Stories by Kristen Thometz

More than 75,000 people in Illinois have so far been tested for COVID-19, according to state health officials, and more than 6,000 tests are being conducted each day. But Gov. J.B. Pritzker had hoped to test thousands more by now.

Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 7 president says he’d like to see increased sanitizing procedures for Chicago police officers and vehicles, as well as greater precautions taken at individual police stations. 

Bus drivers have a tough job these days. And musicians are pretty much out of work. We spoke with one CTA driver who is also a songwriter with a new record. He drives people all over town, but right now he can’t play for the people. 

Could hospitals and supermarkets become targets for terror groups looking to exploit the pandemic to advance their racist agenda? We speak with international terrorism expert Robert Pape.

Watch the April 8, 2020 full episode of “Chicago Tonight.”

Mayor Lori Lightfoot says the city will begin enforcing a curfew on the sale of liquor in order to prevent “congregate activity” that’s been seen across the city near stores that sell alcohol.

The Chicago Transit Authority says it has enough cash on hand to keep buses and trains running through the end of the April – but if federal bailout money doesn’t come soon, the agency will be forced to borrow to keep customers moving. 

John Prine, the ingenious singer-songwriter who explored the heartbreaks, indignities and absurdities of everyday life in “Angel from Montgomery,” “Sam Stone,” “Hello in There” and scores of other indelible tunes, died Tuesday at the age of 73. 

“The path toward victory is virtually impossible,” Sanders told supporters as he congratulated Biden. The former vice president is “a very decent man whom I will work with to move our progressive ideas forward.”

Americans in overwhelming numbers are actively avoiding others as much as possible and taking additional steps to protect themselves from the coronavirus, according to a recent survey.

A federal judge in New York on Tuesday denied R&B singer R. Kelly’s request for release from jail in Chicago because he was concerned he could contract the coronavirus while behind bars.

So far, three incarcerated men in Illinois — two who had been housed at Stateville prison in Crest Hill and a detainee at the Cook County Jail – have died from complications related to the coronavirus. A pair of court battles are now brewing.

Despite federal health recommendations, thousands of Wisconsin voters waited hours in long lines outside overcrowded polling stations on Tuesday so they could participate in a presidential primary election.

On Tuesday, President Donald Trump fired Glenn Fine, chairman of the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee, whose job was to oversee the administration of trillions of dollars in federal funding. We get reaction from three Illinois congressmen.

After a lot of back-and-forth between Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers, Republican state legislators and the state’s Supreme Court, Wisconsin’s spring election went forward Tuesday. But because of the coronavirus pandemic, many municipalities struggled to staff and operate polling places. 

Dennis Duchene, president of local tourism bureau Visit Kenosha, says that so far, fallout from the coronavirus pandemic has been “pretty severe.” 

Ridership on public transit in the Chicago area has dropped dramatically during the coronavirus pandemic. Will an influx of federal money be enough to prop up area transit agencies? 

The state of Illinois surpassed a grim milestone it set less than a week ago: the largest single-day jump in deaths. Statewide, 380 people have now died from COVID-19 and 13,549 have tested positive for the virus.

Personal finance educators Talaat and Tai McNeely, hosts of the podcast “The His and Her Money Show,” help us navigate the ways government funds might be able to fill financial gaps during the pandemic.

As you work through your list of at-home entertainment options, don’t forget to consider a night of theater. Chicago’s Theater Wit is now livestreaming the play “Teenage Dick.” Here’s how it works.

Watch the April 7, 2020 full episode of “Chicago Tonight.”

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot signed an executive order Tuesday ensuring all residents regardless of citizenship status have equal access to COVID-19 aid programs, saying the order is “statement of our values as a city and as Americans.”

Detainee Jeffery Pendleton, 59, was pronounced dead late Sunday, according to the Cook County Sheriff’s Office. He had been hospitalized since March 30 after he tested positive for COVID-19.

Juanita Irizarry, executive director of Friends of the Parks, is worried that if Chicagoans flocks to the city’s parks on this warm spring day, officials will crack down on access to all our green spaces.

As Chicagoans hunker down amid the pandemic, we check in with some familiar faces on how they’re weathering the storm – and what music they’re listening to.

There hasn’t been a whole lot of good news in 2020, but here’s something to get excited about: Tuesday’s supermoon will be the closest the full moon gets to Earth in 2020, meaning it will look bigger and brighter than any other full moon this year.