Stories by Alexandra Silets

The city's fall theater lineup has already produced some knockouts, according to Chicago Sun-Times theater critic Hedy Weiss. Here she reviews Paramount's Theatre's "Oklahoma!," Raven Theatre's "Direct From Death Row: The Scottsboro Boys," Timeline's "The Price," and the House Theatre's "The Revel."

We share what you had to say about some of our recent stories when we read viewer feedback from the "Chicago Tonight" website, and our Facebook and Twitter pages.

The return of Redmoon's Great Chicago Fire Festival, an annual Oktoberfest celebration, jazz fest and other weekend events.

Mayor Emanuel unveils his much anticipated doomsday budget proposal. How much pushback will it get from residents and aldermen? We ask four of them.

A promising new treatment for sickle cell anemia, developed by the National Institutes for Health and validated by a new study by the University of Illinois at Chicago, holds out the prospect of a cure for this chronic disease. Dr. Santosh Saraf, one of the co-authors of the UIC study, joins us to discuss these groundbreaking developments.

The former Punk Planet co-editor speaks about the ties between sex trafficking and the fashion industry and laments the state of Chicago's independent publishing scene.

Block 37 has a new attraction, but you'd better stop for lunch before you go. The Foodseum celebrates the city's love of all things edible with an exhibit that highlights hot dogs and encased meats from around the globe. We visited the pop-up museum to learn more.

Jeannie Morris might be better known for her groundbreaking career as one of the first female sports journalists, but in her new book "Behind the Smile: A Story of Carol Moseley Braun's Historic Senate Campaign," she tackles national politics and unveils the ups and downs of Moseley Braun’s life and career. Morris joins us tonight to discuss the book.

The comedian is scheduled to participate in two Q&As following screenings of her new film at the Lakeview movie theater.

Jay Shefsky goes kayaking where paddlers rarely go – the busy and industrial Calumet River. See what he discovered while tagging along with a couple of local kayakers who regularly venture into the hard working river.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel joins "Chicago Tonight" on Thursday to discuss his proposed $7.8 billion budget for the upcoming fiscal year. We’ll ask him about the tax and fee hikes he’s pitching. What questions do you have for the mayor?

Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Tuesday unveiled his proposed 2016 budget. Included is a $543 million property tax increase that would be phased in, beginning with a $318 million hike this year. Fees on garbage collection and ride-sharing services – including taxis – and a new tax on e-cigarettes aim to plug the city's budget hole.

How do we make decisions? Can we learn better reasoning skills? Those are questions University of Michigan psychologist Richard Nisbett has spent his life studying. He joins us tonight to discuss his new book, "Mindware: Tools for Smart Thinking.”

The arrival of Pope Francis on Tuesday marks the fourth time a pope has visited the U.S., and the first time a pope addresses a joint session of the U.S. Congress. Pilgrims are flocking to the East Coast for a chance to see Francis, but what some see as his progressive stances are drawing criticism from other corners of American Catholicism.

Judy Collins recounts her long music career and her political activism, which included testifying in Chicago in 1969 in support of the Chicago Seven. 

With fall right around the corner, The Organic Gardener founder Jeanne Nolan visits the WTTW organic garden to check on our summer crops.

The festival, from Pilsen-based Redmoon Theater, will take place at Northerly Island on Saturday. Find out what other changes are in store this year.

The Chicago Teachers Union is calling on Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Gov. Bruce Rauner to prevent as many as 5,000 teachers from being laid off later this year. 

Illinois is coming up on almost three months with no state budget, and Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner and Democratic legislative leaders don't appear to be any closer to a solution. Two lawmakers known for sometimes bucking their party leaders discuss whether there's a bipartisan path out of the state's current mess.

Tickets to see the two comedians go on sale Friday. Find out what the duo has in store.

The Carson Palmer-led Cardinals marched convincingly through Soldier Field on Sunday, with the Bears defense hardly able to break their stride. The Bears had never given up as many as 48 points in a home game – until now. Former Bear James "Big Cat" Williams joins Ann Kreiter to give us his take on the second game of the season.

Football columnist Bob Condotta covers the Seahawks for the Seattle Times. He gives us his take on the Seahawks in advance of next Sunday’s game against the Bears.

According to a recent report by Swiss financial services company UBS, Chicago joins New York City, Zurich, Geneva, Oslo, London and Hong Kong in an exclusive group of the most-expensive cities in the world. As an antidote to what may seem depressing news, we scoured the web for something everyone can feel good about: free stuff.