Stories by Nick Blumberg

Despite concerns over using public transportation during the coronavirus pandemic, many essential workers and residents without cars have been relying on the Chicago Transit Authority to get around.

People have been leaving notes and flowers outside the Edgewater office of Cedille Records, a classical music label owned by James Ginsburg, son of the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Watch the Sept. 21, 2020 full episode of “Chicago Tonight.”

To mark summer’s official end, city officials on Monday released new guidelines designed to help restaurants and some bars keep serving diners and drinkers outside once temperatures drop.

Chicago Teachers Union leadership and members said CPS needs to better tailor student schedules to reduce screen time and allow clinicians to do more work from home to limit the number of people who are in school buildings on a daily basis.

The Federal Reserve said Monday that Americans’ household net worth jumped nearly 7% in the April-June quarter to $119 trillion. That figure had sunk to $111.3 trillion in the first quarter, when the coronavirus battered the economy.

President Donald Trump said Monday he expects to announce his pick for the Supreme Court on Friday or Saturday, after funeral services for Ruth Bader Ginsburg and just days before the first presidential election debate.

With the nation racing to come to grips with centuries of racial sins, officials plan to remove the Capitol lawn statue of Stephen A. Douglas, whose forceful 19th century politics helped forge modern-day Illinois but who also profited from slavery.

Joe Biden on Sunday slammed President Donald Trump and leading Senate Republicans for trying to jam through a replacement for the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Chicago’s top doctor on closing the life expectancy gap between Black and White residents. A nonprofit takes stock in local youth. A father and son duo takes us on a tour through “Boarded Up Chicago.”

A father and son documenting the city’s reaction to the police killing of George Floyd turn their images into a new book.

Rendel Solomon tells us about his nonprofit initiative One Stock One Future, which aims to turn one million youth into public company shareholders via workshops and donated funds. 

New cases of the coronavirus reported Sunday by state health officials bring statewide totals to 274,258 cases and 8,450 deaths since the first infection was reported in Illinois in late January.

President Donald Trump said Saturday he’s given his “blessing” to a proposed deal that would see the popular video-sharing app TikTok partner with Oracle and Walmart and form a U.S. company. 

In recent years Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was surprised to find herself so popular that “everyone wants to take a picture with me.” The justice, who died Friday at 87, had become a feminist icon.

Efforts to increase affordable housing. The third anniversary of Hurricane Maria that devastated Puerto Rico. Celebrating the contributions of Latinos as Hispanic Heritage Months gets underway. 

Calling out “free books” to passersby, organizers of a book giveaway on the Far South Side distributed more than 1,200 books while garnering support for a larger project they hope will spark a transformation of the neighborhood.

A task force released recommendations this week to help Chicago increase its affordable housing stock. We ask two housing activists to share their thoughts on that guidance.

Since Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico in 2017, the U.S. territory has suffered greatly. Hundreds of Puerto Ricans who made the wrenching decision to move to Chicago after the hurricane have also struggled to recover.

President Donald Trump on Saturday urged the Republican-run Senate to consider “without delay” his upcoming nomination to fill the Supreme Court vacancy created by the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg just six weeks before the election.

A presidential campaign that was already tugging at the nation’s most searing divides has been jolted by the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, potentially reshaping the election.

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a diminutive yet towering women’s rights champion who became the court’s second female justice, died Friday at her home in Washington. She was 87.

Big state budget cuts are on the horizon. The Big Ten is back, but youth sports remain on hold. In Springfield, the Madigan inquiry moves forward. And the White Sox are going to the playoffs.

A northern Illinois man who was charged with murder for his role in the beating death of his 5-year-old son, Andrew “AJ” Freund, pleaded guilty Friday to reduced charges and was sentenced to 30 years in prison. 

Young, Black & Lit provides free books that feature Black main characters to children. The organization has distributed more than 5,000 books in the Chicagoland area through book fairs, community groups and schools.

Who can get a test? Where can you get one? And how much do tests costs? Here’s what you need to know about coronavirus testing in Illinois.