Stories by Heather Cherone

Civic Federation President Joseph Ferguson called the complicated proposal to phase out the city’s decades-long reliance on tax increment financing districts, known as TIFs, “sensible” and “responsible.”

The victim has said she was sexually abused over the course of multiple years at the hands of Brian Crowder, the former dean of students at the Greater Lawndale High School for Social Justice.

Security video shows Shant Michael Soghomonian throwing liquid at the bottom of a door opening into Sanders’ third-floor office in Vermont and setting it on fire with a lighter last Friday, law enforcement officials say. 

Simpson earned fame, fortune and adulation through football and show business, but his legacy was forever changed by the June 1994 knife slayings of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman in Los Angeles.

Natural gas is fueling a fight between consumer advocates, a powerful utility company and the state. Amid competing advertising campaigns, accusations of mismanagement and state decarbonization efforts, the Illinois Commerce Commission is starting a process that will shape how the state regulates the increasingly controversial industry.

A look at when Chicago police officers are allowed to use force. And community reaction to the police killing of Dexter Reed following the release of graphic body camera footage.

The footage of Chicago police officers firing 96 shots at Dexter Reed following a traffic stop has caused outrage with the city’s Black community and led to demands for change — and accountability — for the police officers involved.

The rules that govern when — and how — Chicago police officers can use force against members of the public are complicated and subject to interpretation, despite years of efforts to make it less likely that an altercation between an officer and a Chicagoan turns deadly. Those rules face new scrutiny after officers shot and killed Dexter Reed on March 21.

Chicago’s water has been tested numerous times for the presence of so-called “forever chemicals,” and the substances have never been detected.

Julius Reed is facing misdemeanor charges of resisting a peace officer and one count of battery following his arrest Tuesday.

The announcement came in the middle of a legislative session in which Gov. J.B. Pritzker is proposing sweeping changes in state regulation of the health insurance industry.

Those elected to serve on their LSC will be tasked with approving their individual school’s budget, selecting their principal, renewing school contracts and approving their school’s academic plans.

Two firms are set to get licenses to keep their 3,000 scooters speeding through Chicago until June 2026. And for the first time since shared e-scooters hit Chicago streets five years ago, city rules will allow the motorized two-wheelers to be ridden between midnight and 5 a.m.

The $3.6 billion Red Line Extension project will carry the Red Line 5.6 miles south from its current terminus at 95th Street down to 130th Street. Nearly $2 billion in funding is slated to come from the federal government.

Wildlife officials are reporting that the season’s first Great Lakes piping plover, known as YibBee, has returned to his breeding grounds at Sleeping Bear Dunes. Will arrivals in Chicago be far behind?

COPA in a statement said preliminary evidence “appears to confirm” that Reed fired first before officers responded by firing 96 shots in a matter 41 seconds. The agency has recommended to CPD Superintendent Larry Snelling that four of the officers involved be relieved of their police powers during the pendency of this investigation.

Police body camera footage is released in the fatal shooting of 26-year-old Dexter Reed. We hear from Reed’s family and the head of the police oversight agency.

Chief Administrator Andrea Kersten wrote in a letter to Chicago police Superintendent Larry Snelling that her agency has “grave concerns about the officers’ ability to assess what is a necessary, reasonable, and proportional use of deadly force.”

Expo Chicago is back for its eleventh anniversary this week and organizers are celebrating with a slew of programs, initiatives and digital events to engage the public both at Navy Pier and throughout the city. 

The price of spot gold reached $2,364 per ounce Tuesday after hitting record highs for seven straight sessions and trading at $2,336 per ounce Monday. Year on year, gold is up 16.5%.

Under the decision, a long-dormant law that predates Arizona’s statehood would take effect. It provides no exceptions for rape or incest, but allows abortions if a mother’s life is in danger. Enforcement can take effect in 14 days.

Justice Cynthia Kern’s ruling was the second time in as many days that the state’s mid-level appeals court refused to postpone the trial, set to begin next week, further narrowing any plausible path to the delay that Trump’s legal team has repeatedly sought.

Instead of trashing those vital eclipse glasses, recycle them at any one of dozens of Chicago locations.

Crowds gather across the country for the celestial show of the year. And how to have conversations across political divides.

Nearly 2,000 people gathered at Triton College in west suburban River Grove to view the solar eclipse Monday afternoon.

Joe Walsh, former Republican congressman for Illinois, and Fred Guttenberg, a gun safety advocate whose daughter Jaime Guttenberg was murdered in the Parkland school shooting in 2018, have come together for their ‘Two Dads Defending Democracy' tour.