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David Maraniss has written acclaimed biographies of Roberto Clemente, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. In a new book, he turns his biographer’s eye to his father’s experiences during the Red Scare.

Ald. Ed Burke on Wednesday tried to throw new Mayor Lori Lightfoot a curveball and badly missed the strike zone in advance of Lightfoot’s first major legislative test. 

Jury selection in the capital trial of Brendt Christensen is set to begin Monday in Peoria. Christensen is charged with kidnapping resulting in the death of 26-year-old Yingying Zhang, who went missing in 2017.

Watch the May 29, 2019 full episode of “Chicago Tonight.”

Special counsel Robert Mueller said Wednesday he believed he was constitutionally barred from charging President Donald Trump with a crime but pointedly emphasized that his Russia report did not exonerate the president.

The university said Tuesday the tuition offer is an effort to increase representation of American Indian and Alaska Native students at UIC.

As other states, including neighboring Missouri, have passed laws that are tantamount to abortion bans, Illinois is moving in the opposite direction.

In spite of heavy rainfall that kept many indoors and 1,200 additional police officers on the streets of Chicago, 43 people were shot, seven fatally, over the Memorial Day weekend.

Two years after Massachusetts voters approved recreational marijuana, the first pot shops have opened. As part of our series on legalization, WGBH reporter Arun Rath gives us a look at what it takes to cash in on cannabis.

The Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering will become the university’s first new school in three decades, thanks to a $100 million commitment from the Pritzker Foundation.

Children have a better chance at reaching their full potential now than at any other time in history, according to a new report released by Save the Children. But there’s more work ahead – particularly in the U.S.

It’s been a busy first term for U.S. Rep. Lauren Underwood (D-Naperville). The congresswoman joins us to discuss her freshman year goals and recent headlines.

The family of an 84-year-old woman killed in a crash involving Chicago police has sent a letter to the mayor and police chief saying police vehicles caused the weekend accident, which injured more than a dozen people.

After two years of construction, a highly anticipated change to Chicago’s Lakefront Trail is now a reality: separate paths for cyclists and pedestrians. But it may take some getting used to.

At 82.5 inches, Java is not only the tallest corpse flower to bloom at the Chicago Botanic Garden, but the quickest among its type at the garden to re-bloom.

Watch the May 28, 2019 full episode of “Chicago Tonight.”

Chicago police are investigating a shooting on a popular walking and biking trail on the city’s Northwest Side that left one man dead and two other people injured.

United is using other planes to cover some flights that had been scheduled with its 14 Max jets. However, the airline said that because of the Max’s grounding it will cancel about 1,120 flights in June and about 1,290 in July.

Following a Memorial Day vote, Illinois voters will get a chance in 2020 to decide whether they want to fundamentally change the rules dictating how their income is taxed.

The head of the Army Corps of Engineers has sent Congress a $778 million plan to fortify an Illinois waterway with noisemakers, electric cables and other devices in the hope that they will prevent Asian carp from reaching the Great Lakes.

The infant mortality rate among African Americans in Cook County is twice the county average. Health officials seek to close that gap with the help of a new five-year grant.

The Cook County Clerk on Thursday released more than 250 pages related to the “Empire” star’s abruptly halted prosecution for allegedly filing a false police report. Read the entire file.

The 200th anniversary of “Frankenstein” was celebrated by a slew of Chicago theaters last year. Lookingglass’ new production has arrived a bit late in the game, but with its raw beauty and feverish emotion, it turns out to be well worth the wait.

A suburban tragedy inspired new legislation that could aid students who face questioning by police inside their school.

All seven members of the Chicago Board of Education stepped down this week. Paris Schutz and guests discuss that and more.

A changing of the guard as Lori Lightfoot succeeds Rahm Emanuel as mayor of Chicago. Some big-ticket items remain on the legislative docket in Springfield. And in sports, the White Sox pull off some impressive and rare moves.