Stories by Eunice Alpasan

Nearly two dozen organizations are asking the Illinois Department of Transportation and Governor J.B. Pritzker to use funds from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to improve safe and accessible transportation for everyone.

School is about a week and a half into session and CPS students have seen some changes around campus and in their classrooms. Also different this year - COVID protocols, which no longer require someone to quarantine if they've had an exposure. After two-plus years of work stoppages and labor disputes, will students finally get to enjoy a fully uninterrupted school year?

“Chopin & Liszt in Paris” is the latest “musical film” created by Hershey Felder, widely known to Chicago audiences for his years of live performances in the city. Felder portrays the flamboyant Liszt, but he performs a great deal of Chopin’s music as he spins the story of his complex artistic relationship with that composer.

Under a new policy announced Tuesday, Chicago Police officers will get at least one day off every week. The policy was announced approximately 24 hours after  the inspector general released an analysis that determined that more than 1,000 officers were scheduled to work 11 or more consecutive days between April 1 and May 31.

Among the last prosecution witnesses was a 42-year-old woman who went by the pseudonym “Nia.” She was the fourth accuser to testify against the Grammy Award-winning singer at the trial in Kelly’s hometown.

Earlier this summer, the U.S. Department of Agriculture instituted new policies to encourage American farmers to begin growing two crops on one piece of land, one after the other, a practice known as double-cropping.

On Monday, “Chicago Tonight” co-host and “Chicago Tonight: Black Voices” host Brandis Friedman moderated the latest edition of our “Chicago Tonight: Black Voices” community conversation series in a discussion focused on education equity and the outlook for the new school year.

Lakeview Ald. Tom Tunney is the sixth member of the Chicago City Council to announce they will not run for re-election next year,

A new report on how many hours Chicago Police officers are working. Plus, a new lease on life for a little village mall, why there will be far fewer voting precincts in Chicago this election and a new exhibit about preservationist photographer Richard Nickel.

A new exhibition, “Capturing Louis Sullivan: What Richard Nickel Saw,” explores the work of architect Louis Sullivan and a photographer on a life’s mission to capture his impact amid disappearing buildings.

The Community Collaboration Initiative brings together 22 Muslim American nonprofits, most located in the Chicago area, to help each organization reach its mission faster. 

According to the Equal Justice Initiative, 86% of American churches have no significant racial diversity. The Pew Research Center reports that 57% of churchgoers attend a predominantly White congregation.

After worrying for months that they would be kicked out under a new owner, vendors at the shopping center have been given a short extension on their leases.

The change is a nearly 40% decrease that will put twice as many voters in each precinct. The Chicago Board of Elections has created 1,290 precincts with an average of 1,165 voters per precinct. Previously, the city had 2,069 voter precincts with an average of 550 to 750 voters per precinct.

Inspector General Deborah Witzburg conducted the inquiry after Supt. David Brown’s decision to repeatedly cancel officers’ scheduled days off during the historically violent summer months erupted into controversy.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot said the eight-month delay was not caused by her lack of support for the commission, which will have the final say on policy for the Chicago Police Department.

Zombie or doomed ice is ice that is still attached to thicker areas of ice, but is no longer getting fed by those larger glaciers. Meanwhile the doomed ice is melting from climate change, said study co-author William Colgan, a glaciologist at the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland.

A second alleged victim who claimed R. Kelly sexually abused her while she was a minor in the 1990s, told jurors Monday that she lied during an investigation into the R&B superstar’s past child pornography allegations to conceal her own involvement with him.

The filing from the department follows a judge’s weekend order indicating that she was inclined to grant the Trump legal team’s request for a special master who would oversee the review of documents taken during the Aug. 8 search of the Mar-a-Lago estate. 

A 5-year-old boy is fighting for his life after being shot in the head Sunday evening, according to the Chicago Police Department.

Thirty-five people were shot, nine of whom died, in weekend shootings across the city of Chicago, including an 18-year-old killed outside a home in Chatham and a 50-year-old killed inside a Humboldt Park restaurant.

The emergency waiver was granted Saturday for Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin, EPA Administrator Michael Regan said. In a letter to state officials, Regan said the agency determined the waiver is necessary “to minimize or prevent disruption of an adequate supply of gasoline to consumers.”

The exhibit highlights both the benefits and challenges they experienced while traveling as Black women during the Jim Crow era.

According to city data, 60% of Chicagoans live in rental properties, and a June report by real estate platform Domu finds the median rent for one-bedroom apartments in Chicago is up 8% since January. With fierce competition for apartments, the city’s renters – many of whom are Black– are more vulnerable targets for scammers and shady landlords.

According to CPS data, fewer than 4% of CPS teachers are Black men. In a school district where 36% percent of students are Black, that’s a striking imbalance. 

Getting more Black men to the head of the classroom, as teachers. Plus, as the rental market gets squeezed, how to spot a scam. And we'll catch up on the first two weeks of R. Kelly’s Chicago trial.