Stories by Heather Cherone

Thirty-three alderpeople currently support the ward map backed by the Black Caucus — eight short of the votes needed to avert a referendum in June. 

Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx announced Tuesday that her office will not file criminal charges against the Chicago police officers who shot and killed 13-year-old Adam Toledo and 22-year-old Anthony Alvarez in separate on-duty shootings just days apart last year.

The move would add a fourth dose to the COVID vaccine regimen, which currently consists of a primary series of two shots, followed months later by a booster dose, in an effort to provide maximum protection to the over-65 population that has been hit hardest by the pandemic.

Debra ​​Bannack, 62, has been charged with three counts of wire fraud and one count of mail fraud as part of a widespread scheme at Brennemann Elementary, which was allegedly orchestrated by ex-principal Sarah Jackson Abedelal.

Robyn Detterline’s March Chicago Collision Bird Migration Madness tournament may be a product of her own imagination, but the stakes are very real for birds when it comes to navigating their way safely through Chicago.

Climate scientists at the University of Michigan looked at 15 different plant pollens in the United States and used computer simulations to calculate how much worse allergy season will likely get by the year 2100. It’s enough to make allergy sufferers even more red-eyed.

“King James” by Rajiv Joseph receives a terrific world premiere by Steppenwolf Theatre. The play follows a friendship over a decade that began over a shared love for LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers. 

It’s the last day for political candidates to turn in their paperwork. Plus, the outgoing head of the state’s public health department, and how inflation and high gas prices are impacting Chicago’s most vulnerable population.

There were no major surprises as the window closed, with no big names mounting a surprise challenge to Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker. With Petersburg’s Jesse Sullivan getting his petitions in before the 5 p.m. deadline, all five of the high-profile Republicans seeking their party’s nomination for governor have filed to run in what’s expected to be a contentious race.

An art exhibition called “Courage …” features work made by first responders. It is running in Skokie through April 3.

Although the United States barely uses Russian oil, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is still a big factor in the gas-price spike — among other reasons.

The 2020 Census undercounted Latino, Black and Indigenous people. That’s according to a survey by the U.S. Census Bureau itself.

While the increase in the cost at the pump — or in the check-out line — impacts everyone, those who were already operating on a tight budget may be feeling the impact most acutely.

Russia and Ukraine kept a fragile diplomatic path open with a new round of talks on Monday even as Moscow’s forces pounded away at Kyiv and other cities across the country in a punishing assault that the Red Cross said has created “nothing short of a nightmare” for the civilian population.

It is the second time in six months that alderpeople have called an emergency meeting of the City Council to publicly push back against Lightfoot’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The alderpeople demanded the session one day after the deadline for Chicago Police Department members to get at least the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Designed to ease congestion on the Kennedy Expressway around O’Hare Airport, the new tollway will connect Interstate 90 and Interstate 294.

Attorneys for Jussie Smollett are seeking to get the former “Empire” star out of Cook County jail on bond, as his family claims he’s being held in a “psych ward” to begin his five-month jail stay.

A final vote on the measure, which advanced unanimously Monday, is set for March 23.

The mass shooting occurred at around 3:20 p.m. Sunday outside a pizza restaurant in the 7900 block of South Exchange Avenue.

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan is planning trips to Iowa and New Hampshire. Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., is considering a rough timeline for a potential presidential announcement. And allies of Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., are openly talking up her White House prospects.

Employees who are not vaccinated will not be paid and may face additional “disciplinary action, up to and including termination,” Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s office said in a statement Friday evening. 

Industry analyst Trilby Lundberg of the Lundberg Survey said Sunday the new price exceeds by 32 cents the prior all-time high of $4.11 set in July 2008. But that’s still quite a ways from the inflation-adjusted record high of about $5.24 per gallon.

Brent Renaud, an acclaimed filmmaker who traveled to some of the darkest and most dangerous corners of the world for documentaries that transported audiences to little-known places of suffering, died Sunday after Russian forces opened fire on his vehicle in Ukraine.

Chicago neighborhood Roseland and suburban Lansing, both enclaves of roughly 30,000 people, reflect how Black migration patterns in the 21st century are changing the makeup of metropolitan areas nationwide. 

A Black/Latino Voices crossover: what it means to be a refugee. The state’s outgoing top doctor joins us. The Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act heads to the president’s desk. And going green in Englewood.

Dr. Ngozi Ezike’s last day as director of the Illinois Department of Public Health is March 14. In a one-one-one interview, she spoke about her plans for the future and reflected on the last two years of COVID-19 response efforts.