Stories by Amanda Vinicky

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, Illinois is already months behind in awarding licenses to new marijuana dispensaries. But now, legislators want to further delay the process. 

Attorney General William Barr credits a federal operation with a significant decline in homicides in Chicago, but Mayor Lori Lightfoot blasts Barr’s “victory lap” as “factually inaccurate.” Our politics team weighs in on that story and more.

President Donald Trump admitted he knew weeks before the first confirmed U.S. coronavirus death that the virus was dangerous and that he repeatedly played it down publicly, according to journalist Bob Woodward in his new book “Rage.”

In a win for nature lovers and fans of open space, the Chicago City Council voted on Wednesday to keep 100-plus acres in North Park protected from development, permanently.

Chicago Public Schools students are back in the classroom this week — virtually, that is. CPS CEO Janice Jackson tells us more about that and the results of the district’s “Learn. Plan. Succeed.” program. 

This weekend, we’re premiering two new shows focused on amplifying the voices of Chicago’s Black and Latino communities. We talk with the hosts of our new shows “Black Voices” and “Latino Voices.”

We speak with Protect Our Parks founder and president Herb Caplan about the latest in the legal battle over the $500 million project planned for Chicago’s South Side.

After 35 years, the Windy City Times will end its print edition and move forward as an online-only publication in October. We discuss the news with the publication’s co-founder and publisher, Tracy Baim.

A census undercount of just 1% in Illinois could result in the loss of $195 million in federal funds, Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Wednesday as he urged residents to participate in the once-a-decade count.

After a three-year, student-led grassroots campaign, the Chicago Park District Board of Commissioners voted to officially remove the name of Stephen Douglas from what’s now temporarily known as Park 218. 

Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Wednesday blasted Attorney General William Barr for claiming that President Donald Trump’s decision to send approximately 100 federal agents to Chicago was responsible for a drop in homicides.

U.S. Attorney General William Barr said 500 arrests have been made and 124 defendants charged in federal court in connection with Operation Legend, a partnership between federal and local law enforcement agencies aimed at combating violent crime.

With the race for a vaccine underway and President Donald Trump claiming one could be available before the November election, Gov. J.B. Pritzker reiterated Wednesday that safety would guide the state’s reopening.

The City Council on Wednesday approved a $4.5 million package designed to prevent the planned Obama Presidential Center in Jackson Park from supercharging gentrification in Woodlawn.

A Cook County judge has denied bond for the 18-year-old high school student who is accused of calmly and methodically stabbing a Walgreens employee to death Sunday inside the Wicker Park store where she worked.

With people spending more time outdoors to prevent the spread of COVID-19, the state’s top doctor is urging people to protect themselves from the mosquito-borne West Nile virus.

The Chicago City Council voted 46-4 Wednesday to ban the sale of most flavored liquid nicotine products in Chicago, after an effort to prohibit the sale of all flavored tobacco products failed to advance.

Watch the Sept. 9, 2020 full episode of “Chicago Tonight.”

The top U.S. infectious disease expert said AstraZeneca’s suspension of final testing of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate shows “one of the safety valves” built into the studies to spot any potential problems.

The Chicago Historic Resource Survey, completed in 1995, has been an invaluable tool for preservationists. But it’s beginning to show its age, and the lack of sites of significance to the Black and Latino communities is notable.

The coronavirus has shuttered concert venues around the world, but that hasn’t stopped artists and musicians from finding new ways to share their work. Soprano Renee Fleming tells us about Lyric’s upcoming concert.

What you need to know about the race for a coronavirus vaccine.

The Chicago Commission on Landmarks unanimously approved preliminary landmark status for Emmett Till’s former home, calling the red brick two-flat a “modest home that is monumentally important.”

Big technology stocks tumbled again on Tuesday, continuing the Icarus-like flight path for companies that just a week ago were the high-flyers carrying Wall Street to record heights. 

R. Kelly can remain behind bars awaiting multiple trials on child pornography and other charges in three states, an appeals court in New York said Tuesday.

Chicago police have charged Sincere Williams, 18, with first-degree murder in the fatal stabbing of a Walgreens employee as she was stocking shelves inside a Northwest Side store Sunday.