A major outage in Amazon’s cloud computing network Tuesday severely disrupted services at a wide range of U.S. companies for hours, raising questions about the vulnerability of the internet and its concentration in the hands of a few firms.

New cases in the U.S. climbed from an average of nearly 95,000 a day on Nov. 22 to almost 119,000 a day this week, and hospitalizations are up 25% from a month ago. 

Pfizer and its partner BioNTech said that while two doses may not be protective enough to prevent infection, lab tests showed a booster increased by 25-fold people’s levels of virus-fighting antibodies. 

Charleston Harris, 37, was ordered held without bail Wednesday following his arrest on a single count of first-degree murder stemming from the fatal July shooting of 44-year-old Theodore Smith.

It’s been 268 days, and counting, since Chicago recorded its last measurable snow. The record of 290 days is within reach.

Superheroes and villains, a reimagined “Nutcracker,” vision boards and holiday plays usher in the weekend. Here are 10 things to do in Chicago.

With tens of thousands of Russian troops massed on the Ukraine border, the highly anticipated call between the two leaders came amid growing worries by the U.S. and Western allies about Russia’s threat to its neighbor.

“We envision a city where every resident, no matter age, income, identity, ability, has the opportunities and the resources to lead comfortable lives in the communities they call home,” Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Monday.

This time last year, many people celebrated the holidays virtually, as the COVID-19 vaccine was not yet widely available. But this year, the faithful can plan some in-person gatherings to celebrate the holidays.

Boeing’s former CEO defended the company’s safety record after a pair of deadly crashes, and implied some of the blame lay with insufficiently trained pilots. But a new book argues changes in corporate culture and government oversight led Boeing to prioritize profit over safety.

One bill would require all unvaccinated individuals who are hospitalized or need other medical treatment because of COVID-19 to pay any related costs out of pocket. The other would forbid discrimination against anyone who chooses not to be vaccinated out of religious or personal beliefs.

An analysis of 280,000 drug possession cases between 2000 and 2018 revealed about half of those cases were dismissed. In 2018, such dismissals rose to 72% of cases, according to a report by the Chicago Sun-Times and Better Government Association.

The omicron variant of COVID-19, which is believed to be highly transmissible, has been detected in Chicago, state and city health officials announced Tuesday. 

Every performer in this demanding show is multitalented and able to deftly shift from one character and mood to another in record time. 

Amazon’s cloud computing technology experienced major technical difficulties Tuesday, and brought half the world to a halt — or at least it felt that way to clients and consumers reliant on applications or services such as Alexa, Amazon Prime Video, Ring and Canvas.