Stories by Andrea Guthmann

We meet three political newcomers who upset longtime aldermen – plus a fourth candidate who won an open seat in Tuesday’s election.

Watch the Feb. 27, 2019 full episode of “Chicago Tonight.”

Just how did the vote break down Tuesday, and why was turnout so much lower than expected? Our politics team digs into the numbers in this week's political roundtable. 

Just how did Chicago wind up with 50 wards and 50 aldermen? Geoffrey Baer does the math in this edition of Ask Geoffrey. And: five fast facts about Chicago mayors past.

This feverishly verbal play, now receiving its world premiere at Lookingglass Theatre, poses some epic, cosmic questions while capturing the more familiar aspects of family relationships and identity crises. But it supplies no answers. 

An icy dip in the lake, film festivals, Mardi Gras pastries and a shopping cart race usher in the weekend. Here are 10 things to do in and around Chicago.

The Litter Free Chicago River project will soon include a stretch of the river from North Avenue to Foster Avenue, where the North Branch connects with the North Shore Channel.

Attorneys for inmate Janiah Monroe say she suffers from PTSD and has been a constant target for sexual harassment and abuse inside her all-male prison.

R. Kelly is looking at the possibility of decades in prison if convicted, but there’s no official word on whether his manager or anyone else in his inner circle might face charges.

Political outsider Lori Lightfoot, who was a federal prosecutor in northern Illinois, and Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle were the top two vote-getters among 14 candidates in the race for mayor.

Authorities on Wednesday released photos of an offender they believe was involved in the fatal shooting of Emanuel Gallegos outside a high school Monday evening in the Old Irving Park neighborhood.

Several incumbent aldermen were voted out of office and others are headed into a runoff. And despite scandals and investigations, some others prevailed.

Chicago’s longest serving alderman, has been re-elected to an unprecedented 13th term despite a highly publicized federal charge of attempted extortion.

Calling Tuesday’s election a referendum on the “crumbling political machine of the past,” former Chicago Police Board chair Lori Lightfoot claimed a spot in the historic mayoral runoff set for April 2.

A recently discovered collection of old political buttons may tell us something about the voters of an earlier era.

The push for nonpartisan elections began after the 1983 election of former Chicago Mayor Harold Washington. What it means for elections today.

Fourteen mayoral candidates? A possible runoff? Political reporters and political scientists give us their take on this unprecedented election.

Watch the Feb. 26, 2019 full episode of “Chicago Tonight.”

More than half the ballots cast as of 6 p.m. Tuesday came from voters who were 55 or older, according to unofficial totals from the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners.

Authorities have released the audio of 911 calls reporting the Feb. 15 shooting at the Henry Pratt Co. facility that resulted in five deaths.

R&B singer R. Kelly signed autographs and waved at a fan who yelled “I love you!” when he stopped at a McDonald’s in Chicago after being released from jail in his sexual abuse case.

Those looking to succeed retiring Mayor Rahm Emanuel include veteran politicians — a couple whose fathers also held elective office — businessmen, former prosecutors and community activists.

With 160 candidates running for alderman, the Chicago City Council could be seeing a major makeover in May.

A Chicago judge says “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett can travel out-of-state to meet his lawyers while he’s free on bond on charges he falsely reported being attacked by two masked men.

The latest on R. Kelly from the journalist who’s been reporting on the Grammy Award-winning R&B star for decades.

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.