Stories by Associated Press

Joe Biden, who is in the midst of a three-day campaign swing through California, made the announcement as part of a new repayment plan that offers a faster path to forgiveness, putting the spotlight on his debt cancellation efforts in his reelection campaign.

Jennifer King became the first Black female in NFL history to serve as a primary position coach in 2021 with Washington.

The Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office announced Kashawn Perdue, 17, and a 14-year-old juvenile boy have both been charged with first-degree murder and two counts of attempted first-degree murder following the Jan. 31 killing of Daveon Gibson.

Biden’s campaign entered February with nearly $56 million cash reserves in his main campaign committee compared to a little more than $30 million in the coffers of Trump’s equivalent account.

Robert Crimo III had briefly been set to go to trial this week after he temporarily demanded to represent himself. But after he changed his mind, Judge Victoria Rossetti on Wednesday reset the initial Feb. 24, 2025 trial date.

Election officials face a long list of challenges this year, including potential cyberattacks waged by foreign governments, criminal ransomware gangs attacking computer systems and the persistence of election misinformation that has led to harassment of election officials and undermined public confidence.

Mayor Brandon Johnson announced the lawsuit, filed Tuesday in Cook County Circuit Court, against BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Exxon Mobil, Phillips 66, Shell and their largest trade association, the American Petroleum Institute.

Two alderpeople weigh in on canceling the ShotSpotter contract. A preview of Pritzker’s budget address and what it means for Chicago. And sitting down with civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump.

Mayor Brandon Johnson continues to push forward with the progressive policing strategies he promised during his campaign to prioritize. He announced the city will be phasing out its contract with ShotSpotter, the controversial gunshot detection technology.

The White Sox have played in Bridgeport for more than a century, but owner Jerry Reinsdorf and developer Related Midwest proposed building a new stadium in the South Loop as an anchor to a 62-acre site dubbed The 78.

Civil rights attorney Ben Crump is responsible for making household names out of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd and others.

All signs are pointing to another successful year of bald eagle mating in Will County.

Ahead of a major speech on Tuesday, Haley told The Associated Press that she’s staying in the race no matter what at least until after another 20 states vote through Super Tuesday on March 5. That’s even as Donald Trump’s MAGA movement is furious that she’s refusing to drop out. After all, she’s the last major candidate standing in his path to the nomination.

National Nurses United represents 2,800 nurses at UChicago Medicine. A strike authorization vote is part of standard procedure, where represented nurses give the union the authority to call a strike. 

The most famous ship in history is being remembered at the most famous shopping mall in Skokie. “Titanic: The Exhibition” just opened at Westfield Old Orchard.

A new resolution from the city’s Board of Education directs Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez to enact a new whole school safety policy, which “must make explicit that the use of SROs within District schools will end by the start of the 2024-2025 school year.”

If Illinois continues spending next fiscal year as it has been this year, the state will face an $891 million deficit. Gov. J.B. Pritzker is set to spell out exactly how he plans to address that on Wednesday, when he delivers an annual combined state of the state and budget address. 

According to Chicago Police Department data, 19 people were injured or killed in 16 separate shootings between 6 p.m. Friday and 11:59 p.m. Monday.

FIRSTHAND: Homeless — a WTTW News special. Voters weigh a plan to hike taxes on sales of million-dollar homes to help fight homelessness. And efforts to help people who shelter on the CTA. 

The Chicago Coalition for the Homeless estimates more than 68,000 people in Chicago are experiencing homelessness. That higher number includes people who are doubled up, or temporarily living in someone else’s home.

The hotels were originally used as temporary solutions during the COVID-19 pandemic. Housing advocates said the hotels are turning out to be significantly more effective than a traditional shelter approach.

The Joffrey Ballet demonstrated both the technical brilliance and emotional boldness of its dancers as the company opened its 2024 season on the Lyric Opera House stage with “Studies in Blue,” a fascinating program of three modern ballets. 

For more than half a century, a Powell-established $250,000 trust sustained his legacy, for better or worse. But the account that maintained his birthplace as a museum will soon run dry. The fate of the home in Vienna, a town of 1,300 about 140 miles southeast of St. Louis, is uncertain. 

The Chicago Board of Elections offices on the sixth floor of 69 W. Washington St. and its Loop Supersite at 191 N. Clark St. will reopen for early voting on Wednesday at 9 a.m.

The program has connected dozens of people to housing or shelter, but officials say it needs more funding and time to make a bigger impact.

District officials are lauding the findings from Harvard and Stanford researchers, which showed CPS was first in reading recovery following the COVID-19 pandemic among large school districts across the country.