Stories by Heather Cherone

The case began in November 2019 when Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez (25th Ward) filed a complaint with the Illinois State Board of Elections against his disgraced predecessor, former Ald. Danny Solis.

As if a cup of coffee wasn’t expensive enough, a confluence of factors is driving up farmers’ costs to grow the beans and it could begin filtering down to your local cafe before the end of the year.

The Lyric Opera production of Giuseppe Verdi’s “Macbeth” — which marks both the ongoing pandemic-era reopening of the company’s renovated 3,200-seat theater, and the official start of Enrique Mazzola’s tenure as the company’s music director — is no standard witches’ brew. 

For the second time in less than a month, customs officials working at O’Hare International Airport have seized packages containing several counterfeit COVID-19 vaccination cards shipped from overseas.

A pride celebration, neon lights, fairy houses and talented teens usher in the weekend. Here are 10 things to do in Chicago.

Death’s come knocking a last time for the splendid ivory-billed woodpecker and 22 more birds, fish and other species: The U.S. government on Wednesday declared them extinct.

We check in on the national debt ceiling battle and more. What’s next for R. Kelly after Monday’s guilty verdict? Why the Shedd is researching a mantis shrimp. And Geoffrey Baer talks trash.

Tiny fragments from an asteroid could shed light on the early development of the solar system, thanks to the unique capabilities of Argonne National Laboratory.

There are hundreds of species of mantis shrimp — crustaceans measuring anywhere from 1-12 inches long. The peacock mantis shrimp, indigenous to the waters of Indonesia, has a specific trait that humans are trying to replicate. 

Speaking out against sexual assault and violence is fraught for anyone who attempts it. Those who work in the field say the hurdles facing Black women and girls are raised even higher by a society that hypersexualizes them from a young age.

Republican senators blocked a bill to keep the government operating and allow federal borrowing, but Democrats aiming to avert a shutdown pledged to try again — at the same time pressing ahead on President Joe Biden’s big plans to reshape government.

After five years of legal battles, gentrification concerns and a federal review, Barack and Michelle Obama dug shovels into the ground Tuesday during a celebratory groundbreaking on their legacy project in Jackson Park.

President Joe Biden is canceling plans to travel to Chicago on Wednesday in order to continue leading crucial negotiations in Washington over his legislative agenda, a White House official told CNN.

Dr. Allison Arwady said investigators have not found any evidence that COVID-19 had been transmitted to students or teachers at Jensen Elementary School. “I know people are worried,” Arwady said. “The desire when something tragic like this happens is to pin blame on someone or something. But the blame here really belongs to the virus.”

A Lake County man in his 80s who awoke to a bat on his neck in mid-August is the first person to have contracted the disease in Illinois in more than 65 years, according to state health officials. 

U.S. Steel is reporting that a “rusty colored” discharge that poured into Lake Michigan on Sunday from its plant in Portage, Indiana, was due to elevated iron levels.

Brandis Friedman and a panel of guests talk about Pullman’s role in the Black labor movement and the Great Migration following the recent opening of the Pullman National Monument’s visitor center. Watch the discussion now.

An Illinois man unexpectedly won the Quad Cities Marathon this weekend when the two Kenyan runners who had far outpaced him were disqualified after being diverted off the course by a race volunteer bicyclist.

More than two years after a state law legalizing recreational marijuana was passed, an estimated 34,000 Illinoisans are still waiting to have their cannabis records expunged, according to the Sentencing Policy Advisory Council. 

Teachers, police officers are others who are refusing to get the coronavirus vaccine are taking a shot at using a longtime Illinois statute to skirt compliance with state and city mandates: Illinois’ right of conscience law.

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.