Stories by Associated Press

The first home test for COVID-19 that doesn’t require a prescription will soon be on U.S. store shelves.

The Electoral College decisively confirmed Joe Biden on Monday as the nation’s next president, ratifying his November victory in an authoritative state-by-state repudiation of President Donald Trump’s refusal to concede he had lost.

The biggest vaccination campaign in U.S. history kicked off Monday as health workers rolled up their sleeves for shots to protect them from COVID-19 and start beating back the pandemic — a day of optimism even as the nation’s death toll closed in on 300,000.

Trump administration officials are expected to say this week whether the monarch butterfly, a colorful and familiar backyard visitor now caught in a global extinction crisis, should receive federal designation as a threatened species.

Lovie Smith became Illinois’ first Black head football coach when he was hired by athletic director Josh Whitman in March 2016. The longtime NFL coach went 17-39 in five seasons at the school.

The first of many freezer-packed COVID-19 vaccine vials made their way to distribution sites across the United States on Sunday, as the nation’s pandemic deaths approached the horrifying new milestone of 300,000.

The nation’s first COVID-19 vaccine will begin arriving in states Monday morning, U.S. officials said Saturday, after the government gave the final go-ahead to the shots needed to end an outbreak that has killed nearly 300,000 Americans.

The U.S. gave the final go-ahead Friday to the nation’s first COVID-19 vaccine, marking what could be the beginning of the end of an outbreak that has killed nearly 300,000 Americans. 

Doctors and nurses around the U.S. are becoming exhausted and demoralized as they struggle to cope with a record-breaking surge of COVID-19 patients that is overwhelming hospitals and prompting governors to clamp back down to contain the virus.

The Supreme Court has rejected a lawsuit backed by President Trump to overturn Joe Biden’s election victory, ending a desperate attempt to get legal issues rejected by state and federal judges before the nation’s highest court.

“Cheer” star Jerry Harris has been indicted on new charges that allege he solicited sex from minors at cheerleading competitions and convinced teenage boys to send him obscene photographs and videos of themselves.

President Donald Trump has been pressing for quick approval for the vaccine and tweeted directly at Hahn earlier Friday, complaining that FDA “is still a big, old, slow turtle.” Trump has publicly bashed the pace of the FDA’s vaccine review process.

Across the country, contact tracers and emergency room doctors are hearing repeatedly from new coronavirus patients that they socialized over Thanksgiving with people outside their households.

Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin is poised to become the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, making him a key ally of Joe Biden as the president-elect navigates an increasingly partisan climate and some of the most contentious policy areas in Congress. 

Shots could begin within days, depending on how quickly the Food and Drug Administration signs off, as expected, on the expert committee’s recommendation.

The crisis across the country is pushing medical centers to the breaking point and leaving staff members and public health officials burned out and plagued by tears and nightmares.

Former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, among multiple candidates in the running for the Cabinet position, appeared to slip down the list in the last two weeks after progressive leaders criticized the prospect of nominating him for the post.

Though Thanksgiving pleas to stay put were ignored by thousands, many around the world are gleefully looking forward to spending the December holidays at home without the expense, drama and travel headaches they normally endure.

A jury on Wednesday convicted the leader of an Illinois anti-government militia group of several civil rights and hate crime charges in the 2017 bombing of a Minnesota mosque.

Commercial flights with Boeing 737 Max jetliners resumed Wednesday for the first time since they were grounded worldwide nearly two years ago following two deadly accidents.

Britain’s medical regulator warned Wednesday that people with a history of serious allergic reactions shouldn’t get the COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer and BioNTech. The advice was issued on a “precautionary basis.”

The Trump administration dove back into Capitol Hill’s confusing COVID-19 negotiations on Tuesday, offering a $916 billion package to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that would send a $600 direct payment to most Americans.

President Donald Trump celebrated the expected approval of the first U.S. vaccine for the coronavirus Tuesday as the White House worked to instill confidence in the massive distribution effort to come.

Hayley Orlinsky has spent most of the coronavirus pandemic crafting colorful bracelets as a fundraiser to buy personal protective equipment for a children’s hospital. So far, the endeavor has generated nearly $20,000.

The Philadelphia Phillies, the team Dick Allen started out with, announced his death Monday. The seven-time All-Star, 1964 NL Rookie of the Year and 1972 AL MVP started out with the Philadelphia Phillies, who retired his No. 15 in September.

The European Union on Monday invited U.S. President-elect Joe Biden to help mend tattered trans-Atlantic ties and urged him to join it in a long-term “strategic dialogue” that would address global issues ranging from COVID-19 to climate change.