Stories by Associated Press

Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm announced a “major scientific breakthrough” Tuesday in the decadeslong quest to harness fusion, the energy that powers the sun and stars.

After being approached to enhance the neighborhood, entrepreneur and chef Quentin Love decided to open what he hopes will be a soul food staple on the city’s West Side.

NASA’s Ingenuity Mars helicopter is the first aircraft humankind has ever created that is capable of powered, controlled flight on another world. NASA’s team lead on the project discusses its significance. 

Alderpeople on extending the Red Line and taking down the Trump sign. The state’s top doctor on the “triple-demic.” Electric cars hitting a pothole in Illinois. Helicopters on Mars. And a taste of the Soul Food Lounge.

Prosecutors said William Kohles was upset over crime rates in Chicago when he allegedly wrote a threatening message to Mayor Lori Lightfoot in which he claimed he would shoot the mayor. 

The new law is intended to safeguard gay marriages if the U.S. Supreme Court ever reverses Obergefell v. Hodges, its 2015 decision legalizing same-sex unions nationwide. The new law also protects interracial marriages. 

Jay Bollyn, 69, was arrested on hate crime charges and ordered held on a $100,000 D-bond during a court hearing Tuesday. He must post $10,000 to be released from custody.

The $1.74 billion proposal still needs the approval of the Illinois Gaming Board, which must license Bally’s to operate the Chicago casino set to be built along the Chicago River near Chicago Avenue and Halsted Street.

The Jordan trophy will stand 23.6 inches tall and weigh 23.6 pounds – nods to his jersey number and six NBA titles with the Chicago Bulls – but is not a depiction of him.

Postal carrier Aundre Cross was shot and killed Friday in Milwaukee while delivering mail. In a separate case, a man in late October received numerous felony charges, including aggravated kidnapping and attempted aggravated sexual assault of a postal carrier in the Little Village neighborhood. 

Lawmakers consider a state assault weapons ban. The fate of funding for the CTA’s Red Line south extension. A new study says federal courts are locking up more defendants before trials. And the dangers behind being a postal worker.

Pharmacies across the country are seeing surging demand for child-friendly versions of Amoxicillin, Tamiflu and other drugs. That demand has led at times to empty shelves and parents having to try multiple pharmacies to find their child’s prescription.

Developers announce plans for Fulton Market. And Palatine-based grill company Weber is going private —a quick year after their public bid.

In 1968, a U.S. Marine was wounded and evacuated from Vietnam and returned to Chicago. He found his calling making artwork with an approach that could be called obsessive.

A new report from the University of Chicago Law School’s Federal Criminal Justice Clinic shows that locking up pretrial defendants has become the norm in federal court, rather than the exception, as required by law.

The Chicago Police Department on Monday evening issued a community alert notifying residents on the city’s North and West sides after at least 50 armed robberies have been carried out between Dec. 7 and Dec. 10.

The proposed legislation would ban the future sale of a list of guns defined as assault weapons. While the bill is many stages away from becoming law, leading Democrats are committed to its passage.

The poll of 700 likely Chicago voters was conducted Nov. 10 to Nov. 17 by Impact Research, a firm that includes President Joe Biden and other prominent Democrats among its list of clients.

The city must match an expected federal grant of $2.16 billion before the first track can be laid — and the City Council is set to give the project signal clearance Wednesday.

Edwin Lagunas, 18, has been arrested and charged with two counts of first-degree murder, one count of attempted murder and an additional count of aggravated battery with a firearm stemming from the Nov. 20 shooting that left Ruby Navarrete and Lynner Hawkins dead.

A final vote on the city subsidy for the high school set to be built at 24th and State streets, once home to the demolished CHA Harold L. Ickes homes, is scheduled for Wednesday’s full City Council meeting.

The European carmaker said it will “idle” the assembly plant in Belvidere, Illinois on Feb. 23 and said the layoffs are expected to exceed six months. 

Anabel Abarca, a McKinley Park resident and attorney, was the only one of the four people to apply to fill the vacant seat on the City Council who is also running for the spot in the Feb. 28 election. 

Coronavirus-related hospital admissions are climbing again in the United States, with older adults a growing share of U.S. deaths and less than half of nursing home residents up to date on COVID-19 vaccinations.

According to Chicago Police Department data, 20 people were shot in 17 separate shooting incidents between 6 p.m. Friday and 11:59 p.m. Sunday. That included a triple homicide following a fight at a bar in the 5500 block of West School Street.

The Chicago Archdiocese released a letter Saturday saying that a review board found “no reason to suspect” that the Rev. Michael Pfleger was guilty of the allegations. Pfleger had stepped away from his duties as pastor of St. Sabina Church in October during the review.