Stories by Nick Blumberg

The former mayoral candidate and onetime Chicago school board president is taking on a new job as board chair of Local Initiatives Support Corporation Chicago. He tells us about his new role.

Watch the July 3, 2019 full episode of “Chicago Tonight.”

A wonderfully imagined riff on the Ada Lovelace story, Lauren Gunderson’s fascinating, emotionally feverish play is now receiving a vividly realized Chicago premiere production by The Artistic Home.

Boeing said Wednesday that it will provide an “initial investment” of $100 million over several years to help families and communities affected by two crashes of its 737 Max plane that killed 346 people.

Music fests, hot air balloons, finger-licking ribs and an art fair usher in the holiday weekend. Here are 10 things to do in and around Chicago.

Malort, the Chicago-born liquor both praised (and panned) for its bracing bitterness, is made in Chicago once more. We visit Chicago’s CH Distillery to see what everyone’s wincing about.

In honor of the Fourth of July, we deep-fry what is perhaps Chicago’s greatest culinary contribution to America – and the globe: deep-dish pizza.

Property taxes are on the rise in many parts of the city, and homeowners will soon get specifics on those hikes in the mail. See ward-by-ward changes for single-family homes across Chicago.

Looking to improve his standing with black voters, Democratic presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg pitched a plan Tuesday to tackle “systemic racism” he said exists in housing, health care, education, policing and other aspects of American life.

Customs spokesman Steve Bansbach said Tuesday that the man declared the 32 pounds of meat on June 26 when his flight arrived from the Ivory Coast. The meat was confiscated and destroyed.

Fireworks are synonymous with the Fourth of July. But too often, celebrations can end with a trip to the hospital if fireworks are mishandled and proper precautions aren’t taken. 

Mayor Lori Lightfoot has been upfront recently that city residents should expect to pay more in taxes to help fill persistent budget holes. One she’s eyeing? A tax on services.

Geoffrey Baer investigates an early attempt at a Chicago baseball crosstown classic – that may or may not have actually happened.

For the past two weeks, electric scooters have been zipping around Chicago’s West Side. An update on how the pilot program is going.

As states prepare to draw new election boundaries after the 2020 census, what can be done to ensure those maps give equal weight to all votes? Behind the practice of gerrymandering and the movement to curb it.

Meet Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer, the first woman in the 200-year history of Chicago’s federal court to become chief judge.

We visit a career-spanning show of work by Marvin E. Newman, a still-working photographer who captured Chicago and its people in the 1940s and ‘50s.

Watch the July 2, 2019 full episode of “Chicago Tonight.”

The disease known as sudden oak death has killed large numbers of oak trees and native plant species in California, Oregon and Europe. The pathogen behind it has now been identified in Illinois.

If you plan on hitting the road Friday afternoon, be warned: it’s projected to be the worst time for travelers in Chicago, according to AAA, with delays as much as two times the normal commute. 

Federal defenders are seeking a four-week delay to review and translate videos of Yingying Zhang and her family if that evidence is allowed at sentencing.

For all it’s polish and ambition I can’t say the show has turned me into a fan of the operetta style. But “The Flower of Hawaii” is unquestionably an artifact of musical theater interest, and this might just be the only chance you will ever have to experience it.

A Chicago native is returning home to cover the city’s vibrant arts scene for “Chicago Tonight.”

More than 200 corporations, including many of America’s best-known companies, are urging the U.S. Supreme Court to rule that federal civil rights law bans job discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.

Police say charges are currently pending against six adults and one possible juvenile accused of spray-painting the Bean and Cancer Survivor Wall in Maggie Daley Park.

The chief of the Transportation Security Administration says travelers should see only a slight increase in checkpoint wait times over the four-day July 4 holiday weekend.