Stories by Paris Schutz

Sen. Rand Paul brings his presidential campaign to the South Side of Chicago. Will his message resonate here? Paris Schutz has the latest. 

We live in a digital world. We communicate with each other through tweets and Facebook posts, upload photos to Instagram, pay our bills online, and more. But what happens to all those digital files and accounts after we die? We discuss planning for your digital afterlife.

We revisit our story about the Swedish National Museum’s Vikings -- an exhibition that challenges stereotypes of the Norsemen who lived, traded, and raided a millennium ago --at The Field Museum. Take our quiz to test your Vikings knowledge!

Chicago Sun-Times Theater Critic Hedy Weiss reviews five shows being staged around Chicago.

It’s crunch time as state lawmakers have less than a week to pass a budget and close a $6 billion deficit before the end of the current legislative session. We talk with Chicago Tonight Springfield reporter Amanda Vinicky about the likelihood of a budget being passed before the Sunday deadline. 

One way Gov. Bruce Rauner has proposed cutting spending is to repeal the so-called “prevailing wage” law. So what is the prevailing wage and why is it on the books? Our experts debate the pros and cons of eliminating the prevailing wage the state pays for public construction projects. 

Some $500 billion is spent each year by governmental entities on information technology. Now so-called “civic hackers” are taking the vast troves of data that cities like Chicago collect, and designing apps to make that data more useful to the public. From apps that track food poisoning to potholes to parking -- the city of Chicago is leading the way in the growing "govtech" sector. We find out more.

Chicago’s technology incubator, 1871, seeks public funding to expand for the second time in a year, following a 25,000 square foot expansion last year. The potential state-backed expansion concerns privately run co-working spaces and offices that rival 1871. We hear the latest from Crain's Chicago Business reporter John Pletz. 

Painter Archibald Motley created a revealing body of work that captured Chicago people and nightlife during the Jazz Age. We revisit our story about the Motley exhibition at the Chicago Cultural Center.

Over Memorial Day weekend, a new part of the Chicago Riverwalk opened from State Street to Clark Street. Carol Ross Barney has been leading the Riverwalk design for more than a dozen years. We sit down with her to talk about the project. 

We share what you had to say about the Chicago-based documentary series The School Project's final message, the new Method soap factory in Pullman, the Metropolitan Water District's new holding tank project, and our interview with the Little Rock Nine.

Eddie Arruza and his panelists discuss the national trend of decriminalization of marijuana, and the likelihood of Governor Bruce Rauner signing it into law here in Illinois. 

Eddie Arruza and his panel of journalists discuss the week's top stories on Chicago Tonight: The Week in Review. Headline topics include Mayor Emanuel's second-term agenda, the problematic Peoples' Gas main replacement program, and the fight for $15 minimum wage. 

Get up close and personal with technology at the Museum of Science and Industry; celebrate the men and women who served our country; and take a tour of future storm water reservoir. Chicago Tonight has your weekend picks.

As Illinois' Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan pushes for a three percent millionaire's tax to raise fresh revenue for the cash-strapped state, Republican lawmakers respond with a proposal for term limits to limit the power of long-time legislative leaders like Madigan. Chicago Tonight Springfield reporter Amanda Vinicky rounds up all the latest news.

Kids are almost out of school for the summer, but some long days are ahead for Chicago Public Schools as it tries to close a more than $1 billion budget deficit, most of which is tied to a $700 million pension payment that is due. On top of that, district officials are negotiating with the Chicago Teachers Union over a new teacher contract. Chicago Tonight talks with CTU President Karen Lewis.

In a time of tight budgets, why is the CTA pushing a $570 million 'flyover' project? Paris Schutz reports. 

Rabbi Herman Schaalman turned 99 years old this year. After a life spent studying religious texts and the Torah, he’s starting to doubt the existence of God. We'll talk with the rabbi about his own evolution.

Scott Flansburg is in the Guinness Book of World Records as the “Fastest Human Calculator.” Flansburg correctly added a randomly selected two-digit number (38) to itself 36 times in 15 seconds without the use of a calculator. Flansburg shares his gift and love of math with children all around the world. He joins Chicago Tonight to put our own calculator to the test.

The Museum of Science and Industry premieres a new national touring exhibit that explores how robots, created by human ingenuity, will ultimately be our companions and colleagues, changing how we play, live, and work together.

The newly seated City Council takes another stab at reform as aldermen select someone to lead the new independent budget office. Paris Schutz has the details on that and more on the heated relocation of Riot Fest.

The University of Illinois’ new president is a geophysicist who studies the earth’s atmosphere. But his focus now will be on moving the state’s huge university system forward. We’ll talk with him about possible budget cuts, tuition costs, and his vision for the future.

The Chicago Council on Global Affairs and the Financial Times will examine how global cities are driving political, social, and economic policies and solving critical world challenges during a three-day forum. Ivo Daalder, president of The Chicago Council on Global Affairs, joins us.