Stories by Associated Press

That dictate from the president-elect’s announcement of Doug Burgum for Secretary of Interior sets the stage for a reignition of the court battles over public lands and waters that helped define Trump’s first term, with environmentalists worried about climate change already pledging their opposition.

A bombshell decision in the case of Jussie Smollett. What local organizations are doing to prepare for potential mass deportations. And renewed efforts to bring a new green space to Pilsen.

President-elect Donald Trump said he’ll carry out the largest deportation operation in U.S. history — and has even promised to use the military to help that effort.

The Chicago Department of Transportation is taking steps toward transforming an abandoned railway into what’s known as El Paseo Trail in Pilsen, reigniting a discussion about the fear of further displacement for the predominantly Mexican American neighborhood.

“It is time to treat people with developmental disabilities the same and have them be paid what they’re worth, which is what we pay everybody else,” state Sen. Cristina Castro told an Illinois Senate committee.

Seven years after the alleged assault, questions over what happened that night could jeopardize Hegseth’s nomination and seem likely to be central in his upcoming confirmation hearing.

Chicago notched 2.7 inches in the first snowfall of the season, according to the National Weather Service.

The longtime 25th Ward alderperson, who is testifying under a deferred prosecution agreement, marks the most substantial witness in the government's case against the former House Speaker. He is expected to testify for several days.

Business owners, industry members and economists alike warn that large-scale deportations of undocumented immigrants, along with stricter border measures and the revoking of Biden-era protections, could have a seismic impact on the labor market and U.S. economy.

CPS Chief Education Officer Bogdana Chkoumbova, the district’s second highest ranking leader, told reporters Thursday that the two sides remain “significantly” far apart at a time when CPS is facing a financial crisis.

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of six organizations and six individuals against Gov. J.B. Pritzker, Illinois Department of Insurance Director Ann Gillespie and Attorney General Kwame Raoul.

The last pass of sweepers was originally scheduled for Nov. 22, but the season will now end on Nov. 29.

The abrupt withdrawal is a setback to President-elect Donald Trump’s push to install steadfast loyalists in his incoming administration, but also a recognition of the resistance the Republican is already encountering from members of his own party to picks with checkered backgrounds.

U.S. regulators want a federal judge to break up Google to prevent the company from continuing to squash competition through its dominant search engine after a court found it had maintained an abusive monopoly over the past decade.

The court ruled Thursday that special prosecutor Dan Webb and his team had no standing to charge the former “Empire” star after Foxx and her office initially resolved the case through an agreement which saw Smollett forfeit the $10,000 he paid in bond and complete 16 hours of community service.

New reporting shows efforts to reform the Chicago Police Department are lagging. Celebrating 30 years of the landmark documentary “Hoop Dreams.” And a soaring exhibit about Black excellence in aviation.

Six years, two high schoolers, one game. That was the winning combination for the groundbreaking documentary “Hoop Dreams” — which just turned 30 years old. The story follows two Chicago teens with dreams of making it in the NBA in the early ‘90s.

The Chicago Children’s Museum is now hosting the “Aim High: Soaring With the Tuskegee Airmen” exhibit, an interactive space that encourages play as a means to learn.

Robert Giacchetti, 59, of Crystal Lake, pleaded guilty to the federal charge of assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers.

Szustakiewicz was at a Panera Bread restaurant in the Chicago suburb of Downers Grove on Saturday “when she confronted and yelled expletives at a man regarding a sweatshirt he was wearing with the word Palestine written on it,” the DuPage County State’s Attorney’s Office and Downers Grove police said Monday in a statement.

If the mayor’s spending plan is approved by the City Council, 79 vacant positions charged with implementing the court order known as the consent decree would be eliminated, records show. Those cuts will make it impossible for the city to comply with the requirements of the court order, reform advocates said.

Chicago police agreed to judicial oversight in 2019. Since then, a series of mayors and police chiefs let efforts languish and no one in a position of oversight has pushed forcefully to keep the process on track, WTTW News and ProPublica found.

The latest on Chicago budget negotiations. Hear from The Onion’s executive editor. And the Forest Preserve District of Cook County is reaching a major milestone.

Satirical news publication The Onion won the bidding for Alex Jones’ Infowars at a bankruptcy auction last week, backed by families of Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims whom Jones owes more than $1 billion in defamation judgments for calling the massacre that killed 20 children and six adults a hoax.

On the last day ballots will be counted, unofficial totals in Chicago show where the vote shifted since 2020. Much like the United States, voters in Illinois were driven by factors including economics, immigration and education in the presidential race.

So far in 2024, the district has acquired 249 acres, the second most in any year since 1984, according to officials with the Forest Preserve District of Cook County.