“Empire” actor Jussie Smollett is back in the headlines as the state’s attorney whose office cleared him of charges announces she’s running for re-election. Our politics team digs into that story and more in our weekly roundtable.

By this time next week, Chicago alderman will have voted on the city’s next budget. Mayor Lori Lightfoot is optimistic that her budget will pass, even as progressive groups say she’s breaking campaign promises. 

An artist with a cult following in Japan and Europe has his first show in the United States, and it is in Chicago. We visit the exhibition “Self-Portrait of Other” for a strong dose of surrealism and satire.

Geoffrey Baer shares the story behind a unique Chicago-made typewriter and the ornate 1907 building that served as its headquarters. 

Nearly 25 million American women living below the poverty line are faced with a terrible choice every month: whether to spend money on menstrual hygiene products or other necessities. We explore what’s called period poverty – and the movement to end it.

Peruvian American journalist Marie Arana talks about her new book, “Silver, Sword, and Stone: Three Crucibles in the Latin American Story.”

Tribune Publishing stock soared as much as 15% Wednesday after Alden Global, a hedge fund known for making deep cuts to newsrooms, bought out Tribune’s largest stockholder.

An emergency action from the state board of education comes a day after a Tribune-ProPublica investigation revealed thousands of cases in which schools put students into seclusion. We speak with two of the reporters behind that story.

Watch the Nov. 20, 2019 full episode of “Chicago Tonight.”

Eight of the city’s most prominent dance companies are coming together for a one-night-only concert this week with a single mission: to celebrate the legacy of black dance in Chicago.

A new book from reporters Robin Pogrebin and Kate Kelly offers a detailed look at Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh a year after his tumultuous Senate testimony.

For the first time in over a decade, Chicago has a stand-alone Department of Housing dedicated to providing affordable options for city residents. How that department plans to increase affordable housing and fight segregation. 

In college, Stephanie Baliga was the sixth-fastest freshman in the nation. Now 31, the local nun is still running, but her goal isn’t the Olympics. It’s raising money for the religious community she serves.

A career Army officer. A career foreign service official. Both had a consistent message during Day 3 of the House impeachment inquiry, and each was troubled by the phone call between President Donald Trump and the president of Ukraine. 

How transparent is local government? See which agencies made the grade in a new report from nonprofit journalism lab City Bureau. Reporter Sarah Conway tells us more.