Stories by Heather Cherone

Thanks to a “little-known loophole,” hedge funds, private equity firms and real estate investors have “siphoned” approximately $280 million from schools, parks, libraries, fire departments and other government agencies between September 2015 and September 2022 in Cook County. 

Comedian and actor Jeff Garlin is back home in Chicago. He’ll be appearing at the Chicago Humanities Festival this weekend for an event titled “Jeff Garlin: Our Man in Chicago.”

The final debate in the race for governor turns out to be short on substance but high on name-calling. Our politics team weighs in on that story and more.

Borrowers who apply before mid-November should see forgiveness before Jan. 1, when payments on loans are scheduled to restart after a pause during the pandemic.

With U.S. union ranks swelling as everyone from coffee shop baristas to warehouse workers seeks to organize, Illinois voters will decide next month whether to amend their state constitution to guarantee the right to bargain collectively.

According to a community alert issued by Chicago police, there have been 19 such robberies reported — many of which have occurred in the 6700 block of South Elizabeth Street — between July and October.

The president will also open the door to additional releases this winter in an effort to keep prices down. But administration officials would not detail how much the president would be willing to tap, nor by how much they want domestic production to increase to end the withdrawals.

Chicago’s top doc on upping the vaccine booster rate. Why Mayor Lori Lightfoot is sitting on federal COVID relief money. A look at why Cook County Forest Preserves is asking voters for a small tax hike. And Hedy Weiss reviews new productions.

The tunnel of gory scenes snaking through the northwest side church basement is one of, if not the, longest-running haunted house experiences in Chicago. What began in 1979 with just a few classic horror characters in the St. Pascal’s boiler room has transmogrified into a 15-minute tour of terror run entirely by volunteers in support of the parish school.

Hedy Weiss joins “Chicago Tonight” to preview a new program from Joffrey Ballet, Goodman Theater’s production of “Swing Stat” and to recap the Joseph Jefferson Awards. 

Reuben Jonathan Miller, a sociologist, criminologist and social worker, whose work studies the long-term impacts of incarceration on individuals and their families, was awarded a MacArthur fellowship. 

Chicago Department of Public Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady said COVID hospitalizations remain a point of some concern in the city.

For the eighth year in a row, Chicago reigns supreme over Orkin’s Rattiest Cities list, but not everyone is convinced the city deserves the dubious distinction.

The FBI labeled the Proud Boys as an antisemitic white supremacy organization and several current and former members of the Proud Boys have been charged with seditious conspiracy for their role in the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection.

It's rare when newspaper editorial boards and fiscal watchdog groups recommend that residents vote to increase their property taxes. But that's exactly the case as Cook County voters face a binding question on their election ballot: Do you want to pay a little more to help fund the Cook County Forest Preserves?

A love affair between two artists who share a gift for letter-writing. And then a wonderfully devised celebration of Broadway classics. Talk about a study in contrasts. You could not have found a more ideal example of just such a pairing of personalities and styles than the unusual concert performed last week on the Lyric Opera stage by the golden-voiced soprano Renee Fleming and baritone Rod Gilfry, both of whom can shift easily between opera and musical theater.

Derrel McDavid on Monday filed an 18-page motion through his attorneys seeking a court order that would grant him the fees following what his attorneys called a “vexatious, frivolous, and bad faith” prosecution.

Gig workers like ride-hailing drivers and delivery people are a key part of the modern U.S. economy. Most of those workers are contracted, and therefore not considered full employees with all the benefits included.

A 66-year-old man — identified through Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office records at Salim Khamo — was killed after he was shot once in the chest inside a store in the 6300 block of North Western Avenue.

Meltwater carries dissolved road salt into streams and rivers, which can cause salinity to spike to deadly concentrations for freshwater fish and other wildlife. 

One year after the Chicago City Council approved what Lightfoot calls the Chicago Recovery Plan, city officials have spent just $130.5 million of the $1.227 billion earmarked for a host of programs including affordable housing, mental health, violence prevention, youth job programs and help for unhoused Chicagoans, according to data released as part of the mayor’s 2023 budget proposal.

One-on-one with Sen. Dick Durbin ahead of crucial midterms. Where to vote early in Chicago. Could gig workers become full-time employees? Two downtown high rises hit the market. And a new local art exhibit.

As co-chair of the Senate’s Ukraine Caucus, Sen. Dick Durbin said any push to sit down at the negotiation table and offer Russia territory that it illegally took must come from the Ukrainians, not Western pressure.

The Chicago Board of Elections is urging voters to look at their new precinct map before voting in the upcoming election.  

The Smart Museum on the University of Chicago campus is currently saturated with monochromatic modern art. The curators call the show “Monochrome Multitudes.”

Two Chicago high-rises hit the market, leaving more than 700 downtown apartments up for sale. And a loan tied to a distressed hotel in River North sells at a steep discount.