Stories by Associated Press

Most were in some way related to sexual minorities, including research focused on HIV prevention. Other canceled studies centered on cancer, youth suicide and bone health.

It is the lowest reading in 12 years and well below the threshold of 80, which the Conference Board says can signal a potential recession in the near future. However, the proportion of consumers anticipating a recession in the next year held steady at a nine-month high, the board reported.

What a future with a shrinking Department of Education looks like. And reaction to the latest on Trump’s ban of transgender troops in the military.

In his executive order in January, the president wrote that being transgender “conflicts with a soldier’s commitment to an honorable, truthful and disciplined lifestyle” and is harmful to military readiness.

The department has been largely responsible for oversight, enforcing discrimination laws and distributing aid money for schools with low-income students and students with disabilities. Federal funding makes up a relatively small portion of public school budgets, roughly 14%.

Top national security officials for President Donald Trump, including his defense secretary, texted war plans for upcoming military strikes in Yemen to a group chat in a secure messaging app that included the editor-in-chief for The Atlantic.

During an interview in her Washington, D.C. office, Ramirez discussed the resistance to President Donald Trump’s aggressive immigration policies and her belief that Democrats need to more assertive in pushing back against his agenda.

More than 175 years after their reservation in Illinois was illegally sold at auction, the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation is now in line to get their land back.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker has rarely issued vetoes since he became governor in 2019 and has largely found himself on the same page with the Democratic supermajority in the legislature.

As the Aurora mayoral election draws near, some say campaign tactics are getting extreme in the west suburb.

The U.S. Department of Education has launched investigations into Chicago Public Schools, the Illinois State Board of Education and Deerfield Public Schools alleging violations of sex discrimination.

Under a new two-year pilot project, local and regional authorities are covering the costs of “museum prescriptions” issued by doctors who believe their patients could benefit from visits to any of the town’s four museums as part of their treatment.

Fermilab received near-failing federal grades in its annual report card following a tumultuous year of budget mismanagement, safety concerns and leadership turnover. Whistleblower reports highlighted serious problems at the premier physics facility before its management contractor took over in January.

Tensions between Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Teachers Union are running hot, but as of Friday evening both sides say a contract deal is close.

"Unofficial" trails were damaging rare ecosystems in Swallow Cliff Woods. The forest preserve district asked people to stick to marked paths and the message succeeded.

Elena Diadenko aids the war effort in her native country. When she isn’t teaching she raises funds through art-related events — although now she has a heightened sense of urgency due to the new administration in Washington DC.

For weeks, Democratic lawmakers have met with and mimicked figures they believe may offer them a path back to power in Washington: online influencers and content creators.

Since the beginning of the year, Chicago police officers have shot five people, killing three, records show. A spokesperson for Mayor Brandon Johnson acknowledged he has not named an interim replacement for Andrea Kersten, who resigned as the chief administrator of the Civilian Office of Police Accountability, known as COPA, on Feb. 13.

The U.S. Education Department last week said it was investigating dozens of universities for alleged racial discrimination, citing ties to the nonprofit organization.

People with severe asthma insured by BlueCross BlueShield of Illinois may soon face a new hurdle in accessing a treatment that providers say is critically important to keeping certain patients alive and well.

The transit agencies came up with the doomsday models at the RTA’s behest, responding to calls from Springfield legislators who’ve demanded specifics about how bad it could get if transit goes over the fiscal cliff — as well as what public transportation could look like if lawmakers go beyond plugging the budget gap and drastically increase state funding.

Chicago Board of Education members kick the can on a budget amendment. And a new lawsuit alleges a pattern of illegal arrests by ICE agents in the Chicago area.

Temporary protected status (TPS) is a designation the U.S. government gives for countries it deems too dangerous to humanely send its citizens back to. Eligible migrants from designated countries can apply for protections from deportation if they arrived in the U.S. by a certain date.

The arrests allegedly violate a 2022 agreement between Chicago groups and the federal government detailing how U.S. Immigration Customs and Enforcement officers can make “collateral arrests,” where agents detain others besides those being targeted.

The decision to delay the vote is an acknowledgment that budget amendment does not have the support of at least 14 of the 21 CPS board members.

President Donald Trump has derided the Education Department as wasteful and polluted by liberal ideology. However, completing its dismantling is most likely impossible without an act of Congress, which created the department in 1979.