Stories by Amanda Vinicky

Chicago Public Schools CEO Janice Jackson on Tuesday brushed aside critics who said students in 20 CPS schools were “robbed … of warmth and educational stability” due to a lack of heat Monday.

With great bursts of raucous humor, as well as zany rom-com moments and deep anguish, playwright Danai Gurira infuses her exuberantly boisterous play with issues of family contention that go well beyond the usual disputes.

After nearly 40 years in public office, Cook County Clerk David Orr is leaving the political stage. He joins us to discuss the past, present and future of elections.

Additional engineering and design work has more than doubled the cost of a long-awaited plan to prevent invasive Asian carp from reaching the Great Lakes, according to federal officials.

Last week, the Food and Drug Administration said people shouldn’t eat any romaine because of an E. coli outbreak. Now, it says it’s OK to eat some romaine lettuce again. Just be sure to check the label.

The foundation announced Monday that the former president will receive the 2019 Lincoln Leadership Prize during a ceremony on April 1 in Chicago.

Speaking to more than 1,000 people in the Chapel of St. Joseph at Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Des Plaines, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel said that it came as no surprise that “Sammy Jimenez became Officer Jimenez.”

Candidates aiming to be Chicago’s next mayor had until 5 p.m. Monday to turn in the paperwork that will get them on the ballot – paperwork that includes the signatures of at least 12,500 registered Chicago voters.

Just days after he said he was going to file petitions to seek re-election as 25th Ward alderman, Danny Solis announced he’s not pursuing another term. He joins us to reflect on his career and look to the city’s future.

It took six months, a voyage of 300 million miles and a final “seven minutes of terror,” but NASA’s InSight spacecraft on Monday touched down on Mars in a landing the craft’s chief engineer called “flawless.”

Watch the Nov. 26, 2018 full episode of “Chicago Tonight.”

In all the attempts to dissect the Leopold and Loeb story, one mystery remains unsolved: What happened to the vast bird collection that Nathan Leopold had in his Chicago home when he went to prison?

The renovated medical and surgery areas at Chicago Animal Care and Control will replace the shelter’s existing medical unit, which is more than 20 years old. 

At Paramount Theatre, director-choreographer Amber Mak and her sensational team of actors and designers magically pay homage to the emotional richness of the 1939 film while incorporating some of the newest tricks of technology.

The Chicago area was slammed with up to a foot of wet snow, and whiteout conditions stalled commuter traffic on the roads.

The city of Chicago responded last week to a lawsuit seeking to stop construction of the Obama Presidential Center, saying the buildings would sit on land that wasn't subject to restrictive public-trust laws.

Former Trump campaign foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos was scheduled to report to prison on Monday after a federal judge rejected his last-minute bid to delay his two-week sentence.

The new touring production of the epic show could not be more elaborate, but it trades more in shock value than pathos, and loses something in the process.

Three current and former Chicago police officers will go on trial this week, accused of attempting to cover up details of the high-profile shooting. Here are the key names to know as the case gets underway.

The Chicago Police Department released funeral arrangements for Officer Samuel Jimenez, who was shot and killed by a gunman Monday at the South Side hospital.

The debate gained new urgency this week with the shooting death of Dr. Tamara O’Neal outside Mercy Hospital, as physicians argue shootings are a public health crisis that they must play a key role in trying to stem. 

A new analysis shows that closing Chicago's final two vehicle emissions testing facilities came at a cost to hundreds of thousands of city drivers, with the biggest impact on low-income and minority drivers. 

Health officials in the U.S. and Canada told people Tuesday to stop eating romaine lettuce because of a new E. coli outbreak. Two people in Illinois have tested positive for this same outbreak strain. 

A boost in construction equipment sales drove profit higher for Deere & Co. in the fourth quarter, but the results fell short of Wall Street expectations.

A Thanksgiving Day parade, holiday markets, sing-a-longs and sleights of hand usher in the holiday weekend. Here are 10 things to do in Chicago.

Dr. Tamara O’Neal was shot and killed Monday after her ex-fiance confronted her outside of Mercy Hospital. But when it comes to workplace violence against women, O’Neal’s story is not uncommon.