Stories by Associated Press

Nine lower-level Republican lawmakers are now running to be speaker, leader of the House and second in second in line to the presidency — none with any clear shot for the gavel.

Mohammad Reza Baniassadi allegedly conspired to provide fraudulent information to U.S. immigration authorities to obtain benefits for his foreign national clients over the course of seven years.

The victim — who was identified as Damien Green, according to Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office records — was one of 23 total people who were shot in 22 separate shooting incidents between 6 p.m. Friday and 11:59 p.m. Sunday.

Mayor Brandon Johnson’s 2024 spending plan would increase the overall CPD budget to nearly $2 billion, accounting for more than 31% of the city’s $5.7 billion corporate fund, by far the most of any city agency or department.

Members of the Illinois legislature will reunite on Tuesday to take care of any unfinished business before the year’s end, including deciding the ultimate fate of measures rejected in whole or in part by Gov. J.B. Pritzker.

The plan included several hundred miles of pipeline in Illinois which terminated at sequestration sites designed to store carbon dioxide underground. The project was met with significant pushback from environmentalists and landowners.

The deal, which must be approved by the Chicago City Council, resolves the issues left over from the contract agreement reached by former Mayor Lori Lightfoot in July 2021 that ended the longest union negotiations in the city’s history.

Judith Raanan and her 17-year-old daughter Natalie, were out of the Gaza Strip and in the hands of the Israeli military, an army spokesman said. Hamas said it released them for humanitarian reasons in an agreement with the Qatari government.

An Evanston mother and daughter held hostage by Hamas are released. And immigration protests turn chaotic as a Chicago alderwoman gets physically assaulted.

WTTW News theater critic Hedy Weiss recommends an evening spent with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, guest conductor James Gaffigan and the extraordinary pianist Conrad Tao.

A new study that aims to explore Midwest state boundaries and identity was a result of over 11,000 responses across 22 states.

The Republicans have no realistic or workable plan to unite the fractured GOP majority, elect a new speaker and return to the work of Congress that has been languishing since hard-liners ousted Kevin McCarthy at the start of the month.

Art Recovery International, a company focused on locating and recovering stolen and looted art, tracked down the painting after a person in Chicago reached out claiming to possess a “stolen or looted painting” that their uncle brought back to the U.S. after serving in World War II.

The Chicago organization is joined by chapters in Detroit and Wisconsin in dropping “Audubon” and adopting the more inclusive, collaborative “Alliance.”

Here’s what it means for Chicago to be a sanctuary city and how that status has fueled the debate over Chicago’s newest arrivals.

An alderwoman is battered at a protest over a planned migrant camp. A local museum looks to acquire a vacant fire station. And an award-winning composer workshops with Northwestern music students.

If approved by the Chicago City Council, the National Museum of Mexican Art will acquire the building at 2358 S. Whipple St. It would be used by Yollocalli Arts Reach, an initiative of the museum aimed at providing arts and culture programming to teens and young adults.

Tania León is an Afro-Cuban Latina composer who has made her mark by following the rhythm of her own beat. León’s pieces carry both her Caribbean influences and the sounds of her travels.

Brighton Park community members rallied Thursday against Mayor Brandon Johnson’s plan to build a “winterized base camp” for migrants on a vacant, privately owned lot in the area.

The recent shift toward e-cigarettes that can’t be refilled has created a new environmental dilemma. The devices, which contain nicotine, lithium and other metals, cannot be reused or recycled. Under federal environmental law, they also aren’t supposed to go in the trash.

The prolonged stalemate risks keeping the House intractably shut down for the foreseeable future after the unprecedented ouster of Kevin McCarthy as speaker. 

The Department of Healthcare and Family Services (HFS) announced the cutoff date on Thursday, making good on a spring promise to limit membership in order to keep costs in check. Activists who want the program expanded rather than curtailed said that the move was expected but nonetheless disappointing.

“Any violent act against an elected official in our city is unacceptable and must be condemned in the strongest terms," Mayor Brandon Johnson said in a statement.

City officials have issued 150% more municipal ID cards so far in 2023 than in all of 2021 and 17% more than in all of 2022, according to city data.

Demand for donor breast milk has been growing as the country continues to recover from last year’s infant formula shortage that left many store shelves empty following a host of supply chain issues and product recalls.

The analysis by Fitch said the rating upgrade “is driven by a decline in the city’s long-term liability burden stemming from steady growth in the economic resource base and improved debt management practices.”