Stories by Associated Press

Dolly Parton wrote hundreds of songs, including classics like “Jolene” and “I Will Always Love You,” that totaled more than 100 million worldwide sales and more than 1 billion online streams. She was a generous philanthropist and successful businesswoman.

“We cannot continue to govern by searching for loose change in the couch, or every time that there’s a budget challenge, we revert back to proclivities that have caused tremendous harm to working people in this city,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said.

Local and state officials are reassuring Illinoisans about the safety of mail-in voting, while also encouraging them to return their ballots early after a new ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court could cause “chaos” ahead of the November election.

These are the first U.S. deaths from measles reported in 2026 and the first in Pennsylvania in 35 years.

The Rev. Michael Pfleger has been reinstated at St. Sabina Catholic Church, more than a month after the longtime leader and vocal social justice was removed from the South Side parish amid new allegations of sexual abuse.

Less than 24 hours after Chicago officials recommended he be fired, Officer Joseph Vecchio was arrested and charged with a felony count of aggravated domestic battery and is being held in Cook County jail, records show.

It’s the first day of school for CPS students — how a new grant program is working to keep them in class. And power outages in Gary approach two weeks. A look at the impact they’re having on residents.

Thousands of kids flooded the hallways of Chicago Public Schools on Monday for the first day of school, but many of these students may become chronically absent as the school year continues — meaning they will miss 10% or more of classroom instruction.

Tuesday will mark two weeks since a derecho swept through Illinois and northwest Indiana, with winds damaging homes, uprooting trees and knocking out power for hundreds of thousands.

The Daily Herald News Guild has filed for a union election with the National Labor Relations Board, according to a news release. The union would represent 20 eligible staff members at the newspaper, according to the organizing committee.

“Chicago Tonight” anchor Brandis Friedman will moderate a panel of Jessica Biggs, Jennifer Custer, Hilario Dominguez, Victor P. Henderson and Sendhil Revuluri before a live studio audience of Chicago residents for an hourlong forum on Sept. 15.

Scientists have long warned that the world will experience more intense extreme weather events like heat waves, storms, floods and droughts. But what once seemed like the realm of fiction is now discussed as a possibility, even an inevitability.

Hundreds of thousands of Chicago Public Schools students returned to their classrooms across the city Monday on the first day of school for the 2026-27 academic year as local officials continue pushing for more state funding to help prevent staffing layoffs.

Taxing agencies — including schools, parks, libraries and cities — sent property tax bills totaling $19.9 billion in 2025, 3.9% more than in 2024, according to a new analysis from Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas’ research team.

Lawyers for the city of Chicago have appealed that verdict, the largest ever in a lawsuit alleging misconduct by members of the Chicago Police Department.

Sean Grayson, a former Illinois sheriff’s deputy whose fatal shooting of Sonya Massey inside her home became a flashpoint over police use of force, died Sunday while serving a 20-year prison sentence.

Elected officials try to rally voters at the Illinois State Fair. And the Cubs take two of three from the White Sox for a split Crosstown Classic.

Thousands of those affected by this month’s damaging downpours and ongoing power outages have joined a class action lawsuit targeting Indiana’s largest power utility, claiming it neglected “foreseeable and preventable” issues prior to the storms.

“Refugees and immigrants don’t get that much of a chance to share their stories,” said Ali Tarokh, the director of development and communications at the Syrian Community Network. “It’s all about reminding each other that we are human. We need to take care of each other.”

A federal judge this week sentenced Brian Metcalf, a former CPS network chief and principal at Gage Park High School, to a year and one day in prison after he entered a guilty plea on wire fraud charges.

Chicago DSA declined to endorse Ald. Daniel La Spata (1st Ward) because he would not tell the group he considers himself an anti-Zionist and Ald. Jeanette Taylor (20th Ward) because she supported reversing a 2023 City Council vote to phase out the tipped minimum wage and voted against spending on the migrant crisis.

How a toll increase could impact your commute and your wallet. And why Illinois lags behind almost every other state in building new housing.

The median sale price for homes in Chicago hit $425,000 in July, according to data from Illinois Realtors. That’s a 13.3% increase from last year. Across the state, the median price of $338,000 represented a 6% increase in a year.

President Donald Trump has been the dominant political force within the Republican Party for more than a decade, but he was barely mentioned by party leaders at Republican Day at the Illinois State Fair on Thursday.

Party leaders say Republicans need to balance campaigning on ethics problems with addressing voters’ concerns about affordability.

The Illinois Tollway Board on Wednesday approved a massive 15-year, $26.5 billion capital spending plan that will raise vehicle tolls beginning next year.