Stories by Amanda Vinicky

The school district on Tuesday released its budget proposal for the 2022 fiscal year, which includes $672 million for priority facility investments throughout the city and more than $1 billion in federal funding for student supports.

This week the area welcomed two new projects —  one bringing affordable homes and the other bringing jobs. We talk with community leaders about how these initiatives will strengthen the neighborhood and help residents build wealth. 

The Illinois House on Wednesday approved legislation that will turn the current seven-member appointed board — the lone appointed school board in the state — into a 21-member body with elections beginning in 2024. Mayor Lori Lightfoot has strongly opposed the bill, calling it “very ill-constructed.”

It’s been two years since Chicago got a new mayor when Lori Lightfoot was sworn into office. For the latest in our community reporting series, we visit Lightfoot’s neighborhood on the Northwest Side.

The Illinois State Board of Education on Wednesday unanimously passed a resolution in support of an upcoming declaration that will make it a requirement that schools reopen their doors in the fall, with only limited options for remote learning.

The fourth quarter of the school year has begun for Chicago Public Schools. And on Monday, nearly 26,000 high school students were expected to return to their classrooms to resume in-person learning for the first time in more than a year.

Feelings about Adam Toledo’s killing are particularly raw in Little Village, where Toledo’s family lives. We spent the day talking with residents and local leaders about their community, and the fatal shooting of the 13-year-old who called it home.

For the first time since 2019, fans are back at Guaranteed Rate Field to watch the White Sox in person. As part of our community reporting series, we visit the area to see how fans are settling in — and how the area is faring one year into the pandemic.

The Cubs may have lost their 2021 home opener, but fans consider it a win. For the first time since 2019, some 10,000 people were able to watch the game inside of Wrigley Field. We have this look at all things opening day as part of our community reporting series.

It’s been a full year since Gov. J.B. Pritzker took the extraordinary step of issuing an executive order to halt dine-in service at bars and restaurants across the state. Five days later, the stay-at-home order was announced. The governor joins us to reflect on the past year and discuss what’s ahead.

Even as the first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine were administered Tuesday morning at the United Center, confusion swirled over how many appointments remained available, who was eligible for those slots and when they would open for thousands desperate for the life-saving shot.

Proponents of a new bill signed into law Monday by Gov. J.B. Pritzker say it will “change the face of education” in Illinois by improving access and equity across the state’s education system through an expanded early intervention program, annual readiness assessments and more.

The industrial community once marked by steel mills is now lined with other plants, and the proposed opening of a metal scrapping company has become a point of controversy on the Southeast Side and across the city.

The Northwest Side community of Jefferson Park is known as the gateway to Chicago, in part because it’s a transit hub. The area’s thought of by some as typical “bungalow belt” Chicago. It’s predominantly middle class, but recently there’s been an uptick in homelessness. 

The new year usually brings with it hundreds of new laws in Illinois. But like everything else in recent history, the coronavirus pandemic has changed that up, too. On Jan. 1, 2021, only a trio of new laws will take effect.

Just days before Christmas, a trio of high-profile doctors, including U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams, made a plea for people to follow public health measures designed to stop the spread of COVID-19, even as two vaccines are being distributed across the U.S.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced Monday that all of the officers involved in the February 2019 raid that left a Chicago woman handcuffed and naked have been placed on desk duty.

Amy Coney Barrett, a devout Catholic, is a federal appellate judge in Chicago who has established herself as a reliable conservative on hot-button legal issues from abortion to gun control. 

Protesters have returned to the streets of Kenosha every day since a police officer shot 29-year-old Jacob Blake seven times. We visit the city to speak with residents and officials about the shooting and unrest that’s followed.

After 41 years in public service, Illinois Senate President John Cullerton is stepping down. He reflects on recent headlines, his life in politics and what’s next.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot makes a bombshell announcement: Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson is terminated, effective immediately. Lightfoot says an inspector general’s investigation revealed Johnson “repeatedly lied” to both the mayor and the public.

At a City Council hearing on Tuesday, committee members discussed a proposal to raise the city’s minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2021. Activists say it’s long overdue. But could it hurt small businesses? We debate the issue.

An onerous tax structure would virtually kill any chance that a Chicago casino operator could make a profit, despite an ability to make massive amounts of money, according to a newly released feasibility study.

With the swipe of a pen – several of them, actually – Gov. J.B. Pritzker made it official Tuesday: Illinois will become the 11th state where smoking or otherwise using weed is legal.

Federal agents have executed a search warrant at the South Side ward office of Chicago Ald. Carrie Austin. A source close to the matter says Austin has been under federal investigation for several years.