Stories by Nick Blumberg

Meet a local author who argues that the idea of laziness is a lie — one that’s having a detrimental effect on Americans during the pandemic.

Recreational marijuana has been legal in Illinois for just over a year — and sales were better than expected. Crain’s Chicago Business editor Ann Dwyer has details.

Watch the Jan. 4, 2021 full episode of “Chicago Tonight.”

The Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office handled a record 16,049 deaths in 2020, with coronavirus-related deaths accounting for more than half of those cases, according to officials.

More than 5,800 Chicago Public Schools employees were due back in their classrooms Monday to prepare for students’ return next week. But not all of them showed up.

2020 was a wacky weather year. Chicago was warmer and wetter than normal in 2020, according to a National Weather Service climate summary.

Nancy Pelosi was narrowly reelected Sunday as speaker, giving her the reins of Democrats’ slender House majority as President-elect Joe Biden sets a challenging course of producing legislation to tackle the pandemic, revive the economy and address other party priorities. 

A cross section of aldermen — including some of Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s closest allies  — urged her on Sunday to rethink her plan to reopen the Chicago Public Schools for in-person learning, 24 hours before the first teachers must report to school buildings for work.

Noting over the weekend that the holidays may result in lower numbers related to the coronavirus, state health officials announced just under 4,500 new and probable cases of COVID-19 on Sunday.

The U.S. ramped up COVID-19 vaccinations in the past few days after a slower-than-expected start, bringing to 4 million the number of Americans who have received shots, Dr. Anthony Fauci said Sunday.

Walking along Lake Michigan or the Chicago River, it’s difficult to imagine an underwater world teeming with life. But it’s there, promises Karen Murchie, a research biologist at the Shedd Aquarium, and we have to protect it.

A growing number of Republican lawmakers are joining President Donald Trump’s extraordinary effort to overturn the election, pledging to reject the results when Congress meets next week to count the Electoral College votes. 

Vandals lashed out at the leaders of the U.S. House and Senate over the holiday weekend as Congress failed to approve an increase in the amount of money being sent to individuals to help cope with the coronavirus pandemic.

The number of homicides and shootings in Chicago spiked dramatically in 2020, ending with more bloodshed than in all but one year in more than two decades, statistics released by police on Friday revealed.

COVID-19, civil unrest, a chaotic election, spiking homicides and the walls close in on House Speaker Madigan. Looking back at a year nobody will ever forget, and what lies ahead in 2021.

State driver service facilities will reopen on Tuesday for the first time since mid-November.

Hurricanes, wildfires, a destructive derecho and more: it was a banner year for intense weather events around the world and right here in the Midwest. 

Watch the Dec. 31, 2020 full episode of “Chicago Tonight.”

Former Bears offensive lineman James “Big Cat” Williams previews the Bears matchup Sunday against the Packers.

In the first year since Illinois legalized recreational marijuana, the Illinois State Police expunged 492,192 non-felony cannabis arrest records, Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s office announced on Thursday.

The Illinois Department of Public Health on Thursday announced an additional 8,009 confirmed and probable coronavirus cases, the highest single-day total in two weeks.

Overworked, underfunded state public health departments are scrambling to patch together plans for administering vaccines. Counties and hospitals have taken different approaches, leading to long lines, confusion, frustration and jammed phone lines. 

A top legislator who in 2010 came close to becoming Illinois’ governor and who had only a couple of weeks left as the Senate’s top Republican is instead stepping down from the General Assembly, effective Friday.

Authorities arrested a suburban Milwaukee pharmacist Thursday suspected of deliberately ruining hundreds of doses of coronavirus vaccine by removing it from refrigeration for two nights.

Inspector General Joseph Ferguson told aldermen on Thursday that his office “has initiated and is proceeding with a formal inquiry into aspects of the search warrant” that authorized a botched raid in February 2019 that left Anjanette Young handcuffed while naked and pleading for help.

Chicago employers who are required to give their workers two weeks’ notice of their schedules in an effort to reduce the stress caused by unpredictable shift work can be sued when the law takes full effect Friday after a six-month delay caused by the coronavirus pandemic.