Stories by Brandis Friedman

Teachers at Chicago Public Schools still have no contract deal with the Board of Education, and have repeatedly threatened to walk off the job. And another controversy is brewing within their ranks.

How a role-playing workshop hosted by Storycatchers Theatre is taking a new approach to improving the relationship between first responders and the communities they patrol.

Watch the Aug. 20, 2019 full episode of “Chicago Tonight.”

The state had been prohibited from settings its own emissions targets for more than 20 years. Lawmakers are now expected to focus on an aspirational clean energy bill with the goal of moving Illinois to 100% clean energy by 2050.

A new law signed by Gov. J.B. Pritzker legalizes syringe exchange programs in Illinois, opening the door to an increase in operations aiming to serve a community at risk of overdoses and infection from unsafe supplies.

A long-awaited report on sexual harassment in the Illinois House outlines a culture of fear, intimidation and bullying under House Speaker Michael Madigan’s former chief of staff Tim Mapes.

Two University of Illinois social workers who once treated the man convicted of kidnapping and killing a visiting Chinese scholar claim they cannot be held legally responsible for his “random and incomprehensible actions.”

The company did not give a timeline for when it might expand it to the U.S. and other countries, only that it will be in “coming months.”

The 10-minute status hearing Tuesday was the first since the civil case was moved to federal court from state court. The former “Empire” actor didn’t attend the hearing in Chicago.

Planned Parenthood said Monday it’s pulling out of the federal family planning program rather than abide by a new Trump administration rule prohibiting clinics from referring women for abortions.

This year’s gala concert was in many ways the sharpest production to date, with bravura performances by Giordano Dance Chicago, the Chicago Human Rhythm Project, Chicago Dance Crash and a slew of others.

Solving the epidemic of gun violence in Chicago is an unrelenting challenge. We learn about CRED, a program that wants Chicago’s business community to see it as a problem it can – and should – help stem.

The Chicago theater company has announced Kai EL’Zabar as its third CEO and executive director. The 48-year-old media maven says while working in theater is new for her, she has been grounded in the arts all of her life. 

A woman who contracted Legionnaires’ disease in July is suing the hospital where she contracted the illness, alleging it didn’t take proper precautions following a previous outbreak of legionella bacteria, according to the lawsuit.

The individuals who became ill reported using water in their guest rooms in addition to the hotel’s hot tub and pool during their recent stays at the AmericInn by Wyndham Hotel in Schaumburg, according to health officials.

Using satellite images and data on wildlife activity, scientists determined that artificial light levels found in more than a third of the city are altering the circadian rhythm and behaviors of animals throughout the city.

Watch the Aug. 19, 2019 full episode of “Chicago Tonight.”

The former tea party Republican congressman wrote an op-ed in the New York Times calling for a primary challenger to take on President Donald Trump in 2020. Joe Walsh on his change of heart.

The parents of a University of Illinois scholar from China who was abducted and killed are giving at least $20,000 to people who provided authorities with crucial information that led to the arrest and conviction of their daughter’s killer.

Doctors and public health experts warn of poor health and rising costs they say will come from sweeping Trump administration changes that would deny green cards to many immigrants who use Medicaid, as well as food stamps and other forms of public assistance. 

The economists surveyed by the National Association for Business Economics, in a report released Monday, mostly didn’t share President Trump's optimistic outlook for the economy.

Stocks of companies that do lots of business with China, such as chipmakers and other technology companies, are obvious candidates for investors to sell when trade worries rise. But investors are also looking beyond these first-order effects as they pick out which stocks look susceptible to the trade war. 

A steel company apologized for a spill of cyanide and ammonia that led to a fish kill and prompted the closure of beaches along Lake Michigan, saying it “accepts responsibility for the incident.”

It’s back to the drawing board for a Chicago casino. Two longtime Chicago politicians decide to hang it up. President Trump is still considering clemency for former Gov. Blagojevich. And the Cubs nose-dive on the road.

A Cook County jury has found Jovan Battle, 32, guilty of first-degree murder, aggravated battery and aggravated discharge of a firearm for the March 23 killing of Chicago Officer John Rivera.

No makeup was necessary for a pair of fuzzy sea otter pups the aquarium showed off to the media this week. “They get cuter every day,” said Tracy Deakins, a senior trainer of otters and penguins.