Stories by Tonia Hill

Comic book lovers, pop culture fanatics and art and tech enthusiasts are flocking to McCormick Place this weekend for the Afro-futuristic celebration Wakandacon. We get a preview of this year’s fest.

A new report raises some red flags about the potential health risks associated with swimming at local beaches.

A recently completed design competition is now working with a developer to take its winning entry from concept to construction in two vacant, city-owned lots.

A statewide coalition says it will focus its efforts on health care policies that increase children’s access to care and mental health services and address underlying social factors that impact health.

A judge has agreed to make public the details of a plea agreement reached this week between Cook County prosecutors and a former Oxford University staffer who says he’ll testify against an ex-Northwestern University professor at his upcoming murder trial.

The NCAA suspended DePaul men’s basketball coach Dave Leitao for the first three games of the regular season Tuesday, saying he should have done more to prevent recruiting violations by his staff.

Watch the July 23, 2019 full episode of “Chicago Tonight.”

America in the summer of 1919 ran red with blood from racial violence, and yet today, 100 years later, not many people know it even happened. It was branded “Red Summer” because of the bloodshed and amounted to some of the worst white-on-black violence in U.S. history.

The 99-year-old former Supreme Court justice died last week in Florida. He served on the high court for nearly 35 years, retiring in 2010.

The new netting in Chicago will be 30 feet high above the dugouts and reach a maximum height of 45 feet down the lines.

From President Donald Trump’s tweets to a Facebook post on the page of the Illinois Republican County Chairmen’s Association, we discuss the widening political divide and what constitutes racism.

Should larger Chicago companies be required to let employees know of their work schedules two weeks ahead of time?

Chicago has the largest life expectancy gap of any big city in America. We speak with a researcher who says that while “there’s no easy answer” to the disparity, the city’s high degree of racial segregation clearly plays a role.

“Molly of Denali” is making headlines as the first national children’s series to feature a Native American lead character. We speak with Chicago-based writer and actor June Thiele, who’s contributing to the show.

As the popularity of a photo-transforming app has skyrocketed, so has new concern over privacy. Derek Eder of Chicago-based company DataMade weighs in.

The 2001 musical with a soaring, intensely poetic score delivers both a rare emotional punch and a winning sense of forgiveness, redemption and love. It is uncannily timely.

More than two years after a grizzly slaying that led authorities on a nationwide manhunt, a former Oxford University staffer has pleaded guilty to murder and agreed to testify against his co-defendant, a former Northwestern University associate professor.

As a heat wave moved across the Chicago area last week, polar and grizzly bears stayed cool at the zoo with fruit-filled blocks of ice weighing 300 pounds.

If you wake up in the middle of the night and start browsing social media or turn on the TV, you might have difficulty falling back asleep or feel groggy later on, but your sleep-wake cycle should remain intact, according to a new Northwestern University study.

Watch the July 22, 2019 full episode of “Chicago Tonight.”

The festival had been scheduled for Aug. 23-24 at Montrose Beach, where a pair of endangered piping plovers established a nest this spring. 

A moonstruck nation celebrated the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11’s “giant leap” by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin at parties, races, ball games and concerts Saturday, toasting with Tang and gobbling MoonPies.

The 4-foot, 18-pound American alligator will stay alone for 90 days to make sure he is illness-free, and then join other gators, says St. Augustine Alligator Farm Zoological Park Director John Brueggen.

A deal to have a private operator invest up to $100 million to run the Illinois International Port District, also known as the Port of Chicago, appears to be dead.

Four cops fired over an alleged cover-up. A life sentence for a former U. of I. student. A war of words between Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle. Five casino locations are unveiled. And the Cubs are red hot.

“Cats” and “Les Miserables” have both returned to Chicago this summer, and “West Side Story” is in the throes of a renaissance. Here are some brief impressions about all three musicals as experienced in their recent incarnations.