Stories by Amanda Vinicky

Cook County voters have a rare opportunity this year to choose an Illinois Supreme Court justice. Given the lack of Republican interest, the winner of next week’s Democratic primary is a shoo-in for the spot. What sets the seven candidates apart?

Watch the March 9, 2020 full episode of “Chicago Tonight.”

In Illinois, 11 people have tested positive for the novel coronavirus, according to state and local health officials. “I want folks to understand this is going to affect your daily life,” Gov. J.B. Pritzker said at a Monday news conference.

For the past 25 years, Cheryl Knott and her husband Tim Laman have dedicated their lives to the orangutans that live in Borneo’s Gunung Palung National Park. On Tuesday, they’ll highlight the great ape’s plight with a talk.

On stage at Lookingglass Theatre, a new play looks at a Chicago moment from March 1981 when Jane Byrne, the city’s first woman mayor, moved into the Cabrini-Green housing project. 

Fears over the coronavirus and an oil price war sank the Dow Jones Industrial on Monday, while the S&P 500 had its worst day since 2008.

The American College of Cardiology has called off its upcoming conference at McCormick Place due to coronavirus concerns, adding to a run of cancellations at the Chicago convention center because of the outbreak.

The second week of testimony in the murder trial of Shomari Legghette was unexpectedly delayed Monday by an unknown issue “beyond the control of the court.”

There have been no reports of COVID-19 inside U.S. jails or prisons. But more people are incarcerated per capita here than in any other country in the world and prisons have become hot spots in other nations touched by the outbreak.

March’s full moon is called the Worm Moon, and it will be an extra bright supermoon.

From Miami to Seattle, nursing homes and other facilities for the elderly are stockpiling masks and thermometers, preparing for staff shortages and screening visitors to protect a particularly vulnerable population from the coronavirus.

The White House overruled health officials who wanted to recommend that elderly and physically fragile Americans be advised not to fly on commercial airlines because of the new coronavirus, a federal official told The Associated Press.

A Chicago woman in her 50s who works at Chicago Public Schools in the city’s Portage Park neighborhood has tested positive for COVID-19. 

Illinois’ top Democrats coalesce behind Joe Biden in the presidential primary. Bernie Sanders plans a Grant Park rally. A sixth person tests positive for the coronavirus in Illinois. And the police union votes for a new leader.

Who should be wearing masks? Is the virus seasonal? A local infectious disease physician answers these questions and others about COVID-19.

For the first time, gamblers will be able to legally wager on sports games in Illinois starting at noon Monday, when Rivers Casino in Des Plaines opens its BetRivers Sportsbook.

In a 23-page report filed Friday, the city of Chicago highlights the steps it has taken in the last six months to make progress on implementing a court-ordered consent decree.

Starbucks said it is “pausing” the use of personal cups in its stores as a precautionary response to the coronavirus epidemic.

Don’t forget to set your clocks ahead an hour on Sunday.

Lawyers began presenting evidence Thursday as the Illinois Commerce Commission weighs a petition to double the throughput of the controversial Dakota Access pipeline, which runs through the state.

R&B singer R. Kelly on Thursday pleaded not guilty to an updated federal indictment that includes child pornography charges and allegations involving a new accuser, while prosecutors said more charges alleging yet another victim are upcoming.

The only Illinois Supreme Court seat held by a person of color is up for grabs, and Cook County voters will decide who wins the 10-year term.

A team of doctors and researchers based in Chicago has discovered that a protein in the coronavirus could be treated with drugs that had been in development for SARS. We get an update on their work.

We preview the exhibition “El Greco: Ambition and Defiance” at the Art Institute of Chicago, which partnered with the Louvre and the Grand Palais for the show, and learn about the man behind the masterworks.

Chicago’s dance card is full to bursting. And one of the city’s most beloved “visitors” – the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater – is now drawing its usual huge crowds to the Auditorium Theatre.

Watch the March 5, 2020 full episode of “Chicago Tonight.”