Stories by Daniel Hautzinger

The James Beard Awards, a coveted achievement among America's chefs and food industry, were held tonight. Out of fourteen Chicago finalists, four took home an Award.

As new stories and backgrounds emerge around the Hayley Reid case, suspicion begins to shift from the initial promising subjects. A mistake leads to a disastrous consequence and a devastating feeling of guilt for Cassie. But the investigation narrows in on the culprit.

Cosette begins to stifle under Jean's protectiveness, and her desire to see the world leads to encounters with several familiar – including some unwelcome – characters. Colonel Pontmercy's son Marius learns more about his father and revolts against his grandfather. 

Mother Mildred becomes interested in working conditions when she comes to Poplar and tends to a family with three generations of dockworkers. Lucille's romance hits a rough patch, while she tries to help a young single mother intent on keeping her daughter despite her parents' wishes.

Media attention around the re-opening of the Hayley Reid case becomes unbearable and even dangerous. Cassie and Sunny hear allegations of darkness in the pasts of some of their prime suspects, four schoolmates who seem to have lied to the detectives. 

Jean Valjean fails Fantine and promises to make amends by finding and caring for her daughter, who is cruelly abused by the abhorrent Thénardiers at their inn. Javert is still determined to lock Jean away for the rest of his life. 

A husband suffers during his wife's pregnancy while another woman learns she has a rare condition that causes her to have a life-altering identity crisis. And both Phyllis and Lucille reluctantly face romantic interests. 

Chicago has long been a center of African American business, from Johnson Publishing Co. to the hair-care company Johnson Products. Meet three black entrepreneurs of a younger generation, who have utilized digital savvy to grow their businesses.

Cassie and Sunny interview four schoolmates who rented a cabin in Hayley's town the night she disappeared and begin to learn more about their pasts and their lives, while a former suspect refuses to speak to the detectives. 

Fantine makes a difficult decision in order to provide for her daughter, but fortune continues to conspire against her. Jean Valjean has remade his life, but Javert is still hellbent on finding and capturing him – and he's closing in.

Cilla Singh and Enid Wilson are both pregnant, but in very different circumstances. They do have one connection, however: Cilla is Enid’s daughter.

Cassie and Sunny are briefed on the original investigation into Hayley's disappearance as the media descends on Middenham. A friend of Hayley's comes forward with some some information she never shared that leads the detectives to four old friends. 

A prisoner serving nineteen years for stealing a loaf of bread finally gets out and faces a cruel, uncaring world. A poor young seamstress falls in love with a wealthy gentleman who showers her with gifts. And a soldier is shut out of his son's life.

Violet takes to her new role with gusto while one of her newest constituents anxiously worries over every little thing that happens to her infant daughter. Another mother is more than ready for her sixth child, but he proves to be more difficult than her others. 

Over the 102 years that the Pulitzer Prize has been awarded, four distinct Chicago newspapers have won, for a total of 47 Prizes. Explore the journalism winners, from someone who received a Prize posthumously to the only person to receive two Pulitzers at a Chicago paper.