Stories by Associated Press

Merrick Garland, President Joe Biden’s attorney general nominee, vowed Monday to prioritize combating extremist violence and said his first focus would be on the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol as he sought to assure lawmakers that the Justice Department would remain politically independent on his watch.

Fallout for Chicago-based Boeing after an aircraft engine explodes near Denver. Crain’s Chicago Business editor Ann Dwyer has details on that story and more business news.

Aldermen narrowly agreed Monday to settle a lawsuit brought by the family of James Anderson, who was fatally shot by police officers in September 2015 while he suffered a mental health crisis.

The massive, 764-page criminal justice reform bill will eliminate cash bail, require law enforcement officers to wear body cameras and create a certification program for police. “This legislation marks a substantial step towards dismantling the systemic racism that plagues our communities,” Gov. J.B. Pritzker said. 

Watch the Feb. 22, 2021 full episode of “Chicago Tonight.”

“The people, wildlife and wetlands of the Calumet area have borne more than their share of pollution, and it’s time for the City of Chicago to find a different way,” conservation organizations said in support of the General Iron hunger strikers.

Black women’s hair, particularly in the workplace, has been the subject of endless discussion in recent years. In this rediscovered 1968 interview from the WTTW show “Our People,” actor Diahann Carroll tells a story that demonstrates it’s not exactly a new issue.

The author of a scathing report from the city’s Office of Inspector General says the senior leadership of the Chicago Police Department failed both their front-line officers and the public during the unrest that followed the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer.

A scathing report on how the Chicago Police Department responded to 2020 protests. Author and professor Eddie Glaude joins us for this week’s Black Voices Book Club. And sisters in the name of gospel.

Princeton University professor Dr. Eddie Glaude Jr. talks about his hopes for the nation — and those of writer James Baldwin — in this week’s Black Voices Book Club selection.

Six Flags Entertainment Corporation says it is planning to open all 26 of its amusement parks and water parks for the 2021 season, including five that were not able to operate last year because of the coronavirus pandemic.

After numerous winter storms this month left much of the Chicago area blanketed in an entire season’s worth of snowfall and ushered in dangerously cold wind chills, warmer temperatures are expected in the coming days. But first: more snow.

We expect love to have an emotional impact on us, but a new report released by the Federal Trade Commission revealed it’s also hurting wallets. A record $304 million was reported lost to romance scams in 2020.

Debris from a United Airlines plane fell onto Denver suburbs during an emergency landing Saturday after one of its engines suffered a catastrophic failure and rained pieces of the engine casing on a neighborhood where it narrowly missed a home. 

Chicago has launched a COVID-19 vaccine distribution plan that partners with community organizations to get vaccinations to people in the 15 communities most impacted by the pandemic. Carmen Vergara of Esperanza Health Centers tells us more.

How Chicagoans are stepping up to help the homeless in their communities. Getting the COVID-19 vaccine to the hardest-hit communities. Remembering the Cuban Comet in this week’s throwback.

Chef Rafael Esparza has worked in some of Chicago’s most storied kitchens. As part of our series, he gives us the last word on how works of mutual aid give cover to failures of public policy.

This month’s deep freeze has left Chicago’s homeless residents in deadly peril. But housing insecurity is not just an extreme-weather problem, some advocates say, and the city needs to take a bolder approach to housing policy.

Protesters are urging the city to stop a metal-scrapping company from opening on the Southeast Side. What both sides have to say.

A Democratic senator is calling for federal investigations into possible price gouging of natural gas in the Midwest and other regions following severe winter storms that plunged Texas and other states into a deep freeze.

You’re fully vaccinated against the coronavirus — now what? Don’t expect to shed your mask and get back to normal activities right away. That’s going to be a disappointment, if not a shock, to many people. 

The improbable story began during the winter of 1973, when Karen Autenrieth lost her wedding band at her grandmother’s house in Chicago. It’s a memory she clearly recalls decades later.

First came the big chill, then the big dig, and now officials are warning Chicagoans to prepare for the big melt. With temperatures on the rise, the snow that’s accumulated over the past three weeks is about to turn into a river. 

A political era ends. A report slams the police response to summer unrest. Gov. Pritzker’s budget has no income tax hike but some pain for business. Vaccination rates lag in Black and Brown communities.

This week’s killer freeze in the U.S. was no surprise. Government and private meteorologists saw it coming, some nearly three weeks in advance. And yet catastrophe happened. At least 20 people have died and 4 million homes at some point lost power, heat or water.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot fired back Friday at critics who blasted her for using $281.5 million in COVID-19 federal relief funds to cover the cost of salaries and benefits for Chicago Police Department officers. “Criticism comes with the job of mayor but this one’s just dumb,” Lightfoot said.