Stories by Associated Press

JoAnn Cunningham, 39, of Crystal Lake, claimed in her petition for post-conviction relief that she did not receive adequate counsel. She claimed to have been seeing demons and believed her son was possessed by a demon, and said she sought an exorcism from a priest, a chaplain and AJ’s father. 

Warehouse workers cast 2,654 votes in favor of a union, giving the fledgling Amazon Labor Union enough support to pull off a victory. According to the National Labor Relations Board, which is overseeing the process, 2,131 workers rejected the union bid.

The state’s reparations task force tackled the divisive issue of which Black residents should be eligible — it narrowly decided in favor of limiting compensation to the descendants of free and enslaved Black people who were in the U.S. in the 19th century.

The lawsuit alleged that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, a law enforcement agency in the Justice Department, awarded the license to JA Industries, renamed from Jimenez Arms, after it violated federal firearms law.

Rosemont police said the 18-year-old is suspected in the Friday night shooting that killed 20-year-old Joel Valdes at the Fashion Outlets of Chicago in Rosemont, just northwest of the city.

The White House said Biden is also calling on Congress to impose financial penalties on oil and gas companies that lease public lands but aren’t producing. And he intends to invoke the Defense Production Act to encourage the mining of critical minerals for batteries in electric vehicles, part of a broader push to shift toward cleaner energy sources and reduce the use of fossil fuels.

Biden acknowledged the long delay during remarks in the Rose Garden to lawmakers, administration officials and civil rights advocates, stressing how the violent deaths of Black Americans were used to intimidate them and prevent them from voting simply because of their skin color.

Scientists say global emissions need to drop 45% by the end of the decade compared to 1990 levels. But recent data show they are going up, not down, in part due to rising energy demand and the expansion of fossil fuel use.

The gap extends from a little after 11 a.m. to about 7 p.m. on Jan. 6, 2021, and involves White House calls, according to the person, who was not authorized to speak publicly about the ongoing investigation and spoke to The Associated Press on Tuesday on the condition of anonymity. It’s unclear if that gap includes White House cellphones.

The Food and Drug Administration’s decision opens a fourth dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines to those age 50 or over at least four months after their previous booster.

Some Ukrainians are sticking it out to fight or help defend their country. Others have left their homes but are staying elsewhere in Ukraine to wait and see how the winds of war will blow. Still others are elderly or ill and need extra help moving anywhere.

“Budgets are statements of values,” President Biden said in a statement, “and the budget I am releasing today sends a clear message that we value fiscal responsibility, safety and security at home and around the world, and the investments needed to continue our equitable growth and build a better America.”

The Academy Awards named an unabashed crowd-pleaser, the deaf family drama “CODA,” best picture Sunday, handing Hollywood’s top award to a streaming service for the first time in a ceremony that saw the greatest drama when Will Smith strode onstage and slapped Chris Rock.

While hinting at possible concessions, President Zelenskyy also stressed that Ukraine’s priority is ensuring its sovereignty and its “territorial integrity” — preventing Russia from carving up the country, something Ukraine and the West say could now be Moscow’s goal.

With the last nine, unscripted words of an impassioned speech about Russia's aggression in Ukraine, President Joe Biden created a troubling distraction, undermining his effectiveness as he returned home to face restive Americans who strongly disapprove of his performance on issues that matter most to them.

A person of interest was taken into custody after Friday night’s shooting at the Fashion Outlets of Chicago mall in Rosemont, a village just northwest of the city, Rosemont police said. Police did not release a motive for the shooting that happened just after 7 p.m. near the mall’s indoor food court.

Millionaire philanthropist Pete Kadens has created two college-scholarship programs — Hope Toledo, in his Ohio hometown, and Hope Chicago, which he co-founded with investment-management executive Ted Koenig and launched in September. The goal: provide debt-free college to public-school graduates. 

Normally, airlines that fail to use their assigned rights, or “slots,” at John F. Kennedy and LaGuardia airports in New York, and Reagan National Airport outside Washington, risk losing them. However, regulators waived that rule in March 2020 when airlines cut flights due to the pandemic.

As coronavirus infections rise in some parts of the world, experts are watching for a potential new COVID-19 surge in the U.S. — and wondering how long it will take to detect.

The United States is expanding efforts to help Ukrainian refugees. It has agreed to accept up to 100,000 people escaping from the war and to increase support for Eastern European nations that have taken in most of the people fleeing Russian forces. 

The American Bar Association’s standing committee on the federal judiciary has afforded its highest rating, “well qualified,” to the Harvard-educated Jackson. A junior high school friend gushed over the “supernova” debate team champion. Skeptics, including Alabama’s attorney general, warned that her views on crime and policing are “outside the mainstream.”

Metropolitan Los Angeles lost almost 176,000 residents, the San Francisco area saw a loss of more than 116,000 residents and greater Chicago lost more than 91,000 people from 2020 to 2021. The San Jose, Boston, Miami and Washington areas also lost tens of thousands of residents primarily from people moving away.

Jackson appeared for a third day before the Senate Judiciary Committee for tense confirmation hearings, providing a vivid portrait of the nation’s promise, but also its enduring racial challenges.

Madeleine Albright, the first female U.S. secretary of state, has died of cancer, her family said Wednesday. She was 84.

A senior NATO military official said the alliance’s estimate was based on information from Ukrainian authorities, what Russia has released — intentionally or not — and intelligence gathered from open sources. The official spoke on condition of anonymity under ground rules set by NATO.

There were more than 12 million new weekly cases and just under 33,000 deaths, a 23% decline in mortality, according to the U.N. health agency’s report on the pandemic issued late Tuesday.