Stories by Associated Press

Earlier this month, Pittsburgh-based U.S. Steel said it would stop processing steel slabs at its Granite City Works plant in southern Illinois, just outside St. Louis, and “optimize” its operations by focusing on processing at its Mon Valley Works in Pennsylvania and Gary Works in Indiana.

More than 430 movie, TV and stage stars as well as comedians, directors and writers added their names to an open letter Monday from the American Civil Liberties Union that argues it is “a dark moment for freedom of speech in our nation.”

Across the city and surrounding suburbs, other teams were fanning out in support of “Operation Midway Blitz.” It has unleashed President Donald Trump’s mass deportations agenda on a city and state that has had some of the strongest laws preventing local officials from cooperating with immigration enforcement.

ICE launched its Chicago area operation dubbed “Midway Blitz” on Sept. 8, drawing concern from activists and immigrant communities who say there’s been a noticeable uptick in immigration enforcement agents.

Elias Rodriguez shouted “Free Palestine” during the shooting and then went inside the museum and said, “I did it for Palestine, I did it for Gaza, I am unarmed,” according to court documents.

In a series of votes, advisers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention didn’t specifically recommend vaccination but said people could make individual decisions.

The Trump administration has singled out Chicago as its latest mark for immigration enforcement, using traffic stops in immigrant-heavy areas and targeting day laborers outside hardware stores.

Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One while returning from Great Britain on Thursday, Trump said federal regulators should consider revoking broadcast licenses for networks that “give me only bad publicity.”

The move is the Fed’s first cut since December and it lowered its short-term rate to about 4.1%, down from 4.3%. Fed officials, led by Chair Jerome Powell, had kept their rate unchanged this year as they evaluated the impact of tariffs, tighter immigration enforcement, and other Trump administration policies on inflation and the economy.

Describing extraordinary turmoil inside the nation’s health agencies, Monarez and former CDC Chief Medical Officer Chief Debra Houry described exchanges in which Kennedy or political advisers rebuffed data supporting the safety and efficacy of vaccines.

Without establishing any link to last week’s shooting, the Republican president and members of his administration have discussed classifying some groups as domestic terrorists, ordering racketeering investigations and revoking tax-exempt status for progressive nonprofits.

The Federal Reserve on Wednesday is widely expected to cut its key rate by a quarter point to about 4.1%, which would be the first reduction since last December.

FBI Director Kash Patel clashed with skeptical Democrats at a contentious Senate oversight hearing Tuesday, defending his record amid criticism that he has politicized the nation’s premier federal law enforcement agency and pursued retribution against perceived adversaries of President Donald Trump.

Robert Redford, the Hollywood golden boy who became an Oscar-winning director, liberal activist and godfather for independent cinema under the name of one of his best-loved characters, died Tuesday at 89.

President Donald Trump on Monday signed an order sending the National Guard into Memphis to combat crime, constituting his latest test of the limits of presidential power by using military force in American cities.

The meeting in Madrid is the fourth round of trade talks between U.S. and Chinese officials since Trump launched a tariff war on Chinese goods in April.

Former Illinois Gov. Jim Edgar, a popular two-term Republican credited with guiding the state into a period of greater financial stability in the 1990s, died Sunday, according to his family.

A small crowd attended the festivities outside the modest brick house in the village of Dolton, where the former Robert Prevost grew up after he was born in 1955 in Chicago.

Since sending the National Guard to Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., Trump has openly mused about sending troops to some of the nation’s most Democratic cities — including Chicago and Baltimore — even as data shows most violent crime in those places and around the country has declined in recent years.

Even as law enforcement officials revealed new details about the fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk they called a targeted killing, much remained unclear nearly 24 hours later, including the sniper’s identity, motive and whereabouts.

On Thursday, America marked the 24th anniversary of the deadly attacks with solemn ceremonies in New York, at the Pentagon and in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. The commemorations were punctuated by moments of silence, the tolling of bells and the reading of the names of the nearly 3,000 killed.

Charlie Kirk, the CEO and co-founder of the conservative youth organization Turning Point USA, was shot and killed Wednesday at an event at a Utah college. President Donald Trump announced his death in a social media post.

The fatal shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk at an event in Utah had particular resonance for public figures who have experienced political violence themselves.

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.