Stories by Alexandra Silets

Lori Lightfoot and Toni Preckwinkle battle for votes ahead of the runoff election. Mayor Rahm Emanuel gets his way on two controversial projects. CSO musicians trade instruments for picket signs. And Boeing’s very bit 737 problem.

A Cook County judge on Friday OK’d cameras during the R&B singer’s upcoming court appearance next Friday.

Can an app help people stick to their medications? That’s what local researchers hope find out in a new study funded by the National Institutes of Health.

In a sign that spring is on the way, the Chicago Department of Streets and Sanitation on Monday will begin removing items used to (unofficially) reserve parking spots during winter.

The 31-year-old victim said she was grabbed and assaulted while walking southbound on the 6600 block of North Clark Street on Wednesday evening.

An acquaintance of R. Kelly’s recalled how the singer once lugged a duffel bag everywhere — to recording studios, film sets and gyms. Stuffed inside, she said, was a collection of his homemade VHS sex tapes.

The mastermind of a wide-ranging college admissions scandal set up a charity that wove a deep web of deception and fraud to mask bribes and payoffs,according to prosecutors and tax documents reviewed by The Associated Press.

Fifty-one students faced off Thursday in the annual citywide spelling competition, and a new champion was named to represent Chicago Public Schools in the Scripps National Spelling Bee. “Chicago Tonight” stopped by for a look.

A year after lawmakers approved an identical bill that was vetoed by then-Gov. Bruce Rauner, senators vote 39 to 16 to raise the age from 18 to 21 for the legal purchase and use of tobacco products and e-cigarettes.

Watch the March 14, 2019 full episode of “Chicago Tonight.”

A community activist and the incumbent daughter of a City Council dynasty face off ahead of the April 2 runoff election.

For years, Ald. Ed Burke ran what amounts to an employee loan-out program from his perch as head of City Council’s powerful Finance Committee. “It’s a way of exercising control,” said one City Hall staffer.

With conditions perfect for flooding, the Better Business Bureau’s Chicago division is urging area residents to take precautions when hiring contractors to address flooding-related damages. 

The “Empire” actor entered the plea after his case was assigned to a new judge. He faces more than a dozen charges stemming from a staged attack he allegedly planned against himself.

R. Kelly’s publicist says the R&B singer wants his child support payments lowered, but it doesn’t appear that they were reduced during the most recent hearing in the case.

Bowing to international pressure, President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that Boeing 737 Max 8 and Max 9 aircraft in the U.S. were being grounded following the Ethiopian Airlines disaster.

Two major projects – both of them controversial – got the full City Council vote Wednesday in Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s second-to-last meeting.

Watch the March 13, 2019 full episode of “Chicago Tonight.”

A green river, St. Patrick’s Day parades, nature photos and Indian dances usher in the weekend. Here are 10 things to do in and around Chicago.

Memories of jumping rope as a child lures a Chicago woman back to the sport as an adult – and inspires her to start teaching double Dutch to a new generation through her organization Black Girls Jump.

As Chicago voters prepare to head back to the polls, our series of forums continues with 5th Ward candidates Ald. Leslie Hairston and William Calloway.

With the help of volunteers who classify sounds from recordings of seismic events, scientists could learn more about the conditions under which earthquakes occur. 

Lift a glass and make a toast to the musical and verbal talents of some Emerald Islanders who have arrived on the shores of Lake Michigan for brief stays.

Airline pilots on at least two U.S. flights have reported that an automated system seemed to cause their Boeing 737 Max planes to tilt down suddenly.  

Chicago Public Schools missed out on as much as $2 million in pre-K payments over the past four school years due to a combination of errors, uncollected tuition and employee fraud, according to the district’s internal watchdog.

With corruption scandals roiling Chicago politics, both of the candidates for mayor say cleaning up City Hall is near the top of their agendas. But it’s also where they differ, particularly when it comes to aldermanic prerogative.