Stories by

Mother’s Day was extra special for Rollie, a western lowland gorilla at Lincoln Park Zoo who gave birth to a male last weekend. 

A group of elected state and local officials signed a letter earlier this month urging Gov. J.B. Pritzker to back a third northeastern Illinois airport near Monee. 

How did fights over high hats and hoopskirts shape Chicago’s downtown as a shopping destination? We talk with the author of a new book about women and consumer culture at the turn of the century.

The Block Museum show “Caravans of Gold, Fragments in Time” showcases the splendor and influence of medieval West and North Africa. We tour the exhibition with a special guest from the Smithsonian.

Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa wants to create an elected council to replace the Chicago Police Board and Civilian Office of Police Accountability and give the community a bigger voice in police oversight.

Tim Conway, the stellar second banana to Carol Burnett who won four Emmy Awards on her TV variety show, has died, according to his publicist. He was 85.

Watch the May 14, 2019 full episode of “Chicago Tonight.”

Attorney General William Barr has appointed a U.S. attorney to examine the origins of the Russia investigation and determine if intelligence collection involving the Trump campaign was “lawful and appropriate.”

If you want to save your brain, focus on keeping the rest of your body well with exercise and healthy habits rather than popping vitamin pills, new guidelines for preventing dementia advise.

With one week to go on the fifth floor of City Hall, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel sat down with Paris Schutz to talk about anti-Semitism, his leadership style, the looming pension problem and his own transparency. 

Global markets slowed Monday, including the main U.S. indexes, as a trade war between the United States and China intensifies.

In partnership with local PBS news programs around the country, the second in our series looking at the legalization of marijuana in communities across the U.S.

At a time of Jim Crow laws, how did a black man compete to become the fastest athlete of his time? A new book by Michael Kranish tells the story a trailblazing cyclist and his connection to Chicago. 

In Illinois, African American women are six times as likely to die of pregnancy-related conditions than white women. A new initiative aims to close that gap in three Chicago communities, with the help of a $4.7 million grant.

The Trump administration has proposed $2.8 billion in cuts to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, including a decrease of more than $1.4 billion in funding for states. 

Watch the May 13, 2019 full episode of “Chicago Tonight.”

A number of extraordinary pianists have played on the Symphony Center stage during the past season or two. Sunday’s concert brought four encores, extended standing ovations and volcanic applause.

“Empire” will return for its final season this fall on Fox — with Jussie Smollett a question mark — and should count itself lucky.  Fox is hitting the reset button for the 2019-20 season by cancelling eight shows and adding 10 new ones.

The Doris Day Animal Foundation confirmed Doris Day died early Monday at her Carmel Valley, California, home. She was 97. 

To his supporters, Rahm Emanuel was the brash, bright, big-city mayor who unapologetically raised Chicago’s profile as a global city. To his critics, he was a heavy-handed, top-down leader. On Monday evening, the outgoing mayor joins us in discussion.

“Chicago Tonight” has won three prestigious Lisagor awards for the best in Chicago journalism, for the best in arts, education and government news.

A concert by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra featuring the transcendent Mitsuko Uchida. A visit by Maestro Riccardo Muti and several master musicians to a juvenile detention center. And a virtuosic chamber concert.

More than 100 people gathered Friday along a chain-link fence outside a badly damaged Illinois silicone factory to remember four men who died in an explosion at the facility.

Paris Schutz and guests discuss a state bill that would direct publicly traded companies in Illinois to boost their boardroom hiring of women and people of color.

Mayor-elect Lori Lightfoot visits Washington, D.C. Legalized pot and a progressive income tax face hurdles in Springfield. And Cubs fans boo the return of Addison Russell.

The new habitat will also bring a new pride of lions, with the zoo’s current group set to depart for a Kansas zoo in the coming weeks.