Stories by Associated Press

Just a week after former President Donald Trump’s resounding election victory, a Manhattan judge is poised to decide whether to uphold the hush money verdict or dismiss it because of a U.S. Supreme Court decision in July that gave presidents broad immunity from criminal prosecution.

Illinois will receive a $40 million share of a $1.4 billion bipartisan national settlement with Kroger over the grocery chain’s role in the opioid crisis, Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul announced.

Something entirely magical took place at Symphony Hall in a recent concert that featured a breathtaking world premiere of composer Osvaldo Golijov’s fascinating, grand-scale work, “Megalopolis Suite,” along with four additional and wholly beguiling works by Donizetti, Verdi, Chabrier and de Falla.

Ella Jenkins was known for revolutionizing children’s music with her signature “call and response” style found throughout her performances. The self-taught musician became a leading figure in American folk and children’s music of the 20th century.

President-elect Donald Trump is starting to fill key posts in his second administration, putting an emphasis so far on aides and allies who were his strongest backers during the 2024 campaign.

Pitchfork announced Monday it had made the “difficult decision” not to host Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago in 2025.

Researchers at the Chicago Botanic Garden and Chicago Park District have teamed up on a project to answer one of ecology’s burning questions: What could lawns be besides grass?

President-elect Donald Trump prepares for a second term. Meanwhile, Democrats are left to digest and come to terms with a crushing defeat.

Ald. Michelle Harris (8th Ward) said the new system would be more equitable and end the perception among residents that city officials offered migrants more assistance than longtime Chicagoans living on the city’s streets.

An Illinois judge on Friday issued a permanent injunction against the state’s so-called assault weapons ban, calling it an “unconstitutional affront to the Second Amendment.”

According to an exit poll conducted by NBC, 46% of Latinos voted for Trump in 10 key states, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas and Wisconsin. Historically, Trump surpassed former Presidents Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush, which in turn resulted in the worst showing among Latinos for a Democratic presidential candidate in 20 years.

Therese Boyle and Che “Rhymefest” Smith won their races for the Chicago Board of Education, according to the Associated Press.

Take your jack-o’-lanterns to one of the dozens of pumpkin smash events happening Saturday in Chicago and the suburbs.

City Council members push back on the mayor’s property tax hike proposal. We unpack the swing of Latino support that helped fuel Donald Trump’s reelection. And congressional reaction to the new president-elect.

If plays were read as commonly as books, “Rhinoceros” would have been banned long ago in those countries that ban books. Imagine such places! First staged in 1959, it was written by the Romanian playwright Eugène Ionesco and has become a classic of the theater of the absurd.

Illinois residents are preparing for President-elect Donald Trump to make good on his campaign promises and dramatically reshape what the demographic landscape looks like in a state that is home to more than 400,000 undocumented immigrants.

Mayor Brandon Johnson’s spending plan for 2025 earmarks nearly $700 million for the Chicago Department of Public Health, which is charged with fighting the spread of communicable diseases, providing mental health care and ensuring the safety of food at restaurants and festivals.

The CPD on Thursday published a trio of photos they say depict the person responsible for the shooting deaths of Lamont Johnson, 51, and Peter Jennings, 47, who were both killed in a nonpublic area of the popular tourist spot Tuesday afternoon.

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker in a news conference on Thursday signaled that Democratic leaders are discussing what, if any, actions the state may take to gird itself against the future Trump administration.

Jurors in Madigan’s ongoing racketeering and corruption trial on Thursday heard testimony from former ComEd exec turned government mole Fidel Marquez about how the company would set aside internship slots each summer as a gift to the former Illinois House speaker.

The Police Board voted 5-3 in June 2023 to terminate Sgt. Alex Wolinski, finding that he committed multiple rule violations and a “failure of leadership … so serious as to be incompatible with continued service.”

The decisive defeat leaves Democrats to pick up the pieces and figure out a path forward for their party after notching across the board defeats in the expected swing states. Both Republicans and Democrats in Chicago on Wednesday analyzed the results of the election and what it might say about the future of the country. 

Kamala Harris concedes the race for president. We have local reaction to Donald Trump’s victory, plus two area congressmen on what his reelection means for Capitol Hill and Illinois.

Former President Donald Trump ran a campaign with messages on mass deportation, higher tariffs and anti-transgender rhetoric that drew in swaths of voters from the coveted swing states needed to secure the win.

Chief Financial Officer Jill Jaworski told members of the City Council’s Budget and Government Operations Committee on Wednesday that the $17.3 billion spending plan “prioritizes the city’s long-term fiscal stability.”

For the first time, a convicted felon is set to occupy the White House. There’s no constitutional prohibition against someone with a felony record running for or serving as president of the United States. But in Illinois, anyone with a felony conviction is barred from holding local elected office.