With O’Hare and Midway airports deserted amid the coronavirus pandemic, stores, restaurants and rental car companies are set to get a two-month break on most of the rent they owe to the city under a proposal that cleared a key city panel Friday.

The number of people seeking help from the Greater Chicago Food Depository and affiliated food pantries has surged 60% since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, which has shut down the nation's economy and thrown tens of millions of people out of work. 

About 60 miles south of Chicago, Kankakee County has seen 874 confirmed cases of COVID-19 as of Thursday, with 36 deaths and 204 recoveries. Local officials weigh in on the state’s handling of the pandemic.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker is facing political pressure from some areas of the state that want to reopen sooner than Chicago. We visit Kankakee to see how residents, farmers and others are coping with the pandemic.

As Illinois faces record levels of unemployment, the state has launched a website aiming to connect job seekers with employers and provide free online access to workforce development courses.

Approximately 4,500 small businesses on the South and West sides applied for $5,000 emergency grants to help them stay afloat during the coronavirus pandemic, city officials announced Thursday.

Keeping buses and trains running is costly, but public transit agencies in Chicago have yet to see money from the federal stimulus package that passed in late March.

Ald. George Cardenas, 12th Ward, says he doesn’t agree that Chicago businesses and restaurants should be forced to stay mostly closed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The state’s stay-at-home order is still in effect. Restaurants are still closed — and so is the lakefront path. Illinois hospitals are once again welcoming non-coronavirus patients — and the revenue they bring.

The office designed to help aldermen keep tabs on how the city spends tax dollars is set to get a new leader after nearly a year without anyone at the helm.

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle backed an effort Wednesday to give property owners a bit of financial “breathing room” by waiving late fees on second-half property tax bills due Aug. 3.

The COVID-19 pandemic and shutdown has hit hard in Chicago communities that have historically suffered from disinvestment and crime, including the Far South Side communities of Roseland and Pullman.

The U.S. government’s top infectious disease expert issued a blunt warning Tuesday that cities and states could “turn back the clock” if they lift coronavirus stay-at-home orders too fast. U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin weighs in.

Over the past year, the 9th Ward alderman has emerged as a staunch critic of Mayor Lori Lightfoot. Now, he says Lightfoot has downplayed the negative impact the pandemic is having on the city’s budget.

He’s a familiar face, thanks to his PBS program “Mexico: One Plate at a Time.” And his food is familiar too, thanks to his multiple restaurants. Chef Rick Bayless talks about what the industry needs to stomach the pandemic.

An effort to protect 3,200 affordable homes in Chicago from the worst of the economic crisis created by the coronavirus pandemic advanced Tuesday, with aldermen endorsing a plan to create a $3 million fund.