Stories by Paris Schutz

Federal authorities have repeatedly warned about foreign influence in U.S. elections, but a core federal agency that keeps watch on elections is suddenly without any enforcement ability. We speak with Federal Election Commission Chair Ellen Weintraub.

People commonly adopt dog and cats from the pound, but there’s a new phenomenon in Chicago: stray chickens and roosters are being rounded up in an effort to find them their forever homes.

New rules for a scrap metal yard on the city’s North Side require the facility to reduce emissions of potentially cancer-causing compounds after it violated federal air pollution standards last summer.

Watch the Aug. 27, 2019 full episode of “Chicago Tonight.”

The Illinois attorney general’s office has been so inundated with payment requests stemming from its consent decree with a former Champaign-based bus operator that they’ve asked a federal judge to amend the agreement itself.

The Justice Department said Monday it would move forward to expand the number of marijuana growers for federally authorized cannabis research.

Al Haynes was hailed for his skill when a jet lost all hydraulic power after the rear engine exploded during a flight from Denver to Chicago on July 19, 1989. Haynes saved nearly 200 lives by guiding the damaged jet into a crash landing in Iowa. Haynes, 87, died Sunday.

“Never Trump” Republicans are eager to see the president confront a credible primary adversary. But the party will likely erect structural barriers that make that kind of challenge exceedingly difficult.

For decades, the southern border of the U.S. has been a flash point for conflicting points of view. Now, artists from both sides of the border – including Chicago – are navigating the rocky road of migration in “The Border Crossed Us.”

U.S. Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia has had a foot in both local and national politics for decades. Now representing Illinois’ 4th Congressional District, Garcia has become an outspoken critic of the Trump administration’s immigration policies. He joins us in discussion.

News of a spike in wildfires in the Amazon led to an international outcry aimed at Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who responded over the weekend by authorizing the deployment of 44,000 military troops to put out the fires. 

Nineteen states, including Illinois, sued on Monday over the Trump administration’s effort to alter a federal agreement that limits how long immigrant children can be kept in detention.

An impeccable set of iconic songs by the 17-time Grammy Award winner before a crowd of 16,000 at the Ravinia Festival suggested why he has remained such an enduring musical artist for more than four decades.

Watch the Aug. 26, 2019 full episode of “Chicago Tonight.”

Teachers at Chicago Public Schools are back in the classroom, preparing for the arrival of students next week. But they still have no contract from the district, even though the district is changing its offer to teachers.

President Donald Trump said his trade negotiators had received two “very good calls” from China on Sunday. But a spokesman for China’s foreign ministry said that he didn’t know what calls Trump was talking about.

Joe Walsh, a former Illinois congressman and tea party favorite turned radio talk show host, announced a challenge Sunday to President Donald Trump for the Republican nomination in 2020.

A sexual harassment report puts new scrutiny on Springfield. Bombastic former U.S. Rep. Joe Walsh mulls taking on Trump. A teachers union trip to Venezuela causes uproar. And the Cubs close an otherwise strong week with a blowout loss.

Since 1995, researchers in Chicago and from around the world have used Argonne National Laboratory’s Advanced Photon Source to create super bright X-rays to probe everything from dinosaur bones to atomic particles. But the APS has an even brighter future.

One of Stephen Sondheim’s most popular works is now on stage at Writers Theatre in a sophisticated, powerfully sung, environmentally enveloping production directed by longtime Sondheim aficionado Gary Griffin.

Ty, an 18-year-old California sea lion, had been living at the aquarium since 2005. Animal caretakers and veterinarians began monitoring him last week after noticing an uncharacteristic decline in his appetite.

An Illinois resident who was hospitalized with a severe respiratory illness after vaping has died, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health. It may be the first death in the country linked to vaping. 

The settlement requires the retailers to pay more than $540,000 in fines for illegally selling and marketing e-cigarette products to minors, according to city officials.

The announcement comes five months after the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office dropped criminal charges related to a racist and homophobic attack actor Jussie Smollett allegedly orchestrated.

Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said the goal is to make it easier to share a patient’s drug treatment history with doctors treating that person for other problems. 

Federal safety officials are recruiting pilots from airlines around the world to test changes that Boeing is making to the flight-control software on the grounded 737 Max jet, according to two people briefed on the situation.