Stories by Patty Wetli

“Black Friday has been around for a long time, but what has been missing is the Blackness,” said the creators of the program, which encourages people to support Black-owned businesses in Chicago this holiday season.

Chicagoans should not travel to celebrate Thanksgiving with friends and family, the city’s top doctor said Tuesday, warning that the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic is getting worse in Chicago.

Watch the Nov. 17, 2020 full episode of “Chicago Tonight.”

Theo Epstein, who transformed the long-suffering Chicago Cubs and helped bring home a drought-busting championship in 2016, is stepping down after nine seasons as the club’s president of baseball operations.

Five Cook County Circuit Court judges and 37 more employees working under the office of Chief Judge Timothy Evans have tested positive for COVID-19 thus far this month.

It’s been a solid eight months since government leaders in Chicago and Illinois began asking residents to limit their activities due to the coronavirus. A new round of that took effect in the city on Monday.

On the campaign trail, Joe Biden said he’d expand federal investment in America’s infrastructure and transportation systems, at a time when they desperately need it. But will Biden’s rhetoric turn into concrete action? 

President Donald Trump has aggressively promoted misinformation and disinformation questioning the results of the election, which he lost. Former Illinois U.S. Rep. Joe Walsh, a fierce Trump critic, weighs in.

Since February, nearly 2.2 million women have left the workforce, according to the National Women’s Law Center. What’s behind what some have dubbed the “she-cession” — and what are the long-term implications of the exodus?

What health care institutions and practitioners can do to unwind the systemic racism that continues to affect health care outcomes in Black and Latino communities.

The board voted unanimously to find that there is probable cause to believe the 21st Ward alderman violated the city’s ethics ordinance by defending clients in criminal cases involving the Chicago Police Department.

A second experimental COVID-19 vaccine — this one from Moderna Inc. — yielded extraordinarily strong early results Monday, another badly needed dose of hope as the pandemic enters a terrible new phase.

A proposal from Mayor Lori Lightfoot would cap fees charged by delivery services such as Postmates, Grubhub and UberEats at 15%. Fees can now reach 30% of an order, officials said.

With coronavirus infections and hospitalizations on the rise, officials are again urging residents to do their part in fighting the virus as health care workers face a COVID-19 crisis.

A trio of budget ordinances backed by progressive aldermen failed to advance Monday, as a fiscal watchdog warned that Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s plan to borrow $15 million to avoid layoffs and refinance an additional $1.7 billion was potentially perilous.

Hate crimes in the U.S. rose to the highest level in more than a decade as federal officials also recorded the highest number of hate-motivated killings since the FBI began collecting that data in the early 1990s.

United Airlines will conduct free, rapid COVID-19 tests on passengers and crew members on select flights between London and New York. Crain’s Chicago Business Editor Ann Dwyer has details.

The U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois said federal law enforcement officers made two dozen undercover drug purchases from the defendants’ operation over a three-month span this summer.

Watch the Nov. 16, 2020 full episode of “Chicago Tonight.”

Hundreds of poinsettia plants were grown for the annual holiday flower show at the Lincoln Park Conservatory, and they need homes now that the event has been canceled.

On the promotional trail for his new memoir “A Promised Land,” the former president sat down with “60 Minutes” for an interview that aired Sunday.

The Cook County Sheriff’s Office announced that beginning Monday, it will temporarily halt visits at the jail as Chicago and Cook County continue dealing with a second surge of COVID-19.

Starting a business during a pandemic sounds like a gamble, but it’s one that some intrepid entrepreneurs are willing to take. How they have adjusted their plans — and are moving forward.

What a new presidential administration could mean for communities of color. Making Black and Brown communities the focus of COVID-19 recovery. Extending the Red Line. A new life for Emmett Till’s home.

We speak with Audra Wilson, the head of the Shriver Center on Poverty Law, on what the new Biden administration could mean for communities of color.

For the 10th consecutive day, public health officials reported more than 10,000 new COVID-19 infections in Illinois within a 24-hour period.