Stories by Amanda Vinicky

Dozens of young adults flouted social distancing guidelines Saturday night at a house party that appears to have been held in Chicago. Mayor Lori Lightfoot called it “reckless and utterly unacceptable.”

What to do with groceries has been the source of much debate. But the amount of the virus that survives on surfaces is a tiny fraction of the original material, experts say. 

As parents and students know, schools will be closed for the remainder of the school year. Gov. J.B. Pritzker says educators should be prepared to stay the course in case their doors have to remain closed this fall.

The state reported another 2,126 COVID-19 cases and 59 fatalities Sunday. Despite those rising numbers, Illinois is not seeing so many severe cases that the medical system is overwhelmed.

Days after he publicly mused that scientists should explore the injection of toxic disinfectants as a potential virus cure, President Donald Trump has now rejected the utility of his daily task force briefings.

The U.S. Census Bureau needs more time to wrap up the once-a-decade count because of the coronavirus, opening the possibility of delays in drawing new legislative districts that could help determine what political party is in power.

The world has lost more than one quarter of its land-dwelling insects in the past 30 years, according to researchers whose big picture study of global bug decline paints a disturbing but more nuanced problem than earlier research.

In less than a week, wearing a mask or face covering will be mandatory in Illinois. But not everyone has a mask, nor does everyone have resources to get one.

The Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission will hold an emergency meeting on Monday to withdraw a temporary, emergency rule put in place earlier this month.

The Chicago-based sandwich chain announced Saturday that it will return the money after having received “further clarification from the Treasury Department” about the loan.

As Illinois seeks to prevent the spread of COVID-19, the state’s chief health director warned residents from resorting to possibly lethal, unproven means of prevention, such as drinking bleach.

States including Georgia, Oklahoma and Alaska have begun loosening lockdown orders on their pandemic-wounded businesses, even as the confirmed U.S. death toll from the coronavirus soared past 50,000 and health experts warned that such steps might be coming too soon.

With no real plan to reopen Capitol Hill any time soon, the coronavirus shutdown poses an existential crisis that’s pushing Congress ever so reluctantly toward the 21st century option of remote legislating from home.

Illinois sets a new record of confirmed COVID-19 cases as testing capacity expands. Gov. J.B. Pritzker extends the stay-at-home order until May 30 with some modifications. And Chicago aldermen narrowly approve emergency powers for Mayor Lori Lightfoot. 

Weeks ago, Gov. J.B. Pritzker said he wanted to perform 10,000 coronavirus tests a day. On Friday, Pritzker announced Illinois has reached and surpassed that mark.

The distinctive sound of hooves clip-clopping along downtown streets will soon become a relic of a bygone era.

The 29-21 vote is the closest in recent City Council history, as tensions between aldermen and the mayor continue to rise during the pandemic that forced the meeting to take place virtually.

Too many visitors are flocking to the most popular forest preserves and ignoring social distancing rules, prompting weekend parking lot closures through the end of May, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle announced Friday.

The Lincoln Square mainstay closed in 2017 and filmmaker Matt Richmond set out to learn why. The documentary will stream for free on April 30.

Even though state parks are set to reopen May 1 with restrictions, Chicago’s lakefront will remain closed, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said.

The 15th Ward alderman says COVID-19 has strained already scarce resources in his ward, which is home to many essential workers and undocumented immigrants.

As governors grapple with the question of when to reopen their states, the need for a wide-scale contact tracing effort is at the top of many experts’ lists. Help may be on the way, but it’s getting a lot of scrutiny.

The Brighton Park Neighborhood Council provides a wide range of social services and programming on Chicago’s Southwest Side. We learn how it’s adjusting to community needs sparked by the pandemic.

As part of our series on the local impact of the coronavirus, a report from the Southwest Side, where a troubling situation has gotten worse as the pandemic has intensified.

For 29 years one small but significant place has been a showcase for visionary artwork. The art center called Intuit had to close a new show last month, and we got a look at what you’ll see when it one day reopens. 

As Chicago baseball fans hunker down and hope for the return of their favorite summertime sport, a viewer wonders how Chicago sports soldiered through the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918.