discovered in the United Kingdom and believed to be more transmissible is present in Chicago, city health officials announced Friday.

Officers who lounged, slept and snacked in the burglarized South Side office of U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush in the early morning hours of June 1 as unrest swept the South and West sides of the city have been disciplined, the Chicago Police Department announced Thursday.

Drivers will get one written warning before they have to pay $35 to resolve the infraction after March 1, when the new law will take full effect, officials said.

No one was injured in the fire, which was caused when the restaurant’s fireplace damper malfunctioned around 9 p.m. Wednesday, said Liz Lombardo Stark, a spokesperson for the Rush Street landmark.

Chicago restaurants and bars have been prohibited from serving patrons indoors since Oct. 30, when a sustained and grave surge of coronavirus cases threatened to overwhelm the city and state’s hospitals and health care system.

New mass vaccination sites will open on Friday at Olive Harvey City College, on Tuesday at Kennedy-King City College and on Wednesday at Truman City College, officials announced.

A Chicago man has been charged in connection with the pro-Trump riot that swept the Capitol on Jan. 6 after he posted a picture on Instagram outside House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office with the caption “WHOS HOUSE? OUR HOUSE!”

City health officials will allow Chicagoans 65 and older to be vaccinated against COVID-19 starting next week — if there are doses available after health care workers and residents of long-term care facilities are vaccinated, the city’s top doctor told aldermen Wednesday.

Investigators with the city’s Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection conducted 105 investigations from Thursday through Sunday.

The fine, approved by an unanimous vote Monday, marks the first time the ethics board has levied the maximum fine allowed for violations of the city’s campaign finance law — three times the amount of the improper campaign contributions.

Under the new system, which will take effect Friday, a state will be placed in one of two categories — orange or yellow — based on whether it has more than 15 new COVID-19 cases per day, per 100,000 population, officials said.

Dozens of aldermen peppered school and health officials with questions Monday about the effort underway to reopen Chicago Public Schools for in-person learning after a 300-day closure prompted by the coronavirus pandemic.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Monday replaced the director of the Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs after a COVID-19 outbreak at the LaSalle Illinois Veterans Home was linked to the deaths of 36 veterans.

A resolution signed by 35 aldermen comes days after police union head John Catanzara praised the rioters who stormed and invaded the U.S. Capitol building.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Sunday extended the advisory that urges Chicagoans to stay home in an effort to stop the spread of COVID-19 — meaning it will be in effect for 12 days after the first Chicago Public Schools students go back to in-person class.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced Friday that Illinois’ ban on evictions caused by the coronavirus pandemic would be extended once again as the COVID-19 pandemic rages, despite the start of efforts to distribute vaccines.

The complaint filed against the elected official, whose name and office was not identified in accordance with the board’s rules, is expected to be dismissed at the board’s meeting scheduled for Monday.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker said on Twitter that the benchmark was a “tragic milestone” that was “heart-wrenching.”

U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger, a Republican representing Illinois’ 16th Congressional District, called Thursday morning for President Donald Trump to be removed immediately from office and replaced by Vice President Mike Pence.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Wednesday the toughest restrictions in place to stop the spread of the coronavirus could lift in regions across the state as soon as Jan. 15.

Once efforts to inoculate health care workers and residents of long-term care facilities from COVID-19 are complete, Illinois residents 65 and older as well as essential workers will be eligible for the vaccine, Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced Wednesday.