Stories by Associated Press

President Joe Biden on Wednesday laced into Donald Trump over a failed project in the previous administration that was supposed to bring thousands of new jobs into southeastern Wisconsin and trumpeted new economic investments under his watch that are coming to the same spot.

CTA President Dorval Carter said the agency will use the report as “a major foundational point for our overall advocacy of the transit system,” an effort to get Springfield lawmakers to address the fiscal cliff facing transit when billions in federal COVID-19 relief funding runs dry.

The Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office announced it is adding a new position — hate crimes specialist — in response to the “growing need to address hate crimes amid a challenging global climate.”

Steve Albini, the influential recording engineer behind Chicago’s Electrical Audio studios and a member of bands like Big Black and Shellac, died Tuesday at age 61. 

The Civilian Office of Police Accountability completed its investigation into the death of Iris Chavez on April 28, 2023, but the results of that probe have not been made public, and no officers have been disciplined in connection with her death.

Powerful tornadoes and storms swept through southwestern Michigan Tuesday evening, destroying homes and businesses and injuring several residents, scenes that could play out once again in the central and eastern U.S. Wednesday.

A big change to the school funding formula — what it could mean for students and teachers. And how Chicago police are responding to pro-Palestinian demonstrators.

CPS is anticipating a budget deficit of $391 million for the coming school year as COVID-19 relief funding runs out. That deficit is expected to rise to $700 million the following year.

Advocates say as many as 40,000 youths statewide could lose access to tutoring services, recreation and other extracurricular activities this summer unless Illinois lawmakers approve an infusion of funds to keep them going.

Activists have sued in federal court, alleging First Amendment violations because the city has only offered permits for demonstrations miles from the United Center, where Biden is scheduled to accept the Democratic presidential nomination.

Chicago is set to host the Democratic National Convention this summer. It will be the city’s 27th time hosting a national political convention. Chicago conventions have been some of the most memorable, raucous and consequential in American history.

The Boy Scouts of America is changing its name for the first time in its 114-year history. The organization steeped in tradition has made seismic changes after decades of turmoil, from finally allowing gay youth to welcoming girls throughout its ranks.

Stormy Daniels took the witness stand Tuesday at Donald Trump’s hush money trial, describing for jurors a sexual encounter the porn actor says she had with him in 2006 that resulted in her being paid off to keep silent during the presidential race 10 years later.

Human trafficking remains a problem in Illinois, with some data suggesting it has increased in recent years. Data from the Human Trafficking Institute ranks Illinois the 5th highest state for sex trafficking, and 9th highest for labor trafficking.

The alleged sexual abuse in these cases occurred between 1996 and 2017 and the victims were all minors — some as young as 12 — when the alleged abuse occurred, according to the complaint.

Police cleared a pro-Palestinian tent encampment at the University of Chicago early Tuesday morning as tension ratcheted up in standoffs with demonstrators at other college campuses across the U.S.

 Chicago native Sendy L. Soto became  the city’s first chief homelessness officer. Part of her new role will be to devise a five-year plan to end homelessness. 

Elected officials and developers gathered at the Thompson Center on Monday to help mark the start of Google’s $280 million makeover of the former state government building.

The Field Museum ushered in a new era of scientific exploration with Monday’s unveiling of the Chicago Archaeopteryx.

A piece of evolutionary history has made its way to the Field Museum. A remarkably preserved Archaeopteryx fossil has been acquired, offering an astonishing window into the transition between dinosaurs and modern birds. This rare and scientifically significant find sheds new light on the origins of flight and the incredible journey of evolution.

Meet Chicago’s first chief homelessness officer. Birds are modern-day dinosaurs — the Field Museum says it now has a rare fossil to prove it.

Nearly 100 people are claiming in a new lawsuit that they were subjected to sexual abuse and assault as the hands of correctional officers and staffers at facilities in Chicago and across the state.

A spokesperson for the Chicago Police Department said CPD would fully cooperate with the probe, which comes approximately 100 days before the Democratic National Convention comes to Chicago.

The vast majority of Alzheimer’s cases occur after age 65. But research published Monday suggests that for people who carry not one but two copies of the gene, it’s more than a risk factor, it’s an underlying cause of the mind-robbing disease.

Only 13 specimens of Archaeopteryx — and one special feather — are known to exist since the first Archaeopteryx fossils were discovered in 1860. Most come from the same deposit of Solnhofen Limestone in Bavaria, Germany.

Shake any family tree, and a few skeletons are bound to fall out — that’s as true for birds as it is for people. Except that for birds, the wacky cousin lurking in one of those branches is T. Rex.