Stories by Paris Schutz

The West Side neighborhood of Austin has become a hot spot for COVID-19 cases. According to the city, it falls into a zip code that has recorded a COVID-19 case rate of between 431-720 people per 100,000. 

The city had declared 2020 as Chicago’s “year of music.” Now with live music all but shut down, we’ve been talking with artists who were set to share their sounds before the coronavirus outbreak – including Donald Lawrence and the Tri-City Singers.

This week, Chicago Public Schools families are learning a new lesson: how remote learning works. We check in on the district’s remote learning plan with LaTanya McDade, CPS chief education officer.

Dealing with loved ones dying in normal times can be difficult enough. But during this global health crisis, a host of new challenges arise as physical distancing forces families apart during final bedside moments.

Like other predominantly African American neighborhoods in Chicago, Austin has seen a disproportionately high number of COVID-19 cases. We speak with state Rep. La Shawn Ford, whose district includes much of the neighborhood and several western suburbs.

The COVID-19 pandemic has presented many of us with challenging decisions, from managing our groceries to caring for vulnerable family members. Linda Smith made a choice many of us would find hard to imagine.

Sheriff Tom Dart’s office said it has begun complying with a court order mandating additional protective measures inside the Cook County Jail, but it estimates its supply of surgical masks for detainees and employees will run out in “six to seven more days.”

Hilco Redevelopment Partners issues an apology and outlined corrective actions following a demolition that left the Little Village neighborhood covered by a plume of dust over the weekend.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker says the state of Illinois is making strides in its fight against the novel coronavirus, pointing Tuesday to key metrics that show “a deceleration of virus transmission.”

Social distancing and the statewide stay-at-home order has changed the way reporters gather and share the news. We check in with Michael Romain, editor of the Austin Weekly News, as part of our series COVID-19 Across Chicago.

Watch the April 14, 2020 full episode of “Chicago Tonight.”

A coronavirus outbreak at a Heartland Alliance facility on Chicago’s South Side may be the largest outbreak of the virus in any shelter for immigrant youth in the country. At least 19 children and two staff have tested positive.

The moon will align with Mars, Saturn and Jupiter in the pre-dawn hours this week.

Former President Barack Obama endorsed Joe Biden for president in a video message Tuesday that delivered a full-throated condemnation of President Donald Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

Sanitation crews have been seeing a surge in coronavirus-related items placed in recycling bins. They belong in the trash.

The Little Village community has already been hit disproportionately hard by COVID-19. Now, residents are fuming about the demolition of a smokestack that gave rise to a plume of dust and particulate matter that wafted through the neighborhood.

Between March 1 and April 4, the state received 513,173 initial unemployment claims, surpassing the total number of claims filed in 2019, according to Gov. J.B. Pritzker. 

What Illinois social service agencies are doing to mitigate the risks seniors face during the pandemic.

It makes sense that a veteran Chicago blues and jazz musician is on the city’s oldest blues and jazz record label. We visit Dave Specter and Delmark Records for a look back — and forward.

Patients who have recovered from the coronavirus can help those struggling to fight the disease, as part of a clinical trial just launched by University of Chicago Medicine – the first trial of its kind in the area.

Chicago Public Schools has just started its remote learning program, but schools in other cities have been holding virtual classes for weeks. We speak with a Palatine native who is the vice principal at a school nearly 8,000 miles away.

Chicago Public Schools students are now back in the classroom — virtually, that is. Students officially began remote learning Monday, but many people argue that nothing can replace time in the classroom.

Chicago is investigating the demolition of a former coal plant in Little Village and halting additional work at the site following an uproar over the smokestack’s implosion, which sent a plume of fine powder all over the neighborhood.

An influx of visitors has made social distancing difficult, so the preserve was padlocked over the weekend. Nearby, Rosehill Cemetery has also closed its grounds to the general public.

Watch the April 13, 2020 full episode of “Chicago Tonight.”

When We All Vote, a nonpartisan voting initiative, says Americans should have greater access to voting by mail, early in-person voting and online voter registration.