Stories by Heather Cherone

An effort by Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration to settle a lawsuit that sought to force the Chicago Police Department to turn over nearly five decades’ worth of secret files stalled Wednesday amid opposition from progressive aldermen.

As workers return to offices, children prepare to return to schools and those desperate for normalcy again visit malls and restaurants, the emerging science points to a menacing reality: If people who appear healthy can transmit the illness, it may be impossible to contain.

The morning after a shooting injured at least 15 people, police Superintendent David Brown and Mayor Lori Lightfoot pleaded with community members to come forward with information and help break the ongoing cycle of gang violence in Chicago.

More than a dozen people were shot in the Auburn Gresham neighborhood in what has become one of the city’s largest mass shootings in years — at a time when President Donald Trump is planning to send federal agents to Chicago.

It’s time to be strategic, rather than reactive, when it comes to managing a vital piece of Chicago’s infrastructure — it’s trees. 

We journey to the sun’s surface and explore more from the world of science with University of Chicago paleontologist Neil Shubin.

ComEd is set to pay a $200 million fine as it seeks to get a bribery charge dismissed. Where will the money come from?

It’s become one of the most pressing questions of the summer: Will schools reopen this fall, and if so, how will they do it safely? We speak with Chicago Public Schools CEO Janice Jackson.

When the pandemic hit, the Chicago Tap Theatre adapted to the new virtual reality. This weekend, they’re taking it a “tap” further with their virtual show “30 Feet Together, 6 Feet Apart.”

Friday marks the start of Black Restaurant Week, a nationwide showcase of Black-owned restaurants now in its fifth year. Here’s a look at what to expect.

With more than 300 acres in a prime downtown location, it’s no wonder Grant Park is sometimes referred to as Chicago’s front yard. But if you ask the leaders of the Grant Park Advisory Council, some yard work is in order.

Divisions between the White House and Senate Republicans and differences with Democrats posed fresh challenges for a new federal aid package with the U.S. crisis worsening and emergency relief about to expire.

Illinois has a plan in place to roll back restrictions if COVID-19 positivity rates spike. Now, one of the state’s 11 regions is “dangerously close to that threshold,” Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Tuesday.

Two men and a woman with Chicago-area ties could face decades in federal prison after they allegedly swindled dozens of victims out of hundreds of thousands of dollars through inheritance and romance fraud schemes.

Watch the July 21, 2020 full episode of “Chicago Tonight.”

Opponents of the Lincoln Park metal shredder want General Iron closed during the COVID-19 pandemic, but if the facility checks all the right boxes, it could eventually restart operations, officials said. 

Dr. Emily Landon is one of the city’s preeminent experts on the coronavirus, which has dominated her life for the past six months. To unwind, Landon makes her own soap – a hobby she started years ago.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot sought to calm fears Tuesday that the president plans to send 150 unidentified, secret federal agents to Chicago, saying she has been told it will not be a “Portland-style” deployment. “We do not welcome dictatorship,” she said. 

For the second week in a row, Mayor Lori Lightfoot expanded the city’s quarantine order. Starting Friday, visitors from Kansas will be required to quarantine for two weeks in effort to stop the spread of the coronavirus. 

The agreement ComEd reached to plead guilty to one count of bribery on Friday sent shock waves through the political world when “Public Official A” was described as the speaker of the Illinois House. 

The pandemic has upended how we work and how our children attend school. For one school network, Cristo Rey schools, the students attend school and work. Here’s a look at their model — and how it’s changing.

The gleaming skyline that makes Chicago an architectural wonder is primarily made up of office towers. But those glassy marvels have been largely empty since March. A look at the prospects for downtown commercial real estate.

Chicago’s cultural institutions are beginning to reopen after shutting their doors in mid-March as the coronavirus spread. What you can expect on your next trip.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot says President Donald Trump’s plan to send 150 federal agents to Chicago would do much more harm than good, warning the president in a letter Monday that agents would “foment a wave massive wave of opposition.”

Chicago voters will get a chance to weigh in on three issues of citywide concern during the Nov. 3 election — but they will not get a chance to have their say on the hot-button issues of police accountability or the sale of e-cigarettes.

Aldermen agreed on Monday to settle a class-action lawsuit that claimed the city’s impound program was unconstitutional, and made it impossible for Chicagoans to get their cars back after they were towed away.