Stories by Associated Press

Unemployment benefits for millions of Americans struggling to make ends meet lapsed overnight as President Donald Trump refused to sign an end-of-year COVID relief and spending bill that had been considered a done deal before his sudden objections.

Some of our favorite stories from the year, including residents fighting to retain their cultural identity. Plus: decoration without exploitation, and details on el Dia de los Reyes Magos and more.

Federal agents converged Saturday on the home of a possible person of interest in the explosion that rocked downtown Nashville as investigators scoured hundreds of tips and leads.

The Girl Scouts are in a “highly damaging” recruitment war with the Boy Scouts after the latter opened its core services to girls, leading to marketplace confusion, lawyers for the century-old Girl Scouts organization claim.

A recreational vehicle parked in the deserted streets of downtown Nashville exploded early Christmas morning, causing widespread communications outages that took down police emergency systems and grounded holiday travel at the city’s airport. 

One of 12 officers placed on desk duty in the botched 2019 police raid on the home of a Black woman was accused in an earlier mistaken raid, while another of the officers was involved months later in a fatal shooting, according to a newspaper report. 

The U.S. is the latest country to announce new travel restrictions because of a new variant of the coronavirus that is spreading in Britain and elsewhere.

A program that has pumped $2.7 billion into healing long-term injuries to the Great Lakes environment has received authorization from Congress to continue another five years.

United Airlines on Thursday became the fourth major airline with routes between London and the New York metropolitan area to require passengers show proof they have been tested negative recently for the novel coronavirus.

Despite warnings from public health experts to stay home, over 1.19 million travelers passed through U.S. airport security checkpoints Wednesday — the highest one-day total since the crisis took hold in mid-March.

Watch the Dec. 24, 2020 full episode of “Chicago Tonight.”

President Donald Trump’s sudden demand for $2,000 checks for most Americans was swiftly rejected by House Republicans on Thursday as his haphazard actions throw a massive COVID-19 relief and government funding bill into chaos.

President Donald Trump on Wednesday pardoned former campaign chairman Paul Manafort and Charles Kushner, the father of his son-in-law, in the latest wave of clemency to benefit longtime associates and supporters.

President Donald Trump unexpectedly vetoes the bipartisan defense bill and threatens to do the same with the COVID-19 relief and government funding package. Our politics team takes on those stories and more.

Nearly 80,000 people left Illinois last year, according to just-released data estimates. In the past decade, nearly a quarter million people have moved.

“We ask that IDPH acknowledge the high risk of COVID-19 exposure for people living in all forms of state custody and the staff who work with them and prioritize them for vaccinations,” dozens of groups wrote in a letter to state health officials.

The Chicago Department of Public Health has asked Reserve Management Group to resubmit its application to operate Southside Recycling at 11600 S. Burley Ave. with a significant amount of additional information.

Former Bears offensive lineman James “Big Cat” Williams previews the Bears matchup Sunday against the Jaguars.

Satirists strive to challenge, critique and confront society’s absurdities or injustices through their humor. “(Satire is) really trying to catch your attention to say something so you’re aware of it so we can possibly change it,” said Al Gini, co-author of “The Sanity of Satire.”

President Donald Trump on Wednesday vetoed the annual defense policy bill, following through on threats to veto a measure that has broad bipartisan support in Congress and potentially setting up the first override vote of his presidency.

Businesses along the 71st Street commercial corridor experienced extensive damage and property theft in late May and early June. Six months later, it’s still difficult for some business owners to talk about the past as they look ahead to what’s next.

The eagerly awaited and often delayed Navy Pier flyover has been delayed yet again, this time due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Millions of Americans are traveling ahead of Christmas and New Year’s, despite pleas from public health experts that they stay home to avoid fueling the raging coronavirus pandemic that has killed more than 320,000 nationwide.

The 53-year-old R&B star has been behind bars since his arrest in July 2019 and two trial dates, for April and then October this year, were earlier struck. His new trial date is Sept. 13, 2021. 

More than 100,991 Illinois residents have gotten an initial dose of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine, leading the nation, Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced Wednesday.

Watch the Dec. 23, 2020 full episode of “Chicago Tonight.”