Stories by Crystin Immel

It’s the final stretch of the legislative session. Will lawmakers be able to approve a budget by Sunday or will a special session be necessary? Chicago Tonight Springfield reporter Amanda Vinicky updates us on that and more.

Dr. Nneka Jones Tapia, a clinical psychologist, is the new director of the Cook County Jail. She joins us in conversation.

Pastor Corey Brooks sits down with Paris Schutz to discuss his controversial endorsement of Republican Bruce Rauner for governor, his mission to curb violence and bring economic development to his community, and why he is inviting presidential candidates from both sides of the aisle to come to the South Side for a series of town hall meetings.

CoRiccio Baskin has been making tiny, remarkably accurate replicas of everyday objects for more than 20 years. Jay Shefsky has a profile.

Robert Ryan was an Oscar-nominated actor best known for roles in The Wild Bunch and The Dirty Dozen. The Chicago Reader’s J.R. Jones’ new biography of the Chicago actor looks at the political activism behind the actor’s tough-guy onscreen persona.

We share what you had to say about our conversation with Chicago Teacher's Union President Karen Lewis, the CTA's proposed Belmont flyover project, and the most recent progress of the Chicago Riverwalk project.

The showdown between Gov. Bruce Rauner and House Speaker Michael Madigan continues as state lawmakers stare down a May 31 deadline to approve a budget plan. On Wednesday, lawmakers will continue to vote on a series of measures that make up the spending plan, backed by Madigan, that’s about $3 billion short. At the same time, lawmakers will hold hearings on items that make up Rauner’s Turnaround Illinois agenda.

The Illinois General Assembly has sent a bill to Gov. Bruce Rauner that will allow terminally ill patients to try experimental medication that hasn't yet been approved by the FDA. We'll hear more on the debate over whether the bill gives families a lifeline or puts already sick people at risk.

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.