Stories by Amanda Vinicky

The last time Illinois lawmakers were in Springfield, the coronavirus had not yet been declared a pandemic. After nearly two months, Republican legislators are amplifying their calls to return.

Custodial workers are on the front lines of the coronavirus, but some of them say they’re not being treated as such. We speak with two workers who have more than 40 years of combined experience at Stroger Hospital.

If there’s one thing we’ve learned with certainty since the arrival of COVID-19 in the U.S., it’s that nothing is certain — least of all for the health care workers on the front lines of the crisis.

With critical protective equipment in short supply, Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced Wednesday the state has a new system to decontaminate N95 masks, allowing them to be used up to 20 times.

With fewer humans out and about during the coronavirus pandemic, Canada geese are more relaxed during this spring’s nesting season, according to researchers at Ball State University. 

Chicago officials acknowledged that renters are being hit by the coronavirus pandemic “10 times harder” than property owners — and called on landlords and banks to be compassionate and flexible when demanding payments.

State Rep. John Cabello claims the governor “had no legal authority to act in ordering isolation or quarantine of citizens,” according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday — the second legal challenge to the governor’s stay-at-home order meant to curb the spread of COVID-19.

Star Farm in Back of the Yards makes up for in ambition what it lacks in size. Founder Stephanie Dunn’s mission is to use urban agriculture as the means of creating a healthier, more resilient community. 

Before the COVID-19 outbreak, gambling in Illinois was spreading like wildfire, with more places to make a bet than Nevada. But is the state upholding its promise to provide addiction services at the same pace it expands gambling?

Watch the April 29, 2020 full episode of “Chicago Tonight.”

No pandemic silver lining here, but the good news is that healthier ozone levels mean an uncommonly strong and stubborn polar vortex is finally loosening its grip.

We’ve had a string of wet days, which stresses Chicago's combined sewer system. Here are conservation tips to minimize the chance of an overflow.

A biotech company says its experimental drug has proved effective against the new coronavirus in a major U.S. government study that put it to a strict test.

From Cape Cod to California, festivals are being nixed, businesses in tourist havens are looking at empty reservation books, and people who have been cooped up through a dismal spring are worrying summer will bring just more of the same.

We continue our series of visits to beautiful corners of Chicago’s cultural landscape with a trip to Humboldt Park, where we get a dose of architecture and art.

One of Chicago’s most well-known and outspoken priests, the Rev. Michael Pfleger of St. Sabina Church has spent years organizing anti-violence protests and measures around the city. 

The South Side community forms the bulk of a zip code that has seen 664 cases of COVID-19. Yet there are no public testing sites within the area, and few health centers equipped to administer them.

If you’re watching ESPN’s Michael Jordan documentary series “The Last Dance,” you have lots of company — and you may have spotted another familiar face on the series recently.

Come Friday, one man in Illinois will be exempt from the governor’s extended stay-at-home order: Republican state Rep. Darren Bailey. But the state is moving quickly to get a downstate judge’s decision reversed.

A look at what’s being done at Cook County Jail to keep people safe and the pandemic’s impact on the criminal justice system. Cook County Public Defender Amy Campanelli and State’s Attorney Kim Foxx join us.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot defended her push for emergency powers to respond to the coronavirus pandemic in an interview with WTTW News to tout her newest effort to get Chicagoans to stay home and stop the spread of the virus.

Home to many seniors and essential workers, Chicago’s Auburn Gresham neighborhood on the South Side has seen a disproportionately high rate of COVID-19 infections.

Public health officials on Tuesday reported 144 deaths over a 24-hour period, setting a new single-day record for fatalities linked to COVID-19. Across Illinois, 2,125 people have now died.

Body camera footage and other videos released Tuesday show the moments leading up to and immediately following the nonfatal shooting of Ariel Roman on Feb. 28.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot has just a “fragile” hold on a City Council majority that allows her to govern the city — but warning signs are flashing, according to an analysis of City Council votes during her first 11 months in office.

Small businesses on the South and West sides that are struggling to stay afloat during the coronavirus pandemic can apply for $5,000 grants from the city, Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced Tuesday.