Stories by Heather Cherone

The Chicago City Council may be forced to confront the role its decades-old tradition of giving aldermen the final say over housing developments in their wards has played in creating a hyper-segregated city rife with racism and gentrification. 

New research on COVID-19 antibodies. The city’s new leader on food equity. A behind-the-scenes look at the Pullman National Monument. And we get immersed in the paintings of Van Gogh.

A new study by local scientists sheds light on the efficacy of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines as well as the importance of receiving both doses of the vaccines. We discuss the findings with Northwestern University professor and biological anthropologist Thomas McDade.

Chicago has it’s first-ever food equity policy lead. Ruby Ferguson, who is taking on that role, will help address food insecurity across the city, which has been exacerbated by the pandemic. 

A total of 58 people have been shot in the city, five fatally, since 8 p.m Friday, authorities said. Among those killed was a 4-year-old who was getting his hair cut in his own home when bullets came through the house, striking him in the head. He died at the hospital, police said.

The debate over police in schools as students return to the classroom. The remake of the ‘90s horror classic, “Candyman.” And a Bronzeville incubator helping young businesses think inside the box.

Most shipping containers are packed with consumer goods, but the brightly painted shipping containers in Boxville at the corner of 51st Street and Calumet Avenue are packed full of small businesses with big ambitions.

Slain activist Fred Hampton would have turned 73 years old last month, and though he was killed more than 50 years ago, his memory and legacy still loom large. Now Hampton’s son is seeking a landmark designation for the only surviving building with ties to Hampton’s activism.

Whether to keep cops in schools has been a controversial subject for years. With Chicago Public Schools back in session, we hear how some high schools made the choice to remove or maintain the police presence in their hallways.

President Joe Biden will visit all three 9/11 memorial sites to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks and pay his respects to the nearly 3,000 people killed that day. 

A local doctor combats COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy. We talk September baseball with the Spanish-language broadcasters for the Sox and Cubs. And teaching young people to document their communities. 

Despite the FDA’s full approval of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, some people are still hesitant to roll up their sleeves. A local medical professional talks about the reasoning behind some of this reluctancy and how it’s being addressed.

As the 2021 baseball regular season winds down, the Cubs and White Sox are headed in different directions. Chicago’s Spanish-language baseball announcers slide in to talk about the teams’ prospects in the postseason and next year.

The pandemic has shut down the Mexican Independence Day Parade for a second year, but Fiesta Boricua is going ahead with its plans. We talk with the event organizers about their decisions.

An ardent U.S. ally, Kosovo, has agreed to take in Afghanistan evacuees who fail to clear initial rounds of screening and host them for up to a year, a U.S. official said Saturday.

Power out, high voltage lines on the ground, weeks until electricity is restored in some places: The dismal state of power in Hurricane Ida’s wake is a distressingly familiar scenario for Entergy Corp., Louisiana’s largest electrical utility.

Traditionally, the process of getting an opinion from the U.S. Supreme Court takes months and those rulings are often narrowly tailored. Emergency orders, especially during the court’s summer break, revolve around specific issues, like individual death penalty cases.

The third week of the R. Kelly sex-trafficking trial in New York City saw more accusers — including for the first time, a man — coming forward with array of disturbing allegations and a former assistant providing a glimpse into how he lorded over his inner circle.

New political district maps are spurring lawsuits. Springfield gets down to the wire on an energy bill. Hiccups for Chicago Public Schools students’ first week back. And a tumultuous end to the 20-year Afghanistan War.

Dig those images of flowers, birds and trees out of the iCloud and enter them in the forest preserve district’s annual photo contest. Winning images will be featured in the district’s 2022 calendar. 

All pre-K through 12th grade teachers and staff, higher education employees and students, and health care workers in settings such as hospitals and nursing homes now have until Sept. 19 to receive their first COVID-19 vaccine dose.

At least 50,000 Afghans are expected to be admitted into the United States following the fall of Kabul as part of an “enduring commitment” to help people who aided the American war effort and others who are particularly vulnerable under Taliban rule, the secretary of homeland security said Friday.

With close to 100,000 birds expected to pass over Chicago this weekend, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and its partners have issued a “lights out” alert for the city, encouraging building owners and residents to turn off as many lights as possible between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m.

The August job growth the government reported Friday fell far short of the sizable gains of roughly 1 million in each of the previous two months. The hiring jumps in June and July had followed widespread vaccinations that allowed the economy to fully reopen from pandemic restrictions. 

As customary, there will be celebrations and somber reflections as American Jews observe the upcoming High Holy Days — their faith’s most important period. There also will be deep disappointment, as rabbis once again cancel or limit in-person worship due to the persisting COVID-19 pandemic.

The number of new COVID-19 infections has been steadily increasing for weeks and on Friday neared 6,000 for the first time in a 24-hour period since January, according to state health officials.