Stories by Kristen Thometz

Even if family separations are temporary, “the psychological effects of separation reverberate throughout the community for a long time,” said Dana Rusch, assistant professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago. 

Watch the Aug. 2, 2018 full episode of “Chicago Tonight.”

Protesters on the North Side of Chicago shut down all four lanes of Lake Shore Drive during rush hour Thursday to draw attention to gun violence in the city.

There’s a shortage of male teachers in Illinois classrooms, particularly those who are African-American and Latino. How the University of Illinois at Chicago is hoping to change that. 

A studio performance with harmonica hero Howard Levy and Chicago folk legend Bonnie Koloc.

Once upon a time in Chicago, so many people fished to feed their families that there were bait shops up and down the lakefront. The oldest one has been owned by the same family for 60 years.

By almost every measure, the U.S. economy is on a bullet train to prosperity. But are there warning signs among the surging data?

Some have called the Leopold and Loeb case “the murder that wouldn’t die.” A new book fans the flames of our obsession with this baffling and sensational crime. A conversation with author Nina Barrett.

In a joint statement released Thursday, attorneys general from nearly 20 states, including Illinois, said weakening the so-called clean car rules would cause Americans to breathe dirtier air and pay higher gas prices.

Residents who come across young animals in the city often think they’ve been abandoned. But that’s rarely the case. Learn how to respond when you spot kittens or other baby animals on your block. 

Watch the Aug. 1, 2018 full episode of “Chicago Tonight.”

East meets West in an art show that began with a collection of photos found at an estate sale 27 years ago.

Chicago residents logged more than 50,000 complaints last year about rats, according to a new survey that ranks the city as the “rat capital” of the U.S. We separate rat fact from fiction.

Protesters are poised to take over Wrigleyville on Thursday. Organizers of the march are here to tell us why.

Broken souls grasp for meaning and connection in Samuel D. Hunter’s intense play that unfolds in a dreary church basement in the small town of Idaho Falls, Idaho.

A watchdog group takes action against the Chicago mayoral candidate’s campaign for behavior they believe is unethical and improper.

National Teachers Academy parents want a Cook County judge to step in and halt Chicago Public Schools’ plan to transform their elementary school into a high school.

A local institution holds handwritten lyric sheets belonging to the biggest-selling music artists of all time. We get a peek at this collection of cultural artifacts.

Federal officials are advising consumers to rid their fridges of salads and wraps linked to an intestinal illness that has sickened more than 600 people in Illinois since mid-May.

Some 20 years after they stampeded along Michigan Avenue, Chicagoans are still moo-ved by the memory of Cows on Parade. Geoffrey Baer revisits the 1999 art project in this encore edition of “Ask Geoffrey.”

Archaeologists are nearing the end of a monthlong dig in the city’s Old Irving Park neighborhood. What they’re looking for – and what they’ve turned up.

A massive music festival, local talent, craft brews and thought-provoking plays usher in the weekend. Here are 10 things to do in and around Chicago.

Next week, the retired University of Chicago astrophysicist, 91, will watch as a probe named in his honor is launched from the Kennedy Space Center and catapulted to the sun’s corona.

There’s a telescope under construction in Chile, and it’s slated to be the world’s largest – if it’s completed in time.

Watch the July 31, 2018 full episode of “Chicago Tonight.”

Chicago is losing its last waterfall. We follow up on an earlier story to see the beginning of its demolition in River Park.