Stories by Kristen Thometz

Street festivals, live jazz, handmade gifts, global foods and a football season preview usher in the long weekend. Here are a dozen things to do in and around Chicago.

A new installation combining art, architecture and technology provides an immersive look at the underwater world of reefs.

Sgt. James Prah Jr. claims he’s being “intimidated into silence” by Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson and his wife because he reported their alleged involvement in a purported cheating scheme during a departmental exam.

Watch the Aug. 28, 2019 full episode of “Chicago Tonight.”

The changes include a tightened verification process that will require anyone wanting to run ads pertaining to elections, politics or big social issues like guns and immigration to confirm their identity and prove they are in the U.S. 

More than 200 of the world’s top female hockey players will play a series of tournaments as part of an effort to establish a single professional league with a sustainable economic model, featuring the world’s top talent, and pay a livable wage and include health care.

State attorneys general and lawyers representing local governments said Tuesday they are in active settlement talks with Purdue Pharma, the maker of the prescription painkiller OxyContin that is facing billions of dollars in potential liability for its role in the nation’s opioid crisis.

Chicago and the world is on the brink of a transportation revolution – and activists for racial equity want to ensure the benefits of that revolution reach communities of color.

Federal authorities have repeatedly warned about foreign influence in U.S. elections, but a core federal agency that keeps watch on elections is suddenly without any enforcement ability. We speak with Federal Election Commission Chair Ellen Weintraub.

People commonly adopt dog and cats from the pound, but there’s a new phenomenon in Chicago: stray chickens and roosters are being rounded up in an effort to find them their forever homes.

New rules for a scrap metal yard on the city’s North Side require the facility to reduce emissions of potentially cancer-causing compounds after it violated federal air pollution standards last summer.

Watch the Aug. 27, 2019 full episode of “Chicago Tonight.”

The Illinois attorney general’s office has been so inundated with payment requests stemming from its consent decree with a former Champaign-based bus operator that they’ve asked a federal judge to amend the agreement itself.

The Justice Department said Monday it would move forward to expand the number of marijuana growers for federally authorized cannabis research.

Al Haynes was hailed for his skill when a jet lost all hydraulic power after the rear engine exploded during a flight from Denver to Chicago on July 19, 1989. Haynes saved nearly 200 lives by guiding the damaged jet into a crash landing in Iowa. Haynes, 87, died Sunday.

“Never Trump” Republicans are eager to see the president confront a credible primary adversary. But the party will likely erect structural barriers that make that kind of challenge exceedingly difficult.

For decades, the southern border of the U.S. has been a flash point for conflicting points of view. Now, artists from both sides of the border – including Chicago – are navigating the rocky road of migration in “The Border Crossed Us.”

U.S. Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia has had a foot in both local and national politics for decades. Now representing Illinois’ 4th Congressional District, Garcia has become an outspoken critic of the Trump administration’s immigration policies. He joins us in discussion.

News of a spike in wildfires in the Amazon led to an international outcry aimed at Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who responded over the weekend by authorizing the deployment of 44,000 military troops to put out the fires. 

Nineteen states, including Illinois, sued on Monday over the Trump administration’s effort to alter a federal agreement that limits how long immigrant children can be kept in detention.

An impeccable set of iconic songs by the 17-time Grammy Award winner before a crowd of 16,000 at the Ravinia Festival suggested why he has remained such an enduring musical artist for more than four decades.

Watch the Aug. 26, 2019 full episode of “Chicago Tonight.”

Teachers at Chicago Public Schools are back in the classroom, preparing for the arrival of students next week. But they still have no contract from the district, even though the district is changing its offer to teachers.

President Donald Trump said his trade negotiators had received two “very good calls” from China on Sunday. But a spokesman for China’s foreign ministry said that he didn’t know what calls Trump was talking about.

Joe Walsh, a former Illinois congressman and tea party favorite turned radio talk show host, announced a challenge Sunday to President Donald Trump for the Republican nomination in 2020.

A sexual harassment report puts new scrutiny on Springfield. Bombastic former U.S. Rep. Joe Walsh mulls taking on Trump. A teachers union trip to Venezuela causes uproar. And the Cubs close an otherwise strong week with a blowout loss.