Stories by Alex Ruppenthal

More than two decades after first being accused of sexual abuse, a longtime Chicago-area gymnastics coach was arrested Monday on charges of sexually assaulting at least one teenage girl who trained with him in the far southwest suburbs. 

A common but preventable gum infection may facilitate the onset of Alzheimer’s disease, according to a new study by the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Watch the Oct. 15, 2018 full episode of “Chicago Tonight.”

In his final budget before leaving office, Mayor Rahm Emanuel is promising no major tax or fee increases, but there are significant new costs. How will they be paid for?

Bradley Tusk served as deputy governor under Rod Blagojevich. Now he advises tech startups. What it was like working for the now-imprisoned former governor.

Could profits from public assets like Midway Airport help fund Chicago’s pensions? The former mayor of Highland Park thinks so.

A recent study shows two-thirds of millennials in the U.S. have not heard of Auschwitz. A priest and a holocaust survivor are trying to change that. 

Visitors to the Field Museum this fall will have a chance to soak up Chicago’s rich beer history, with a focus on the immigrant communities that established the city’s first breweries.

Is it the end of an era? NPR reporter David Schaper joins us to discuss what the future may hold for the former retail giant.

With echoes of “Oklahoma” in its evocation of the hardscrabble lives of exceptionally strong women, Pearl Cleage’s story revolves around the different choices made by four women, including the elderly but unbending matriarchal figure who experienced the abominations of slavery, yet survived to tell the story.

A fundraiser started by one of Jason Van Dyke’s trial attorneys has raised more than $43,000 in one week to support the family of the suspended Chicago police officer.

Following a five-day strike that forced the cancellation of three performances at Lyric Opera of Chicago, the company’s orchestra ratified a new contract Sunday.

“Crumbs from the Table of Joy” – one of the playwright’s earliest works, now on stage at Raven Theatre – is continually engaging. And in the current climate, it also turns out to be uncannily timely.

An inexpensive drug for Type 2 diabetes also decreases the risk of heart attacks and strokes caused by air pollution, according to a new Northwestern Medicine study.

Eddie Arruza and guests discuss the “interesting” visit to the White House by Grammy Award-winning rapper – and former Chicagoan – Kanye West.

With less than a month to Election Day, the Illinois governor’s race turns into a verbal cage match. Chicago cop Jason Van Dyke is transferred out of Cook County. The Trump administration opposes the city’s police consent decree. And does Kris Bryant really say no to $200 million? 

Democrats have been highly critical of the Rauner administration’s handling of the Legionnaire’s outbreaks, but the governor insisted during Thursday's debate that action was “immediately taken.”

Watch the Oct. 11, 2018 full episode of “Chicago Tonight.”

A women’s march in Chicago is planned for Saturday. Why organizers say this event will be different from others.

He was the legendary founding art director of Playboy magazine. A new documentary celebrates the life and work of the lifelong Chicagoan.

The Grammy Award-winning rapper talked about his hometown of Chicago and much more in a meeting with President Donald Trump. “PBS NewsHour” White House correspondent Yamiche Alcindor has details on that and more.

Sociologist Rebecca Sandefur has received the prestigious award for her research on the hurdles low-income communities face when seeking civil justice. She joins us in discussion.

A pork-processing plant in western Illinois released an average of nearly 2,000 pounds of harmful nitrogen per day into a tributary of the Illinois River last year, according to a new report.

The renowned comic book artist unmasks his methods for capturing Spider-Man, Black Panther and other Marvel superheroes in his new book “Marvelocity.”

Nearly three-quarters of registered voters lack confidence that Illinois’ recent budget deal will reduce the state’s long-term fiscal problems, a new poll shows.

Jason Van Dyke is the first Chicago police officer to be convicted for an on-duty shooting in 50 years. Sentencing and an appeal are sure to follow, but as that case comes to a close, another is yet to begin.