Stories by Brandis Friedman

The summer of 2015 has been rife with financial complications for Chicago Public Schools. The district has long been in a billion dollar budget hole, and school board members today voted to approve taking on just over a billion dollars in additional debt. Chicago Tonight's Brandis Friedman joins us Wednesday with details.

Filming for Spike Lee’s new film Chi-Raq has wrapped up, but the debate over the film’s working title rages on. Next week, the City Council is expected to hold hearings on the film's controversial moniker.

Illinois Senate President John Cullerton is a key player in the state budget standoff. Yesterday, Gov. Rauner told reporters that the state would have a budget if it was up to him, Sen. Cullerton, and Mayor Rahm Emanuel. Today, what remained of the goodwill between Rauner and Democratic leaders seems to have evaporated. Paris Schutz has more.

We talk with Crain's Chicago Business Deputy Managing Editor Ann Dwyer about some of the biggest business stories this week, from Aon Center being sold to Caterpillar looking to Cuba to boost sluggish sales. Also, find out when McDonald’s will begin serving breakfast all day. 

One hundred years ago today, the SS Eastland sank in the Chicago River. Nearly 100 newly found photos from the Chicago Tribune offer a new look at Chicago's deadliest tragedy.  

Chicago Tonight's Jay Shefsky talks with the founders of a local cycling movement that focuses on South and West Side neighborhoods. Meet the duo behind Slow Roll Chicago. 

A U.S. Appeals Court on Tuesday overturned five of the 18 convictions against former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who is currently serving a 12-year sentence in a Colorado federal prison.

Gov. Bruce Rauner on Tuesday held a press conference to lay blame for the weeks-long partial state government shutdown at the feet of House Speaker Mike Madigan, and to decry lawmakers for taking a pay raise when there's no budget in place. We'll get the latest Springfield news from Chicago Tonight's Amanda Vinicky.

In a city that has 50 aldermen, it might not come as a surprise that Illinois has the most units of government in the country, nudging out the competition with 6,964 governmental bodies, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. This fact isn’t lost on Gov. Bruce Rauner, who created the Local Government and Unfunded Mandates Task Force to come up with recommendations on how to trim down that number. We discuss the task force’s recommendations.

Need your car detailed or piano tuned? Whether you're looking for an event caterer or a portrait painter, dog groomer or furniture mover, Chicago magazine's just released list of the "Best of Chicago" highlights 72 shops, services, and activities that make the Windy City second to none.  

Chicago Sun-Times Theater Critic Hedy Weiss joins us to review the Steppenwolf’s Grand Concourse, Black Ensemble Theater’s Men of Soul, Lookingglass Theatre Company’s Moby Dick, and Chicago Shakespeare Theater’s The Little Mermaid.

This is week three of the partial state government shutdown. Carol Marin talks with four lawmakers about whether a compromise is in the foreseeable future.

Swimming safely in the Chicago River is now one giant step closer to reality, according to sanitary officials. Chicago Tonight details the new disinfection process making that possible.

Author and Basecamp founder Jason Fried joins Chicago Tonight for a conversation about changing the way we work – and why showing up to an office every day doesn't mean we're actually being productive.

In preparation for becoming public school teachers, students at Illinois State University's College of Education are receiving a full immersion in Chicago this summer. It's called the Summer Teacher Education Partnership for Urban Preparation, or STEP-UP.

The phone of the future may be able to detect depression, says a new study from Northwestern University's School of Medicine. Clinical psychologist Stephen Schueller of Northwestern's Center for Behavioral Intervention Technologies joins us to discuss the study's findings.

The WTTW organic vegetable garden is thriving this summer despite all the rain and fluctuations in temperature. The Organic Gardener Jeanne Nolan joins us to harvest mid-summer crops. She’ll also give us some tips on what vegetables can still be planted at this point in the season.

We share what you had to say about Forrest Claypool’s appointment to lead Chicago Public Schools and the return of happy hour to Illinois bars. 

Joel Weisman and his panel of journalists discuss this week’s top stories.

Joel Weisman and his panel of journalists discuss Democrat Andrea Zopp's bid for the U.S. Senate, and talk further about the buzz surrounding the resurgent Cubs.

Outdoor concerts, food and art highlight this weekend's roundup of summer events.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced Thursday that Forrest Claypool will be the new CEO of Chicago Public Schools. Claypool, Emanuel’s chief of staff, will replace Interim CEO Jesse Ruiz, who has been serving in that capacity since former CPS CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett resigned in April. Claypool begins his new role on Monday, July 27.

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle won a victory Wednesday after the county board narrowly signed off on her controversial sales tax hike, but there might be some legal and political risks. We’ll talk with the Civic Federation president Laurence Msall and Nick Kachiroubas, an assistant professor at DePaul University’s School of Public Service.