Hal Dardick –

The Ann Sather restaurant on Belmont Avenue in Lakeview on Dec. 7, 2020. Ald. Tom Tunney's restaurant received a $2,000 fine for being in violation of city and state rules designed to help stop the spread of the coronavirus.

Tallying up indoor dining ban fines: Chicago dinged restaurant and bar owners; suburban counties issued warnings

March 26, 2021 at 4:18 p.m.

While Chicago levied hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines on bars, restaurants and other businesses for violating COVID-19 restrictions during the pandemic's first year, suburban county governments largely let...

Dr. Rahul Khare, CEO of Innovative Express Care, takes a photo with Lucille Coloia, 82, after she got her second dose of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine.

What we’ve learned about COVID-19 at the one-year mark: The power of mRNA, the threat of virus mutations and the difficulty of vaccine rollout

March 10, 2021 at 10:57 a.m.

When COVID-19 was declared a pandemic on March 11, 2020, even some of the most informed people knew little about coronaviruses — and far less about SARS-CoV-2, the new coronavirus...

Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi sits in his home office in Oak Park while video conferencing with a group.

New Cook County property assessments continue to shift tax burden from homeowners to businesses in south suburbs

June 14, 2024 at 6:48 p.m.

Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi's attempts to fix a property tax assessment system widely viewed as unfair continue to shift the tax burden away from homeowners and toward businesses. Late...

An abandoned house at 1000 E. 8th Place in Ford Heights on Dec. 7, 2020.

Thousands of languishing vacant and abandoned properties with unpaid taxes harm Black neighborhoods and suburbs. Cook County treasurer says program aimed at fixing the problem is not working.

June 14, 2024 at 6:48 p.m.

Every two years, Cook County conducts what's called the scavenger sale. Tens of thousands of mostly vacant and often abandoned properties with a significant amount of unpaid taxes go up...

Workers wearing protective face masks and gowns direct people to receive their COVID-19 test at a mobile testing site outside Metropolitan Family Services in the 6400 block of south Kedzie Ave. in Chicago, Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2020. (Antonio Perez/ baiduhai)

Diez cosas que la ciencia ha aprendido sobre COVID-19

December 3, 2020 at 12:30 p.m.

Se cumple casi un año desde que el mundo se enteró de un nuevo coronavirus que desencadenaría una declaración de pandemia en marzo y, en última instancia, afectaría miles de...

Outreach specialist Kendall Granberry prepares a COVID-19 testing area on Nov. 23, 2020, at The Village, a clinic run by the Chicago Center for HIV Elimination, which also has been doing COVID-19 testing. University of Chicago Medicine operates the clinic and Dr. John Schneider is co-director.

Contact tracing in Illinois may not slow the coronavirus much. But the data is helping guide state decisions.

November 27, 2020 at 4:54 p.m.

Since the start of the pandemic, Dr. John Schneider has interviewed more than 100 people with COVID-19, and in nearly all cases he managed to pin down how they got...

Cook County Board President President Toni Preckwinkle recites the Pledge of Allegiance in a nearly empty board room before presiding over a virtual meeting of the board on Nov. 24, 2020.

With final tweaks, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle’s $6.9 billion budget wins approval

November 24, 2020 at 2:12 p.m.

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle's $6.9 billion budget for 2021 won the approval of commissioners Tuesday on a 17-0 vote after a series of final adjustments, including reallocating money...

Justin Reyes administers a COVID-19 test to Maria Suarez outside Heartland Health Centers in Chicago's Rogers Park neighborhood on July 10, 2020.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker lowers capacity for retail shops and shuts down casinos and museums in latest effort to slow COVID-19 surge

November 17, 2020 at 7:27 p.m.

Stopping short of another statewide stay-at-home order, Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Tuesday further slashed capacity limits for retail shops, and ordered casinos, museums and other indoor entertainment venues shut down...

Margaret Orozco pushes her bike to get tested for coronavirus outside Loretto Hospital in Chicago on April 27, 2020.

Daily coronavirus cases top 15,000 in Illinois for the first time, setting a record for the fourth straight day: ‘What are we going to do? — What are you going to do?’

November 13, 2020 at 7:25 p.m.

With Illinois reporting more than 15,000 new confirmed and probable cases of the coronavirus for the first time Friday, the state's top public health official urged residents to "step up"...

Dan Lakier and Caroline Rohan make dinner with their children, Naomi, 14, left, Zach, 11, and Eva, 9, right, at their home in suburban Deerfield on Nov. 5, 2020. They plan to spend Thanksgiving at Dan's parents home in Deerfield, but are opting not to see Caroline's parents due to their age and health issues.

Should you get tested for COVID-19 before your Thanksgiving gathering? Here’s what the experts say.

November 15, 2020 at 3:59 p.m.

Carrie Mangoubi had a plan for Thanksgiving. She'd ask her guests to quarantine for two weeks before the holiday, or quarantine for one week and then get tested for COVID-19...

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