Stories by Heather Cherone

Aldermen sided with the mayor on Tuesday in a dispute over a proposal to build a 48-unit affordable housing complex in Jefferson Park, turning back an effort by Ald. Nicholas Sposato (38th Ward) to block the development.

Why is it that one candidate can win the popular vote but another wins the electoral vote and thus the presidency? Because that’s how the framers of the Constitution set it up.

City officials are working to craft a plan to fill a projected $1.2 billion budget shortfall in the 2021 fiscal year — without the hope of more aid from the federal government.

Watch the Oct. 6, 2020 full episode of “Chicago Tonight.”

President Donald Trump abandoned COVID-19 relief talks on Tuesday. The unexpected turn could be a blow to Trump’s reelection prospects and comes as his administration and campaign are in turmoil.

The Supreme Court, already poised to take a significant turn to the right, opened its new term Monday with a jolt from two conservative justices who raised new criticism of the court’s embrace of same-sex marriage.

The funds will allow “tens of thousands more patients served, better access to care for the underserved and integrated care for the whole person,” officials said.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell warned Tuesday that a tentative recovery from the pandemic recession could falter unless the federal government supplies additional economic support.

Writers, sociologists, scientists, a documentary filmmaker, a legal scholar and an environmental health advocate are among the luminaries named this year. The Chicago-based foundation has awarded the grants every year since 1981.

The warning about the increase in confirmed cases of the coronavirus in Indiana is designed to give Chicagoans who routinely cross the border time to prepare for the state to join the other 22 states now on the quarantine order, officials said.

Matthew Beaudet would become the first Native American commissioner in the city’s history. “I’m humbled by it,” Beaudet told WTTW News before his confirmation hearing.

In an op-ed, DePaul University history professor Tom Mockaitis says the president’s failure last week to recognize and condemn violent, far-right groups like the Proud Boys could encourage clashes on Nov. 3.

Efforts to transform a Northwest Side tax program created in the 1980s amid the racist panic that greeted the election of Chicago’s first Black mayor are stalled — nearly two years after new leadership promised a fresh start.

A plan to transform a long-vacant lot in Jefferson Park into an apartment complex that reignited the furious debate surrounding Chicago’s massive affordable housing shortfall faces a key vote Tuesday.

President Donald Trump staged a dramatic return to the White House Monday night after leaving the military hospital where he has been receiving an unprecedented level of care for COVID-19.

Nearly a dozen of President Trump’s allies and team members have tested positive for the coronavirus just four weeks ahead of the election. We discuss the potential political fallout of the president’s diagnosis.

Jimmy Carter, who served just a single term in the White House, is widely seen as a model ex-president but largely unsuccessful president. Now, the 96-year-old is the subject of a full-length, independent biography.

The possibility for high school students to play all fall sports is again at a standstill. We discuss the situation with a student, a lawyer and a doctor.

After a developer purchased a neighborhood plaza earlier this year, some residents and business owners are concerned the fabric of the community — known as the epicenter of Mexican culture and commerce for the entire Midwest — could be at risk.

The head of the board handling the Chicago Teachers Union’s pension fund disclosed a toxic culture among trustees and claimed some union members had been pushing to hire former staffers of Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan.

There’s still a lot that scientists don’t understand about what makes trees tick, especially when it comes to fall color. A team at the Morton Arboretum is working to unlock those secrets.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot said the plan she sends to the Chicago City Council will not count on the federal government sending additional relief funds to the city. 

Here’s a rarity in the downtown office market amid the pandemic: a company secures a sublease for its office space. Crain’s Chicago Business Editor Ann Dwyer joins us with that story and more.

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

President Donald Trump said Monday he’s leaving the military hospital where he has been treated for COVID-19 and will continue his recovery at the White House. He said he’s feeling good and the nation should not be afraid of the virus.

Local leaders say formally acknowledging the role racism plays not just in health care but in housing, the environment, policing and food access is a bold step. But what the declarations do to address systemic inequalities vary widely.