Stories by Kristen Thometz

With the race behind them, Chicago Mayor-elect Lori Lightfoot and Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle came together for a unity event with the Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. 

Walgreens slashed its 2019 forecast and missed second-quarter expectations with a performance that sent its shares plunging Tuesday and helped knock down the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

“Out there tonight a lot of little girls and boys are watching. They’re watching us, and they’re seeing the beginning of something, well, a little bit different,” Lori Lightfoot said Tuesday. “They’re seeing a city reborn.”

In an upset, longtime Ald. Patrick O’Connor was unseated Tuesday by former rapper Andre Vasquez. How the runoff played out in other wards across the city.

Lori Lightfoot has become the first African-American woman elected mayor of Chicago, defeating her opponent, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, in a landslide.

Whether Lori Lightfoot or Toni Preckwinkle becomes the next mayor of Chicago, the 2019 runoff is one for the history books. We take a deep dive into the political significance of this election.

Watch the April 2, 2019 full episode of “Chicago Tonight.”

Forty years ago, Chicago elected its first female mayor. We remember the historic victory of former Mayor Jane Byrne.

Alan Menken performs his delightful one-man show to a packed house in the Loop as his first hit musical, “Little Shop of Horrors,” receives a terrific production on the North Side.

As of Tuesday afternoon, more than 370,000 Chicago residents had cast their ballots for the city’s next mayor, treasurer and, in some wards, alderman. 

The three-year funding award will be used to develop population-specific cancer prevention and screening programs at community hospitals and health centers in Austin, Humboldt Park and South Shore.

Brittani Rice, 18, and Senobia Brantley, 19, were both killed late Monday in what police believe may have been a “targeted” attack on the South Side.

It will be several weeks before a judge decides whether the public will get a look at the sealed court file in the Jussie Smollett case.

Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx’s reputation as a rising political star and legal crusader was badly tarnished by her office’s handling of two celebrity cases involving “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett and R. Kelly.

The winner of Chicago’s mayoral runoff election will join seven other black women currently serving as mayors in major U.S. cities, including Atlanta and New Orleans.

Watch the April 1, 2019 full episode of “Chicago Tonight.”

Measles, a virus once thought to be eradicated in the U.S. less than 20 years ago, seems to be rearing its head again. Where are we seeing the virus take hold, and why doesn’t it completely die off?

Behind the good cheer, Ernie Banks hid a melancholy and lonely man. We talk with Ron Rapoport, the author of “Let’s Play Two,” a new biography about Mr. Cub.

Candidates are making their final sprint toward Tuesday’s runoff election. Will voters show up? Carol Marin leads a political roundtable with three journalists who have followed the race closely.

Chicago’s historic 2019 election will soon be over, ushering in big changes to city government. 

The Frederick C. Robie House – a masterpiece of Prairie School architecture – reopened to the public Friday after a multimillion-dollar restoration both inside and out.

After teasing social media by announcing the discovery of “unprecedented” dinosaur fossils under a Michigan Avenue storefront, the Field Museum unveiled a new pop-up exhibit that replicates a “dig site” where paleontologists search for fossils. 

Northwestern University is one of dozens of medical centers across the country studying whether the drug can protect against or slow down the progression of the disease in patients already experiencing symptoms.

Anthony Jakes was just 15 years old when he says he was held by police for 16 hours and beaten into falsely confessing to participating in a 1991 murder. He served 20 years before he was released from prison.

Attorney Steve Greenberg believes the celebrity attorney may have “bullied” or “manipulated” the Cook County state’s attorney into filing sexual abuse charges against R. Kelly.

In some ways the contest between Toni Preckwinkle and Lori Lightfoot reflects a movement happening nationally in the Democratic Party as typically younger, fresh faces with less political experience challenge the more established “old guard.”