Stories by Michael Lipkin

Are leaders born or bred? Loyola University business ethics professor Al Gini joins us to discuss his book, 10 Virtues of Outstanding Leaders. Read an excerpt. 

Chicagoan Allegra Rosenberg, 17, has become a YouTube sensation, writing songs beloved by fans of Doctor Who, BBC Sherlock and other off-beat pop culture hits. We revist Jay Shefsky's profile. Watch music videos.

Chicago cop-turned-actor Dennis Farina died today at age 69. Watch web extra video of Farina from WTTW's archives.

Rogers Park Ald. Joe Moore, known as a progressive, is responding today to charges of ethical misconduct. A report issued by the city's legislative inspector general concludes an alderman engaged in theft and abuse of authority. Chicago Tonight first reported the story last night on our website and confirmed the alderman in question is the 49th ward's Joe Moore.Read an article.

The Chicago Public Schools have announced more layoffs. This round cuts more than 2,100 people, including 1,036 teachers -- half of whom are tenured. This reduction follows the June announcement of 855 layoffs. Eddie Arruza and his guests examine the latest round of cuts, and how it will impact students and the system’s $1 billion budget deficit. Read the CPS fact sheet.

Sen. Dick Durbin urges all law enforcement agencies to use the federal database resources to track guns found at crime scenes. Elizabeth Brackett has the story. Read Durbin's letter.

In the wake of Detroit filing for bankruptcy last week, we take a look at the possibility of Chicago following the Motor City into financial calamity. Is Chicago’s recent bond rating downgrade a sign of things to come? Or is the city in a totally different situation than Detroit? We have analysis.

A playwright uses the internet to develop a new script about the fight to build a suburban mosque. We get a preview of Mosque Alert by Silk Road Rising and Jamil Khoury. Watch a video and read an interview.

We take a look at Chicago's famous skyscrapers-- and the political deals that shaped them. Author Thomas Leslie joins us with more from Chicago Skyscrapers: 1871-1934. Read an interview.

We share what you had to say about Ald. Joe Moore caught in an ethics investigation and on the Better Government Association's hospital investigation in tonight’s Viewer Feedback.

Ald. Joe Moore (49th), known as a progressive and reform-minded politician, and for defying former Mayor Richard M. Daley on a host of issues, is facing multiple ethics probes, Chicago Tonight has exclusively learned. Read an article.

City finance wonks, and anyone else interested in Tax Increment Financing (TIFs), have a new site to search for projects across Chicago. Read an article.

Joel Weisman and his panel of journalists discuss the week's top headlines.

Joel Weisman and his panel of journalists discuss the latest hit to Cook County taxpayers: they’re on the hook for almost $500,000 due to Cook County Assessor Joe Berrios wrongly firing 11 people. Also, the panel further debates the clout-heavy Metra story. Watch the web extra conversation.

Iconic photos of rock stars, yoga at the zoo, and a Parade of Nations at an ethnic arts festival; Chicago Tonight knows what's going on this weekend.

The latest casualty in the state’s battle for pension reform is Chicago’s credit ratings. Moody’s Investors Service has bumped the city’s general obligation and sales tax ratings down three notches. We discuss what this triple downgrade means.

Wrigley Field redevelopment plans pass the Chicago Plan Commission with the support of Ald. Tom Tunney. Paris Schutz has the latest.

Jeanne Nolan left Winnetka as a teenager in 1987, frustrated with what she saw as an unhealthy materialism in everyday life. She joined a commune in California to learn organic farming, but eventually realized the commune, with cult-like leaders, was a dangerous place to be. Moving back in with her family 17 years later, without traditional job training, she turned her parents' backyard into an organic garden. She joins us. Read an interview with Nolan.

The new Art Institute of Chicago exhibition, Impressionism, Fashion, and Modernity, is the first of its kind to look exclusively at the ways in which the Impressionists used fashion to communicate the idea of "modern." View a slideshow and read excerpts from the fashion catalogue.

For 40 years, jazz promoter Geraldine de Haas has been an icon in the Chicago music scene. We welcome her back for one last visit to discuss her influential career before she moves out of town. Read an interview with a local jazz performer.

We share what you had to say about  Lisa Madigan's announcement that she will not run for governor, controversy arising over the plan for a lakefront hotel in Evanston, and ousted Metra CEO Alex Clifford’s RTA probe in tonight’s Viewer Feedback.  

New charges of patronage, no-bid contracts and strong-arming by Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan come to light as ousted Metra CEO Alex Clifford speaks out for the first time. Clifford told the RTA Wednesday that Madigan's requests reflected a "moral and ethical character flaw." Paris Schutz has the details.

In light of former Metra CEO Alex Clifford’s testimony before the RTA Wednesday, we take a look at the ethical and legal implications of patronage politics in Illinois.

A new investigation by the Better Government Association reveals doctors and staff at Cook County's Stroger Hospital are allegedly shorting their hours and wasting taxpayer money. We discover the BGA's disturbing findings and what the hospital has already done as a result of the investigation. Read an article.

After a one-year sabbatical at Harvard University, the Chicago Tribune’s architecture critic Blair Kamin is back in Chicago. He joins us to chime in on some hot-button architectural stories unfolding in the city.