Stories by Amanda Vinicky

Legislators have been working toward a measure that would keep two Illinois nuclear plants open. Despite a rash of talks during Tuesday’s special session, there is still no concrete path — and less than two weeks remain until Exelon says it will close the plants.

Local college students on returning to campus. The latest on a revived energy bill in Springfield. A new push for high-speed rail. And our Spotlight politics team on remapping, Afghanistan and more.

State legislators this week passed new district maps and rejected an amendment to ethics legislation. Our politics team of Amanda Vinicky, Paris Schutz and Heather Cherone weigh in on that story and more in this week’s roundtable.

The two-year, $3.5 million pilot program represents the first time in Chicago’s history that the city’s emergency dispatch system will send someone other than a sworn and armed police officer to a call for help, officials said.

Imagine getting from Chicago to St. Louis by train in just a couple of hours. That’s the vision of high-speed rail advocates, who want to see an ultrafast train cut across Illinois — and the vision has gotten a boost from Illinois lawmakers.

There are lots of familiar sights on college campuses across the state as students return to lecture halls and activities. But what exactly has this transition from largely virtual instruction to in-person been like?

The nation’s most far-reaching curb on abortions since they were legalized a half-century ago took effect Wednesday in Texas, with the Supreme Court silent on an emergency appeal to put the law on hold.

It’s one of the biggest touring exhibitions of one of the world’s most well-known street artists. We take a look at “The Art of Banksy,” on view in River North through October.

One of R. Kelly’s accusers testified on Wednesday that he kept a gun by his side while he berated her as a prelude to forcing her to give him oral sex in a Los Angeles music studio.

Beefy burgers, music festivals, cycling on Lake Shore Drive and mini golf usher in the holiday weekend. Here are a dozen things to do in and around Chicago.

The number of new COVID-19 infections has been steadily increasing for weeks and on Wednesday surpassed 5,000 for the first time in a 24-hour period since January, according to state health officials.

Due to the surge of COVID-19 cases, the director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is asking unvaccinated Americans not to travel during the Labor Day holiday weekend.

Officers Jeffery Shafer and Victor Guebara face felony charges after they allegedly beat a teenage boy as he laid on the ground following a pursuit in a stolen vehicle in Woodlawn earlier this year.

Crime data released Wednesday by the Chicago Police Department shows the city has recorded 524 homicides and 2,344 shootings so far in 2021. Those totals are up 3% and 9%, respectively, over the same time period last year.

Democrats have a stranglehold on the Illinois General Assembly, and Tuesday they muscled through legislation that will help the party maintain power for the coming decade despite objections from community organizations and Republicans.

Louisiana residents still reeling from flooding and damage caused by Hurricane Ida scrambled for food, gas, water and relief from the sweltering heat as thousands of line workers toiled to restore electricity.

A woman who wasn’t a fan of R. Kelly ended up getting exposed to a sexually transmitted disease after he enticed her to join him on the road, she testified on Tuesday at the R&B entertainer’s sex-trafficking trial.

Scoops Dessert Bar is the first restaurant in Chicago to open as part of the city’s Expedited Restaurant Licensing Pilot Program, which is designed to help fill restaurants shut down by the COVID-19 pandemic.

As the final five U.S. military transport aircraft lifted off out of Afghanistan, they left behind up to 200 Americans and thousands of desperate Afghans who couldn't get out and now must rely on the Taliban to allow their departure.

A new outdoor exhibition in Gage Park tells the neighborhood’s history from the perspective of its residents. It’s part of a new program from the Gage Park Latinx Council that invites young people to reclaim their community’s narrative. We go for a look — and a local history lesson.

As the highly infectious delta variant continues to spread rapidly throughout the country, more children are testing positive for COVID-19. Could the return of in-person learning trigger even more cases?

Addressing the nation, a defensive President Joe Biden on Tuesday called the U.S. military airlift to extract more than 120,000 Afghans, Americans and other allies to end a 20-year war an “extraordinary success,” though thousands of people looking to leave remain.

Nearly 30 years after “Candyman” was released, people are still daring one another to say the title character’s name in the mirror to summon this hook-wielding ghost. Some urban legends don’t die, they’re just reborn.

Redistributing political power through the state’s remapping process. More cases of COVID-19 in children. Making Gage Park youth into oral historians. And the scoop on new rules for new restaurants.

Illinois Democrats on Tuesday are expected to approve new legislative boundaries over objections from Republicans and some community groups that the process was unnecessarily rushed and maps were drawn behind closed doors.

A new law in Illinois will require health insurers to cover medically necessary services and treatments for mental health conditions and substance use disorders. Advocates say the legislation comes at a critical moment and will help remove obstacles to such care.