Stories by Leslie Hurtado

Chicago’s homeless population would receive significant funding and support from the city under Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s budget proposal. As part of our “Firsthand: Living in Poverty” series, we take a look at how that money would be allocated.

Workers are back on the job after last week’s walkout. We hear about their working conditions and the latest on their organizing efforts.

Monday marked the first day of Wyndham Lathem’s trial, which began more than four years after he and another man allegedly stabbed 26-year-old Trenton Cornell-Duranleau dozens of times.

Tennis fans have the opportunity to catch some top professionals this week at the Chicago Tennis Festival. We meet the tournament’s promoter to learn more about his mission to give kids an opportunity to thrive.

R. Kelly, the R&B superstar known for his anthem “I Believe I Can Fly,” was convicted Monday in a sex trafficking trial after decades of avoiding criminal responsibility for numerous allegations of misconduct with young women and children.

The FBI released its annual Uniform Crime Report for 2020 on Monday, showing that the number of homicides increased nearly 30% from 2019, the largest single-year increase the agency has recorded since it began tracking these crimes in the 1960s.

Sixty people were shot, eight fatally, in 46 separate shooting incidents across Chicago over the weekend, according to the Chicago Police Department. Among the victims was a CPD officer who was wounded in a triple shooting late Friday.

The business district in Fulton Market is booming — and the West Loop could be the next location for a Metra station. Crain’s Chicago Business reporter Danny Ecker has details on that story and more.

Officials from the Indiana Department of Environmental Management are investigating a “rusty colored liquid” discharged from the U.S. Steel plant in Portage, spotted Sunday evening in the Burns Waterway.

A guilty verdict for R. Kelly. Teachers pushing back on vaccine mandates. How the proposed city budget plans to tackle homelessness. Gas bills are set to soar. The Chicago Tennis Festival kicks off.

President Joe Biden received his COVID-19 booster shot on Monday, days after federal regulators recommended a third dose of the Pfizer vaccine for Americans age 65 or older and approved them for others with preexisting medical conditions and high-risk work environments.

The former 22nd Ward alderman pleaded guilty to two charges stemming from allegations that he drained more than $38,000 from the bank account of the City Council’s Progressive Reform Caucus and used those funds to pay for trips, jewelry, iPhones and tickets to sporting events.

For many homeless people in the Chicago area, finding a safe space to recover from illness or injury is a challenge, especially during a pandemic. Medical respite centers aim to offer that refuge through medical care and support services.

Justin Fields had nowhere to run or hide. Passing was strictly prohibited. Myles Garrett and the Browns made the rookie quarterback’s first NFL start unforgettable — for all the wrong reasons.

A team of investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board was at the site of an Amtrak derailment in north-central Montana that killed three people and left seven hospitalized Sunday, officials said.

With President Joe Biden’s broad domestic agenda at risk of collapse, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Sunday vowed that Democrats will pass a bipartisan infrastructure bill this week and push ahead on the bigger $3.5 trillion social safety net and climate change bill.

A former Northwestern University professor is set to stand trial in the stabbing death of his boyfriend as part of what prosecutors said was a sexual fantasy he shared with another man who was charged in the case.

A special crossover with Chicago Tonight: Black Voices. A group of journalists breaks down the mayor’s budget proposal. Plus, working in the extreme heat. And the Puerto Rican Festival returns.

A Black Voices/Latino Voices crossover with Chicago journalists on the mayor’s budget proposal. How the state’s new energy bill strives for racial equity. And remembering Melvin Van Peebles.

The state’s gigantic new energy law will change the source of Illinois’ power. The package aims to move Illinois to carbon-free energy by 2045, but it also serves to tip the scales in terms of who makes up the transforming energy industry.

After taking a year and a half off due to the pandemic, the Puerto Rican Festival has returned for its 39th year in Humboldt Park.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot has unveiled her budget plan for 2022, a plan that one alderman called a “Christmas list” of progressive spending items. Joining us now to break it all down are four Chicago reporters.

A new study finds that extreme heat could threaten nearly $2 billion a year in earnings for outdoor workers in Illinois. We learn about the impact of these increasing temperatures on working conditions.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot has unveiled her budget plan for 2022, a plan that one alderman called a “Christmas list” of progressive spending items. We break it all down with four Chicago reporters.

Melvin Van Peebles, the groundbreaking filmmaker, playwright and musician whose work ushered in the “blaxploitation” wave of the 1970s and influenced filmmakers long after, has died. He was 89. 

The disappearance of Gabby Petito, a white 22-year-old woman who went missing in Wyoming last month, has drawn a frenzy of coverage on traditional and social media, bringing new attention to a phenomenon known as “missing white woman syndrome.”