Stories by Erica Gunderson

Longtime Chicago Ald. Roman Pucinski once said, “There’s nothing as crucial to an alderman as garbage.” So how did garbage cans become a source and symbol of political power in this city? Geoffrey Baer talks trash.

Summer in Chicago means escaping to some of the beach towns around Lake Michigan. But how has the COVID-19 pandemic impacted those areas that rely on tourist dollars?

The head of Chicago Public Schools said the district will continue honing its remote learning program over the summer as it prepares for the possibility of additional classroom closures in the fall due to COVID-19.

After two months of performing only emergency procedures, dentist offices in Illinois are now fully reopening. But the experience will be very different — for both patients and dentists.

“As a state we’re definitely headed in the right direction, we’ve successfully met the metrics to move into phase three, but we must proceed with caution,” said Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot offered new Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown her “unflagging support” on Thursday — even as she once again called his strategy for Memorial Day “a fail.”

Despite restricted access to the lakefront and its adjacent parks during the pandemic, most Chicago parks are supposed to be open. Why some residents and park advocates are concerned about equitable access to these much-needed spaces.

Watch the May 28, 2020 full episode of “Chicago Tonight.”

First of all, take note that “reopened” doesn’t mean “back to normal.” Guidelines, including limiting campsites and campfires to registered occupants, are in place.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot has announced that Chicago will start to cautiously reopen next Wednesday as the peak of the coronavirus pandemic in Chicago appears to have passed.

Chicago Animal Care and Control and PAWS Chicago pivoted to online pet adoptions when Illinois’ stay-at-home order was issued. We check in on how that’s been going — and how else the pandemic has impacted animal shelters.

The announcement comes one day after the Office of the Chief Judge announced the extension of a modified court schedule postponing most criminal and civil cases across the Cook County court system into July.

Only about half of Americans say they would get a COVID-19 vaccine if the scientists working furiously to create one succeed, a number that’s surprisingly low considering the effort going into the global race for a vaccine.

A group of South Side hospital leaders are dropping a planned joint medical system after the state failed to come through with funding. What happened — and what it means for South Side residents.

Chicago scores a casino win in the legislative session that just wrapped up.  And both Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Mayor Lori Lightfoot expand on what reopening across the city and state will look like.

It was the site of a 1966 race riot where Martin Luther King Jr. was attacked. Today, the Marquette Park neighborhood in the Chicago Lawn community is staring down one of the worst COVID-19 outbreaks in the city.

For the 1 in 6 Americans who have lost their jobs due to the coronavirus, their credit score might be the last thing on their minds. 

As part of our series COVID-19 Across Chicago, we speak with Rami Nashashibi, executive director of the Inner-City Muslim Action Network.

On Friday, all salons and barbershops in the state — except those in Chicago — will be allowed to reopen as part of phase three of Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s reopening plan. What will the new salon experience be like?

Lawmakers will not get a pay raise as part of the newly approved state budget — even though state law requires that members of the Illinois House and Senate get an annual boost, Comptroller Susana Mendoza said Wednesday.

How do you design a pandemic-era theater season? The Glencoe-based theater has devised a multifaceted plan that combines a degree of certainty with the option of built-in flexibility, with the ultimate goal of keeping live theater alive.

With city officials preparing to cautiously reopen Chicago’s economy as the peak of the coronavirus pandemic appears to have passed in Illinois, one-third of the city’s workforce could head back to their jobs early next month.

The percentage of Chicago Public Schools students accessing materials and getting grades has steadily risen during the remote learning period, but new data shows some high-need populations have fallen behind.

It’s a big day for NASA and Elon Musk’s SpaceX as they send humans into space Wednesday, the first crewed launch from American soil since 2011 and the first by a private firm.

As of Wednesday afternoon, the coronavirus death toll in Illinois stood at 5,038 people. “These are real people whose lives came to an end because of this pandemic,” Gov. J.B. Pritzker said, speaking from East St. Louis.

More than 1.2 million unemployment claims have been processed in Illinois since March, and many people are filing for unemployment insurance for the first time. Here are some tips to help you navigate the process.