Stories by Marissa Nelson

Gage Park sits within two ZIP codes that have consistently seen some of the highest COVID-19 positivity rates in the city, yet the vaccine rollout has been criticized for not reaching the Southwest Side like it has the North Side.

The Obama Presidential Center can be built in Jackson Park after a federal review that lasted nearly four years concluded the $500 million project will have “no significant impact” on the federally protected park.

Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine was safe and offered strong protection against moderate to severe COVID-19, according to preliminary results from a massive international study. 

Dianne Durham, the first Black woman to win a USA Gymnastics national championship, died Thursday in Chicago following a short illness, her husband said. She was 52.

Located roughly 7 miles southwest of the Loop, many of Gage Park’s bungalows were built between 1924 and 1927. 

The variant, known as B.1.1.7, was identified in samples of COVID-19 positive tests taken outside of Chicago and suburban Cook County for the first time, according to a spokesperson for the Illinois Department of Public Health.

If the mayor insists on keeping the libraries open, employees should be eligible for the vaccine along with teachers and other front-line essential workers, union leaders, employees and aldermen said.

Geoffrey Baer explores the past, present and future of a historic West Side garden in North Lawndale.

Amid a surge in carjackings, drivers for ride-hailing companies have been working in close contact with other people during the pandemic. Meanwhile, those companies are gearing up for a fight over whether gig workers should be classified as employees.

The request from House impeachment managers does not require Donald Trump to appear — though the Senate could later subpoena him — but it does warn that any refusal to testify could be used at trial to support arguments for a conviction. 

Four city-run COVD-19 test facilities will be closed from Friday through Wednesday as an arctic blast bears down on the city, officials announced Thursday. The facilities require staff members and volunteers to work outside to test people inside their cars.

Watch the Feb. 4, 2021 full episode of “Chicago Tonight.”

Those who have taken sanctuary have enlisted lawmakers to ask President Joe Biden for relief, pushing to cancel deportation orders and reviving the use of private bills — measures to protect a person or group.

“We are deeply disappointed to announce that we still have not reached a deal,” Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Thursday.

Winter has arrived with a vengeance. The next 48 hours will bring a one-two punch of snow and plunging temperatures.

The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits declined to 779,000 last week, a still-historically high total that shows that a sizable number of people keep losing jobs to the viral pandemic.

“We are disappointed to report that at this time, no deal has been reached between CPS and the Chicago Teachers Union leadership,” the school district said in a tweet late Wednesday.

The tug of war between the Chicago Teachers Union and Chicago Public Schools is still on, as the vaccine rollout bumps along. Our politics team of Amanda Vinicky, Paris Schutz and Heather Cherone weighs in on that story and more in this week’s roundtable.

Rennie Davis, one of the “Chicago Seven” activists who was tried for organizing an anti-Vietnam War protest outside the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago in which thousands clashed with police in a bloody confrontation that horrified a nation watching live on television, has died.

Any description of Rajiv Joseph’s mini-play — the newest entry in Steppenwolf Theatre’s NOW series of virtual programming that runs about 11 minutes — might make it sound like just a quick virtual doodle. But it is much more than that.

Prosecutors asked a judge Wednesday for a new arrest warrant for an Illinois teen charged with shooting three people, killing two of them, during a protest over police brutality in Wisconsin after he apparently violated his bail conditions.

The Chicago Musical Pathways Initiative is preparing gifted students for higher education and careers in music — and debunking myths along the way.

In Illinois there are more than 1,400 laws regulating the lives of people who are formerly incarcerated. A new book by Reuben Jonathan Miller examines these laws and how they affect the lives of people with felonies once they are out of prison.

Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin on efforts to get President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 relief plan passed as Republicans decry a “partisan” approach from Democrats.

Chicago’s convention industry took a huge financial hit when COVID-19 shut down the city. McCormick Place, North America’s largest convention center, is looking to rebound this summer with dozens of events scheduled through the end of the year.

Watch the Feb. 3, 2021 full episode of “Chicago Tonight.”