Stories by Heather Cherone

The Civilian Office of Police Accountability recommended that Officer Evan Solano be fired for shooting Alvarez in the back and killing him after a brief chase in Portage Park, but Chicago Police Supt. David Brown disagreed with that conclusion. 

Ald. Michele Smith’s resignation will be effective Aug. 12, she said. Mayor Lori Lightfoot must appoint a replacement by Oct. 12 — in the middle of the next aldermanic election

“ShotSpotter inflates gunfire statistics, thereby providing false justification for oppressive police tactics in neighborhoods under its surveillance — all of which are already overpoliced,” attorneys wrote in a federal lawsuit against the city of Chicago.

The House’s 228-195 roll call was largely along party lines and sent the measure to the Senate, where it seemed doomed. Democrats said that with the high court recently overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade decision from 1973, the justices and GOP lawmakers are on track to go even further than banning abortions.

After noticing changes in their menstrual cycles after getting a COVID-19 vaccine, a pair of researchers surveyed others about their experiences. A new analysis of over 35,000 responses finds many experienced changes to their periods, including unexpected bleeding. 

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said that Biden was experiencing “mild symptoms” and has begun taking Paxlovid, an antiviral drug designed to reduce the severity of the disease.

Neighborhood street fests, dinosaurs and dragons, pizza pies and cat videos usher in the weekend. Here are 10 things to do in Chicago.

Chicago police said the teen has been arrested and charged with one count each of vehicular hijacking and aggravated battery. 

Tiarra Berry, 19, has been charged with one count each of battery to a transit passenger and robbery stemming from the March 1 incident.

Speed cameras and ethics reform at City Council. Gun control on Capitol Hill. Our Spotlight Politics on that and more. Backlash over music fests in neighborhood parks. And a stunning fossil discovery.

Rep. Elaine Luria, a Democrat first elected in 2018, is facing a difficult reelection in a Virginia swing district that was redrawn to be more Republican. Rep. Adam Kinzinger, a Republican who’s a pariah to some in his party because of his condemnation of former President Donald Trump, decided not to seek another term in his Illinois district.

A contingent of Lake County elected officials was in Washington Wednesday as the horrific events of the July 4 parade mass shooting took center stage at a U.S. Senate hearing. The Highland Park tragedy has re-energized calls for a ban on guns like the kind the shooter used, but critics say that’s the wrong focus.

This summer hundreds of thousands of music lovers will descend on the city for its annual music festivals. And that impact on public land is a point of contention for some neighbors who live near the parks.

A team lead by a University of Chicago paleontologist says a fossil that was found years ago — and for years largely ignored — could shed more light on that pivotal time in the evolution of life.

“This brings our city one step closer towards ensuring that every Chicagoan can live in a walkable, affordable community that is connected to transit and all of its benefits,” Mayor Lori Lightfoot said.

The vote capped months of parliamentary shenanigans and came after a concerted effort by advocates for pedestrians and bicyclists to convince undecided members of the City Council the tickets were an effective way to reduce headline-grabbing and heartbreaking crashes.

Democrats hope that the 100-page bill moving through the Judiciary Committee will pass the House before the August break. But that is far from assured.

Authored by Ald. Michele Smith (43rd Ward), the chair of the City Council’s Ethics and Government Oversight Committee, and backed by the Chicago Board of Ethics, the package was significantly revised to win the support of Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who blocked the measure from advancing for several months.

The addax, a Saharan antelope, is threatened with extinction in the wild, where fewer than 100 exist. A baby just born at Brookfield Zoo is part of the species’ conservation plan.

The two will hold dueling rallies in Arizona on Friday as they stump for rival candidates who offer dramatically different visions of the Republican Party in a critical battleground state. Days later, they will once again cross paths as they deliver major speeches on the same day in Washington, D.C.

Members of Congress ahead of the final Jan. 6 hearing. Mental health, as a fourth Chicago police officer dies by suicide. And the city’s new plan for transformation and the impact of segregation.

Many of the barriers erected by elected officials and civic leaders beginning in the 1930s to keep Black Chicagoans, Latino Chicagoans and White Chicagoans from living, working and playing in the same neighborhoods remain unchanged nearly a century later, according to a new study.

Chicago is releasing its first citywide plan in more than 50 years. The draft plan, called We Will Chicago, will lay out a 10-year vision for how the city can address systemic inequities by first acknowledging the policies that created them, then creating goals for the city’s future.

After three Chicago Police Department employees died by suicide in recent weeks, Police Superintendent David Brown is defending his decision to cancel days off during the historically violent summer months.

A proposal crafted by Housing Commissioner Marisa Novara is designed to bolster the city’s policy to encourage transit-oriented development by boosting incentives and increasing pedestrian safety while increasing the amount of affordable housing being built near train stations and along bus lines.

Tuesday’s election-year roll call, 267-157, was partly political strategy, forcing all House members, Republicans and Democrats, to go on the record with their views. It also reflected the legislative branch pushing back against an aggressive court.