Stories by Patty Wetli

For the third year in a row, Chicago has set a new record for the most precipitation in May. But as rainy as it’s been, it will take an epic deluge to rival the city’s wettest month of all time.

The city says what’s left of the Crawford Coal Plant needs to be demolished out of safety concerns. But this time, officials promise ample water will be on site to guard against a repeat of April’s botched implosion.

Aamir Mohammed, 30, was ordered held on $5,000 bond during a hearing Tuesday, four days after a confrontation outside Ms. T’s Southern Fried Chicken in Lakeview left a 24-year-old woman with multiple serious injuries.

Watch the May 19, 2020 full episode of “Chicago Tonight.”

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said Tuesday that the Fed’s lending programs for medium-sized businesses and state and local governments would begin operating by the end of this month.

The village of Skokie is home to just one of seven state-certified municipal health departments in Illinois, and it has taken a proactive role in addressing the coronavirus. But how are retail businesses and restaurants faring?

A proposal to build a 100-unit affordable apartment complex in Logan Square is one step away from final approval after years on the drawing board.

Skokie, just 15 miles northwest of Chicago’s Loop, is home to the Illinois Holocaust Museum, the state’s only synagogue for the deaf and Old Orchard Mall — each of which have had to close during the pandemic.

Millions of shuttered businesses nationwide have turned to their insurers to help recoup their losses following state-mandated closures, which combined may exceed $300 billion a month. But insurers have widely rejected the claims.

Last November, a yellow brick road appeared in the Humboldt Park neighborhood to honor the late author L. Frank Baum. Recently, another installation was added to the historic corner, and we were there for its unveiling.

Businesses across the state are preparing for an eventual reopening under the governor’s Restore Illinois plan, but some industries fear the plan moves too slowly, including child care centers.

Watch the May 18, 2020 full episode of “Chicago Tonight.”

As part of Illinois’ push to create an “army” of contact tracers to identify people at risk of developing COVID-19, the state is launching pilot programs in two counties that have seen a combined 7,430 cases of the virus.

Amid warnings that 20% of Chicago restaurants will not reopen after the coronavirus pandemic, aldermen Monday turned up the heat on delivery apps that critics say are hurting already-struggling restaurants.

President Donald Trump told reporters Monday he has been taking hydroxychloroquine and a zinc supplement daily “for about a week and a half now.” The drug not been shown to combat the new coronavirus.

The Illinois Supreme Court officially disbarred former Gov. Rod Blagojevich on Monday, two months after a state panel recommended that the disgraced politician lose his law license. 

In honor of “The Last Dance,” the 10-part ESPN documentary about the Chicago Bulls championship years, we revisit an interview from the “Chicago Tonight” archives.

The economic crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic has added “in excess of $500 million” to the city of Chicago’s projected budget deficit for 2021, Chief Financial Officer Jennie Bennett told aldermen Monday.

Memorial Day is traditionally one of the busiest weekends in the Forest Preserves, but because of COVID-19, people are being encouraged to hold cookouts, picnics and other holiday activities at home this year.

General Iron ceased shredding operations at its Lincoln Park facility after an explosion Monday morning rocked the neighborhood, prompting residents and the local alderman to call for the facility to be permanently closed.

Chicago’s effort to beat back the coronavirus pandemic got a boost from two celebrities Monday, as Mayor Lori Lightfoot said the city was making “good steady progress” toward the next phase of reopening.

Early Monday morning, the North Branch Chicago River gauge at Pulaski Road showed the waterway at 17.87 feet, inches away from the river's "minor" flood level at 18 feet, according to National Weather Service data.

Through a nonprofit effort dubbed Initiative 77(3)12, friends Bill Phan and Kevin Yoo are feeding hundreds of health care workers each week across Chicago – and they hope to keep it going as long as the need continues.

The electronics company is collaborating with the university to produce the FlexVent, a gas-operated ventilator “based on the Illinois RapidVent concept” that was developed in response to COVID-19.

The Anti-Defamation League says some of the activity at rallies protesting Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s stay-at-home order is “vile” and racist, including posters equating Pritkzer, who is Jewish, with Adolf Hitler.

Sunday brought another uptick in coronavirus cases in Illinois. Another 1,734 new cases of COVID-19 brings the statewide total of confirmed cases to 94,191, with 4,177 deaths.