Stories by Associated Press

From shopping in person or going to the gym to bigger milestones like visiting family, the people who were once most at risk from COVID-19 are beginning to move forward with getting their lives on track. More than 47% of Americans who are 65 and older are now fully vaccinated.

Baltimore City State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby says the city will no longer prosecute for prostitution, drug possession and other low-level offenses.

Staff and volunteers directly caring for children at new emergency sites don’t have to undergo FBI fingerprint checks, which use criminal databases not accessible to the public and can overcome someone changing their name or using a false identity.

When it comes to what scientists know about the effects of climate change on the Great Lakes, research to date has only scratched the surface. A new study shows that Lake Michigan is warming — even its greatest depths. “This is a large effect, not just something superficial,” scientists say.

A Loretto Hospital executive resigns amid growing controversy. Mayor Lightfoot sidelines a vaccine contractor over more improper vaccinations. Evanston passes the nation’s first reparations law. Chicago homicides are on the rise.

The move comes a day after the city of Chicago loosened restrictions on outdoor businesses and social gatherings.  

Sales sponsored by Openlands and the West Cook Wild Ones chapter are now both taking orders online for native plants, including some that are hard to find at area garden centers and nurseries. 

Chicago police have released surveillance footage of a vehicle that’s being sought in connection with a shooting on the West Side last Friday that left one man dead and a child and woman injured.

Two people opened fire at a Chicago gathering early Friday, killing one person and wounding seven others in the second such attack on the city’s South Side in the past two weeks.

The final decision on vaccine eligibility remains with local health departments, officials said. That means the change will not expand eligibility in areas of the state, like Chicago and Cook County, where demand for the COVID-19 vaccine continues to far outpace supply.

Researchers are beginning to test younger and younger kids to make sure COVID-19 vaccines are safe and work for each age. The first shots are going to adults who are most at risk from the coronavirus, but ending the pandemic will require vaccinating children too.

Plans for a 50-unit affordable housing development are underway in Albany Park, a diverse community on Chicago’s Northwest Side that is not alone in facing gentrification. We discuss housing with Diane Limas of Communities United and Ald. Rossana Rodriguez Sanchez as part of our community reporting series.

College basketball’s most important competition is in full swing. But a tweet by University of Oregon player Sedona Prince is shining light on the inequalities between weight-room facilities for the men’s and women’s teams. Deadspin senior writer and editor Julie DiCaro offers her perspective.

For the second year in a row, Chicago’s Jewish and Christian communities are preparing to celebrate Passover and Easter amid the COVID-19 pandemic. For some, that means coming together with friends and loved ones over Zoom. For others, it will be a mix of online worship and in-person celebration.

For the latest in our reporting series, we visit the diverse Northwest Side community to see how it’s supporting Asian American residents amid a rise in anti-Asian rhetoric and violence. 

A piece of Civil War history is being restored in one of Chicago’s most well-known public buildings. But what was it doing there in the first place? Geoffrey Baer has the answer.

Twenty-nine cases of a COVID-19 variant first discovered in Southern California and believed to be more transmissible have been discovered in Illinois, state health officials announced Thursday.

The pandemic has exposed disparities in access, experts say. A look at the ongoing efforts to make vaccine distribution more equitable and the need to continue those efforts in a post-pandemic world.

President Joe Biden at his first news conference Thursday left the door open to pushing for fundamental changes in Senate procedures to muscle key elements of his agenda such as immigration and voting rights past firm Republican opposition “if there’s complete lockdown and chaos.”

Joseph West, 30, was arrested Tuesday afternoon following a standoff with a Chicago police SWAT team at a South Side home. He allegedly admitted that he shot his girlfriend 10 times as she sat in her bed eating McDonald’s.

President Biden holds the first formal press conference. We visit Albany Park for our community reporting series. Exploring inequities in women’s sports. Another year of virtual Passover and Easter.

Chicago will not allow businesses to increase their capacity indoors amid an “alarming” increase in COVID-19 cases and illnesses, but they will be allowed to serve more customers outside, officials announced Thursday. “We are seeing a very disturbing trend,” Mayor Lori Lightfoot told reporters.

Starting April 1, state-regulated electric, natural gas and utilities may begin to disconnect customers who haven’t paid their bills, according to Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul, who urged customers to contact their providers if they’re facing financial hardship.

Progressive groups launched a campaign Thursday to ratchet up the pressure on Mayor Lori Lightfoot and the Chicago City Council to spend the city’s $1.9 billion share of the latest federal COVID-19 relief package on direct aid to Chicagoans struggling amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Top U.S. health officials say they’re in a race to vaccinate as many people as quickly as possible as COVID-19 variants spread, mask and distancing rules are relaxed, and Americans crave a return to normalcy.

Pritzker gets his COVID-19 vaccine shot. New information on the fallout at Loretto Hospital. Will Chicago workers go back to the office? Parking meters on the lakefront. The dangers of lead water lines.