With the announcement Thursday that the state could soon begin easing restrictions as more people get vaccinated, there’s hope for struggling businesses. Business owners from across the city tell us how they’re staying afloat and share their hopes for a better year ahead.

As coronavirus numbers begin to decrease and entertainment venues start to reopen, the debate continues over consumer safety versus the safety of home. Local cinema owners tell us what they're doing to make sure everyone can safely resume a popular pastime.

A ghost kitchen on Chicago’s North Side is renting out kitchen space to multiple restaurants for delivery-only orders, but the traffic-heavy business model is agitating the ward’s alderman and some neighbors.

Americans will be getting extra time to prepare their taxes. The Internal Revenue Service says it’s delaying the traditional tax filing deadline from April 15 until May 17.

Echoing statements made by Gov. J.B. Pritzker, the state’s comptroller says stimulus funds will first go toward paying back the billions Illinois borrowed from the Federal Reserve early in the pandemic last year.

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.

Low-income residents who are in debt to the state or city won’t have their state tax return used to settle those bills under a plan announced Monday by Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Comptroller Susana Mendoza, who said she was spurred to act because “families on the edge” need their tax returns to cover overdue bills.

Illinois officials plan on how to spend roughly $13 billion from the stimulus bill. Mayor Lightfoot hints at a near normal summer for Chicago. State lawmakers head back to Springfield. And Loyola and the University of Illinois brace for the NCAA tournament.

Legislation awaiting the governor’s signature could shut down the payday lending industry in Illinois, but payday proponents say that could lead to a host of bigger problems.

Several aldermen on Thursday called on Mayor Lori Lightfoot to use approximately $50 million from the city’s share of the latest COVID-19 relief package to fund cash assistance payments to Chicagoans struggling to stay afloat. Lightfoot declined to support cash assistance payments to Chicagoans in a statement to WTTW News.

Applications for the new program are being accepted through April 9. Suburban residents can receive up to $15,000 in assistance to cover up to 12 months of missed rent and utility payments and up to three months of future rent payments. 

In the art world and beyond, NFTs – or non-fungible tokens – are all the rage right now. But what are they? Law professor Donna Redel explains.

Rumors that the Minnesota-based retailer Target was sniffing around Water Tower Place on the Magnificent Mile for a potential new store led to some harsh backlash. What does it say about the future of the landmark shopping district as vacancy rates soar?

President Joe Biden’s signature $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package is expected to bring roughly $13 billion in aid to Illinois. We ask four state senators about the American Rescue Plan.

A Congress riven along party lines approved the landmark $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill Wednesday, as President Joe Biden and Democrats claimed a major triumph on legislation marshaling the government’s spending might against twin pandemic and economic crises that have upended a nation. 

A new program in Chicago will offer minority-owned firms that have city contracts access to financing from the federal government as part of the city’s effort to help businesses recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.