Stories by Associated Press

How Charlie Kirk rose from a teenage conservative campus activist in the Chicago suburbs to a national political force in the conservative movement.

A recent strike on a suspected drug-smuggling boat is raising stark questions about just how far President Donald Trump intends to wield his power over the U.S. military without a robust check.

Movie theaters across the country are pulling out the stops for Dick Van Dyke’s 100th birthday in December. A new documentary about the song and dance man’s life, “Dick Van Dyke: 100th Celebration,” will be in theaters over his birthday weekend in December.

Potbelly, which was founded in Chicago in 1977, has 445 restaurants across the U.S. The company said the deal with RaceTrac will help it reach its goal of quadrupling in size to 2,000 locations. Potbelly stores are both company- and franchise-owned.

The letter was included as part of a 2003 album compiled for alleged sex trafficker Epstein’s birthday. The president has denied having anything to do with it. Democrats on the House Oversight Committee received a copy of the birthday album on Monday as part of a batch of documents from Epstein’s estate.

The conservative majority lifted a restraining order from a judge who found that “roving patrols” were conducting indiscriminate stops in and around LA. The order had barred immigration agents from stopping people solely based on their race, language, job or location.

President Donald Trump is swiftly implementing his vision of the military as an all-powerful tool for his policy goals. It’s ground that presidents have hardly ever crossed outside of times of war, and experts say it’s remaking the role of the most powerful military in the world and its relationship with the American public.

For the Chicago Police Department, the challenge is acute. The force must preserve public safety in a city already under strain while avoiding the appearance of working hand-in-hand with federal immigration authorities, a stance that could erode community trust and ignite new protests.

This year the typically joyful period coincides with Trump’s threats to add Chicago to the list of other Democratic-led cities he has targeted for expanded federal enforcement. His administration has said it will step up immigration enforcement in Chicago

The investigations come as the White House and a Republican-controlled Congress slashed taxpayer spending on immigrant health care through cuts in President Donald Trump’s spending-and-tax law passed this summer.

In recent years, Acutis has shot to near rock star-like fame among many young Catholics, generating a global following the likes of which the Catholic Church hasn’t seen in ages. Much of that popularity is thanks to a concerted campaign by the Vatican to give the next generation of faithful a relatable, modern-day role model.

Medical groups and several Democrats in Congress have called for Kennedy to be fired, and his exchanges with Democratic senators on the panel repeatedly devolved into shouting, from both sides. But some Republican senators also expressed unease with his changes to COVID-19 policies.

While Trump’s aggressive deportation plans accelerate, Gregory Bovino carefully hones his image, both his own and the one projected to the country that shows well-armed officers moving swiftly into place to make arrests.

Florida Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo cast current requirements in schools and elsewhere as an “immoral” intrusion on people’s rights bordering on “slavery.”

President Donald Trump affirmed that the United States will keep a robust military presence in Poland as he had a warm meeting Wednesday with Karol Nawrocki, the new president of the American ally in Europe.

The organization, which has helped pay for PBS, NPR, 1,500 local radio and TV stations as well as programs like “Sesame Street” and “Finding Your Roots,” will be awarded the Television Academy’s Governors Award.

Chicago-Based Kraft Heinz is splitting into two companies a decade after a merger of the brands created one of the biggest food manufacturers on the planet.

The order comes after California sued, saying the troops sent to Los Angeles over the summer were violating a law that prohibits military enforcement of domestic laws.

The operation in the country’s third-largest city is expected to last about 30 days and could start as early as Sept. 5, a Department of Homeland Security official told The Associated Press on Friday.

President Donald Trump has threatened to deploy the National Guard to Chicago, New York, Seattle, Baltimore, San Francisco and Portland, Oregon, to fight what he says is runaway crime. Yet data shows most violent crime in those places and around the country has declined in recent years.

Townsend, an American who is ranked No. 1 in doubles, said Ostapenko, a Latvian, who won the 2017 French Open, told her she has “no class” and “no education.”

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker is doubling down on his message to President Donald Trump that the nation’s third-largest city doesn’t need or want military intervention to fight crime.

Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said the shooter — armed with a rifle, shotgun and pistol — approached the side of the church and shot through the windows toward the children sitting in the pews during Mass at the Annunciation Catholic School.

The new shots from Pfizer, Moderna and Novavax are approved for all seniors. But the Food and Drug Administration narrowed their use for younger adults and children to those with at least one high-risk health condition, such as asthma or obesity.

A study of how three popular AI chatbots respond to queries about suicide found they generally avoid answering questions that pose the highest risk to the user, such as for specific how-to guidance. But they are inconsistent in their replies to less extreme prompts that could still harm people.

Legal experts say the Republican president’s claim that he can fire Lisa Cook, who was appointed by Democratic President Joe Biden, is on shaky ground. But it’s an unprecedented move that hasn’t played out in the courts before, and the Supreme Court this year has been much more willing to let the president remove agency officials than in the past.