(WTTW News)
,

For the first time since a damning 2019 audit was released by the city’s watchdog, police officials defended their continuing use of records that list approximately 135,000 Chicagoans as members of gangs, citing their need for the data to prevent “retaliatory violence.”

Mayor Lori Lightfoot appears on “Chicago Tonight” via Zoom on Tuesday, June 29, 2021. (WTTW News)

Chicago and other major cities are experiencing a “pandemic-spurred surge” in violence that officials are having success in fighting despite a rising number of shootings and homicides, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said during a one-on-one interview Tuesday on “Chicago Tonight.”

Mayor Lori Lightfoot addresses weekend violence in Chicago at an unrelated news conference Monday, June 28, 2021. (WTTW News)
,

Hours after Mayor Lori Lightfoot blamed the shutdown of the Cook County court system by the COVID-19 pandemic for escalating violence across Chicago’s South and West sides, several aldermen told “Chicago Tonight” that rising inequality and distrust of the police is to blame. 

(docaz / Pixabay)

Leaders of the group that launched the push to rename Lake Shore Drive say they will agree to a compromise plan to call the iconic roadway “DuSable Lake Shore Drive,” but Mayor Lightfoot has yet to endorse the proposal.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot, left, listens as Ald. Jeanette Taylor (20th Ward) responds to her request to allow the Chicago City Council to vote to confirm Celia Meza as the city’s top lawyer at a City Council meeting Wednesday, June 23, 2021. (WTTW News)

A vote to rename 17 miles of Lake Shore Drive for Jean Baptiste Point DuSable, Chicago’s first permanent non-Indigenous settler, was delayed again Wednesday after the Chicago City Council erupted in acrimony over Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s pick to serve as the city’s top attorney.

Part of our ‘Chicago Tonight’ In Your Neighborhood series

The Greater Englewood Area, made up of Englewood and West Englewood, has faced historic disinvestment. Now it’s lagging behind in the percentage of residents who are vaccinated against COVID-19. These community organizations are helping to inform residents about the vaccine and make appointments more accessible.

A mass shooting left two people dead early Sunday, March 14, 2021 in Chicago’s Park Manor neighborhood. (WTTW News)

Calls for accountability and more community resources after a mass shooting early Sunday in Chicago’s Park Manor neighborhood left two people dead and wounded 13 others. Where do we go from here?

The former home of Emmett Till and his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, at 6427 S. St. Lawrence Ave. in Chicago’s Woodlawn community. (Credit: Jonathan Solomon)

Exactly 65 years after the brutal killing and shocking open-casket funeral of Emmett Till, the red brick two-flat where he lived with his mother is finally on the path to an official city landmark designation.

Chicago’s Woodlawn neighborhood was featured as part of our COVID-19 Across Chicago series on “Chicago Tonight” on June 17, 2020. (WTTW News)

Even though the Obama Presidential Center has yet to receive final approval to break ground, Woodlawn’s real estate market is already bubbling, with the median sale price for single-family homes rising 90% from 2010 to 2019.

(WTTW News)

Low-income communities across the city are bracing for what could be a large number of evictions once a statewide moratorium is lifted. In one of those communities, a fight over housing has been brewing for years as a large tenant prepares to move in. 

Ald. Roderick Sawyer (6th Ward) speaks about the Police Free Schools Ordinance on Tuesday, June 16, 2020. (WTTW News)

Protesters across the city and nation continue to push for police reforms that some elected officials say should include defunding the police. That’s just one of the topics on the City Council’s packed agenda Wednesday.

Chicago police officers monitor a crowd of protesters following the death of George Floyd. (WTTW News)
,

The conditions under which Chicago police officers can use force will be reviewed by a new community working group, but even before its work begins in earnest the group itself is under a degree of scrutiny.

(Credit: The Obama Foundation)

The proposed 20-acre Obama Presidential Center in Jackson Park is raising new concerns about property values and lower-income residents getting pushed out of the area.

Ald. Stephanie Coleman, 16th Ward, speaks to Paris Schutz of “Chicago Tonight” at a town hall for the Englewood community on Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2020. (WTTW News)

Can one Chicago neighborhood overcome its political divisions to exert more influence in City Council? Five aldermen representing portions of Englewood held a historic town hall Tuesday to try and do just that.

Tuesday’s runoff election brought to a close aldermanic battles in 15 wards across the city. We speak with Alds.-elect Jeanette Taylor (20th Ward), Byron Sigcho-Lopez (25th Ward), Samantha “Sam” Nugent (39th Ward) and Matt Martin (40th Ward).

  •