Stories by Associated Press

The cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA, means the average recipient will receive more than $50 more every month beginning in January, the Social Security Administration said Thursday. The AARP estimated that increase at $59 per month.

The Daily Northwestern’s explosive interview this summer with a former football player about alleged hazing was key to the firing of head coach Pat Fitzgerald, who is suing for wrongful termination.

Mayor Brandon Johnson unveils his first budget proposal. A controversial scholarship program is set to expire — what it could mean. And efforts to rename a Chicago neighborhood with close ties to the history of slavery.

Douglas is currently named after Stephen Douglas, a 19th century political figure in Illinois whose beliefs and actions were deeply intertwined with the history of slavery. He profited from the labor of people enslaved on a plantation inherited by his wife.

Mayor Brandon Johnson’s first spending plan does not include a property tax hike to keep up with the rising rate of inflation, or new taxes or fee hikes to cover the city’s budget deficit.

Brett Baier co-authored the new book “To Rescue the Constitution: George Washington and the Fragile American Experiment.” Baier will discuss the book this weekend as part of the Chicago Humanities Festival.

At once abstract, often acrobatic, and driven by alternately intensely challenging solo turns, strongly varied and emotionally heated interpersonal relationships, and ensemble riffs that are technically demanding and expertly finessed — “Take” is performed to stunning effect. 

Patrick Taylor, who spent 16 years in custody following his arrest and conviction in the fatal shooting of a suburban rapper in a Rolling Meadows home, is set to be released Wednesday after prosecutors dropped charges against him.

Unions representing nurses in Illinois are pushing for legislation that would impose mandatory staff-to-patient ratios in hospitals, nursing homes and other health care facilities. But lobby groups representing hospitals and nursing homes argue a nationwide nursing shortage makes it impossible to comply with such a mandate.

House Republicans narrowly pushed aside Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, the Judiciary Committee chairman, in favor of Rep. Steve Scalise, the current majority leader, lawmakers said. A floor vote of the whole House could come as soon as Wednesday afternoon.

The district said it paused the administration of the hour-long High School Admissions Test for eighth grade CPS students seeking to enroll in a district selective enrollment high school.

Authorities discovered the body of 73-year-old Myrtle Brown on Sept. 16 after relatives alerted police they’d been unable to find or contact her or her son, the Maywood Police Department said in a news release. Her body was found near a creek behind her home in Maywood, about 11 miles from Chicago, according to the department.

The proposed 1,300-mile project would carry planet-warming carbon dioxide emissions from more than 20 industrial plants across South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota and Illinois. The Illinois permit is crucial because that’s where the company planned to store the carbon dioxide underground.

On Oct. 1, Dorothy Hoffner made a tandem skydive that could land her in the record books as the world's oldest skydiver. She jumped out of a plane from 13,500 feet.

Skokie Police on Wednesday announced that 23-year-old Jacob Spiro was arrested this week and charged with two counts of falsely making a terrorist threat and one count of disorderly conduct.

The battle for representation on Chicago’s elected school board. A local Palestinian reacts to the devastating attacks in Gaza and Israel. And a lesson in Indian history and culture, one sip at a time.

Chicagoans are set to see a new office on their ballot in November 2024. For the first time, voters will elect members to the Chicago Board of Education. While election day is set, the districts that board members will run in have not been decided.

Longtime friends Bhavik Modi and Ray “Gator” Schrand have created what might be the only Indian brewery on tap in the American craft beer market: Azadi Brewing Company. The co-founders said everything about each Azadi beer is a lesson in Indian history and culture.

The war, which has already claimed at least 1,800 lives on both sides, is only expected to escalate. The weekend attack that Hamas said was retribution for worsening Palestinian suffering under Israeli occupation has fired Israel’s determination to crush the group’s hold in Gaza — hiking risks of an expanded regional conflict.

Israel declared war after a surprise attack Saturday by Hamas, an Islamist militant group that controls the Gaza Strip. Authorities report hundreds of deaths.

Named Cayo margarita as a nod to Buffett’s song “Margaritaville,” the bright yellow specimen is a worm snail, a type of mollusk that sticks to hard surfaces within the coral reef and forms a tubular shell around itself.

The fire station at 2358 S. Whipple St. was in use for more than a century but has been vacant since 2011 when a new fire station was built two blocks away. The Chicago Historic Resources Survey determined the two-story structure is significant in the context of the surrounding community.

On Tuesday evening, two leading contenders for the gavel, Majority Leader Steve Scalise and Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, were scheduled to address colleagues behind closed doors at a candidate forum, but they appeared to be splitting the vote.

The Illinois State Police on Tuesday announced that 38-year-old Adam Dabash had been charged with two counts of stalking and one count of criminal damage to property.

While the full tally of dead will never be known, wildlife advocates are certain of one thing: The vast majority of bird losses in the past week were preventable.

The American Red Cross, which provides about 40% of the nation’s blood and blood components, says the distribution of blood products to hospitals is outpacing the number of donations. Since early August, there has been a nearly 25% decline in donations, it says.