Stories by Alex Ruppenthal

As regulators continue to monitor manganese emissions at S.H. Bell Co., new air monitoring data shows alarming levels of the brain-damaging heavy metal near another industrial facility in the area.

Circus acts, break dancing mice, brightly lit trees and Christmas carols usher in the weekend. Here are 10 things to do in and around Chicago.

In just over a year, Mohammed Shariff says he illegally dispensed more than two kilograms of oxycodone and hundreds of thousands of other opioid pills to patients who planned to resell them.

The U.S. military has identified five Marines who were declared dead after their refueling plane collided with a fighter jet last week off Japan's southern coast. 

Joe Maddon will be managing by the book next year, and the book is “Managing Millennials for Dummies.” Maddon has spent more than four decades as a baseball manager, coach and scout. He hopes to remain as Cubs manager beyond 2019.

Watch the Dec. 11, 2018 full episode of “Chicago Tonight.”

Mayor Rahm Emanuel wants a hike in the state gas tax to fund transportation infrastructure. The area’s transit heads give us their reaction and an update on the status of the region’s public transportation.

As the end of the year approaches, it’s time to get your tax affairs in order. Two local tax experts offer their advice.

For the last four years, Deborah Hersman has led the National Safety Council. Next month, she’ll join Google’s self-driving technology development company, Waymo. Why she’s making the move.

We speak with Terrence Roberts, a surviving member of the Little Rock Nine, about teaching students to promote equality in their communities.

The theater company’s new home in Evanston marks a grand, and grandly deserved step upward. Its opening production looks at what happens when men lose their well-paying factory jobs and self-respect.

He may be leaving office soon, but Mayor Rahm Emanuel is about to put forward a proposal that’s likely to generate controversy as the race for his successor heats up.

There’s been a renewed focus on student sexual abuse after hundreds of cases within Chicago Public Schools came to light. But a new report finds that schools across the state aren’t doing enough to support abuse survivors.

After years of pressure from public health advocates, the Chicago-based burger chain announces a plan to reduce the use of antibiotics in its beef products.

Lee Smith and Harold Baines both debuted in Chicago during the 1980 season. Smith began with the Cubs and went on to record 478 saves while Baines started out with the White Sox and had 2,866 hits.

If you are in search of fresh choreographic talent, why not turn to the dancers who are right under foot in your own studio? Sometimes, this makes perfect sense. But as revealed in “dance(e)volve New Works Festival,” there can be drawbacks to this effort.

Watch the Dec. 10, 2018 full episode of “Chicago Tonight.”

About 500 Chicago charter school teachers and 8,000 students were back in the classroom after a historic, nearly weeklong strike came to an end Sunday.

Former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti joins us with insight into the latest legal revelations implicating President Donald Trump of directing criminal activity. 

David Krupa, a 19-year-old aldermanic candidate, alleges election fraud as he tries to take on Ald. Marty Quinn, a top ally of Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, in the 13th Ward.

At Clarendon Park in the Uptown neighborhood, a fleet of model trains from multiple places and time periods are chugging through coal country. 

With its building “full to the brim” with cats and dogs, Chicago’s municipal-run animal shelter is waiving adoption fees for those looking to bring home a new pet this holiday season.

The Windy City will continue to serve as host to the annual awards event that dishes out honors to the best in the food and restaurant industry.

The National Rifle Association will remove an image of Chicago's famous bean-shaped sculpture from a video advertisement, ending a legal dispute that began after the artist sued for copyright infringement, according to statements from both sides.

Beck's charity, Mercury One, has donated $50,000 toward a $9.2 million debt owed for a collection of 1,400 artifacts purchased a decade ago for the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield.

The Chicago Teachers Union said more than 500 teachers will return to classes Monday at Acero’s 15 schools with 7,500 predominantly Latino students.