Stories by Associated Press

President-elect Joe Biden is set to introduce former presidential rival Pete Buttigieg on Wednesday as his nominee for transportation secretary. The 38-year-old former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, would also be the first openly gay person confirmed by the Senate to a Cabinet post. 

During the winter holidays, the demand on food pantries spikes, and this year, the COVID-19 pandemic has already exacerbated hunger around the U.S. How food pantries are keeping their clients and volunteers safe.

A nonprofit on Chicago’s Lower West Side is getting creative this holiday season. We check out the 2020 Pilsen Christmas Window Walk.

He is a crafty artist who uses a gas-powered paintbrush and tree trunks as his canvas. Meet Eric Widitz, a Chicago-area entrepreneur who has been using chainsaws to make wood sculptures for nearly 40 years.

A recent investigation finds immigrant teenagers are illegally employed working night shifts in suburban factories. ProPublica reporter Melissa Sanchez joins us with the story.

Aldermen on Tuesday advanced a scaled-back effort to test whether Chicago’s affordable housing crisis could be eased by permitting basement, attic and coach house dwellings in five areas of the city.

Facing a nearly $4 billion budget hole, Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Tuesday outlined millions in cuts that he called a “first step” toward balancing the state’s budget.

Travelers coming to Chicago from nearly every U.S. state, plus Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia, must quarantine for 10 days or record a negative test for COVID-19, Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s office announced Tuesday.

The unanimous opinion issued Monday is the first public enforcement of rules governing the use of social media by elected officials in Chicago. In keeping with the ethics board’s rules, the official was not named.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says the monarch butterfly warrants inclusion on the endangered species list but due to a lack of resources is being wait-listed behind higher-priority plants and animals.

U.S. government agencies and private companies rushed to secure their computer networks following the disclosure of a sophisticated and long-running cyber-espionage intrusion suspected of being carried out by Russian hackers. 

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

Watch the Dec. 15, 2020 full episode of “Chicago Tonight.”

The state’s first round of COVID-19 vaccinations outside of Chicago took place Tuesday morning in Peoria, where five health care workers rolled up their sleeves to get their first dose.

In all, 80 men and women, who were sentenced to 256 total years in prison across more than 100 cases tied to ex-CPD Sgt. Ronald Watts, have had their convictions dismissed over the past three years.

A COVID-19 vaccination was administered for the first time Tuesday morning in Austin, a Chicago neighborhood ravaged by the virus. Mayor Lori Lightfoot called it “history in the making.”

For several decades, Hershey Felder has created a series of richly theatrical biographies of great composers. His latest work, “A Paris Love Story,” follows that essential pattern but adds a heartbreaking layer of autobiography.

The National Audubon Society’s annual bird count is underway. Now in its 121st year, the tally gives researchers and conservationists a good picture of how North America’s bird populations are changing.

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.

Renaming 17 miles of Lake Shore Drive for Jean Baptiste Point DuSable, Chicago’s first permanent non-Indigenous settler, would be a massive undertaking without precedent in the city’s history, city officials told aldermen Friday.

Illinois’ 20 members of the Electoral College played their part Monday in getting former Vice President Joe Biden to the White House, despite President Donald Trump’s continued attempts to overturn last month’s election results.

We catch up with local songwriter Paul Cherry, who recently performed his first show in nearly a year at Lincoln Hall — for a virtual audience. 

The board voted unanimously on Monday to fine the 21st Ward alderman $5,000 for violating the city’s Governmental Ethics Ordinance by defending clients in criminal cases involving the Chicago Police Department.

An effort to require Chicago police officers to allow those arrested access to a phone within an hour of being detained remains stymied, nearly 19 months after Ald. Leslie Hairston (5th Ward) called on police brass to follow state law.

Suburban Cook County health officials outlined their vaccination plans Monday as they await the shipment of 20,000 doses of a COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech. 

Winter is on its way, and with it comes holiday stress, seasonal depression and — this year — concerns about COVID-19. We get advice on staying mentally healthy during the pandemic.