Stories by Alex Ruppenthal

Scientists are preparing to launch a rocket in New Mexico that’s equipped with a new high-powered device that will capture unprecedented images of astronomical objects. 

A new outbreak this week of an intestinal illness has prompted an expanded investigation of possible sources of contamination.

Chicago’s last waterfall is about to be demolished. Viewers weigh in on that story.

Watch the July 19, 2018 full episode of “Chicago Tonight.”

Community reaction comes in for the new Lincoln Yards proposal slated to be a city-within-a-city.

Sailing is a mostly white, male sport. On the eve of the Race to Mackinac, we visit one crew that bucks both of those trends. 

The Trump administration can’t say whether it will meet a July 26 deadline to reunite 2,500 migrant children with their parents.

A new resolution to bring universal basic income to Chicago may soon be making its way to City Council for a vote.

After 29 years of trying to stay anonymous, the Chicago Tribune’s restaurant critic has decided to reveal his face.

The Special Olympics celebrates 50 years. How it all began – right here in Chicago.

“This crisis touches the lives of so many – almost everyone knows someone struggling with an opioid addiction,” said Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart. “I hope this podcast opens eyes and minds to how easily an opioid addiction can happen and how hard it can be to stop.”

Too often this Elvis Presley-focused prequel to “Million Dollar Quartet” homes in on material that might have been cut from that earlier show. But on the plus side, it infuses the story with much that was omitted from “Quartet.”

Chicago and Cook County have sometimes-spotty reputations when it comes to how they run government operations. But they have taken steps to clean up their acts.

Watch the July 18, 2018 full episode of “Chicago Tonight.”

Chicago is still the second city when it comes to foreclosures, but at the other end of the real estate spectrum, luxury property sales are booming.

One hundred women – including former inmates, corrections officials, judges and prosecutors – are calling for a 50-percent reduction in the number of women behind bars in Illinois. We speak with Deanne Benos, who is leading the initiative.

In Chicago’s Fulton Market district, a new co-living space offers shared accommodations for an all-inclusive price. And the company is looking to aggressively expand.

Conservation-minded volunteers in suburban Barrington are attracting snakes to their own backyards – on purpose.

Was the 2011 sale of Chicago’s Goose Island Beer Co. to the Anheuser-Busch InBev company a great American success story, or an epic sellout? We talk barrel-aged beer with Chicago Tribune reporter Josh Noel.

Seeking “full transparency,” local activist William Calloway files a lawsuit against the Chicago Police Department, pushing for the release of all unedited audio and video showing the fatal shooting Saturday of Harith Augustus.

Grammy-winning musicians, indie acts, Mexican fare and superheroes usher in the weekend. Here are 10 things to do in and around Chicago.

Lawyers say victims of an October 2017 mass shooting have been “targeted twice” following multiple lawsuits filed this week by Las Vegas-based MGM Resorts International.

We have some fun on a bun in commercial bakeries that make the bread for two iconic Chicago foods.

The real question at the heart of this 95-minute, music-infused marathon of a farce – which features two actors playing 13 characters and frequently sharing time at a piano – is whether the performers themselves will make it out alive.

Watch the July 17, 2018 full episode of “Chicago Tonight.”

Mayor Rahm Emanuel urges calm in his first public appearance since this weekend’s fatal police-involved shooting.