Retailers were starting to see shoppers return to stores this fall. Now, a surge in COVID-19 cases has brought new restrictions, just as Chicago-area stores were gearing up for the busiest shopping season of the year.

The Chicago Park District voted Wednesday to officially change the name of the West Side park to honor the renowned abolitionists Anna and Frederick Douglass.

Jessica Cabe said she put up her Christmas tree on Nov. 1.

A paramedic known for battling the Chicago Fire Department for additional ambulances retired Wednesday after 45 years.

A procession honoring retired Paramedic Field Chief Patrick Fitzmaurice following his final shift on Nov. 18, 2020. Fitzmaurice retired after 45 years with the department.

A parolee was expected in court Wednesday afternoon to face charges in the theft of a car with a 4-year-old boy inside from outside a Bridgeview convenience store that triggered an Amber Alert this week.

A federal appeals court has thrown out the 16-year prison sentence for a suburban Chicago man convicted in a terrorist bombing plot, saying the judge paid only “lip service” to the seriousness of the crime and overplayed the defendant’s immaturity at the time the FBI caught him in the sting.

In various lawsuits, the group was accused of unnecessarily implanting pacemakers and other devices, causing death from those implants and performing unnecessary open-heart surgery and angiograms.

A convicted sex offender who was fired from his job at the former John Hancock Center’s observatory after the Chicago Tribune revealed he was under federal investigation was sentenced Wednesday to 15 years in prison for possessing child pornography.

Mental health advocates predict an increase in mental health challenges this winter, especially among Black communities. Some tips and resources.

The battle over the results of the 2020 election has brought new attention to an important but often-overlooked part of the U.S. election process: Certification of the results. Each state has laws that set the deadline and process for the results to be certified. This process takes place locally and eventually at the state level. Those deadlines in key battleground states are underway.

Illinois' COVID-19 death toll topped 11,000 on Wednesday, already meeting a projection the state’s top public health official recently gave for the entire year.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot will launch a new COVID-19 testing site at Midway Airport as part of the city’s effort to fight the ongoing surge of coronavirus cases.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s proposed $94 million property tax increase cleared a key City Council hurdle Wednesday, setting up a vote in the full council next week. Members of the City Council Finance Committee pushed back against Lightfoot’s tax hike plan to balance the 2021 budget, calling on her finance team to find other ways to close a projected $1.2 billion deficit. But it passed the committee by...

Health officials also reported 60 more coronavirus deaths, with those added to Sunday’s total making it Indiana’s single deadliest COVID-19 day since the pandemic first hit the state in March.

Three people, including a 14-year-old girl, were injured during a shooting at a South Side dance studio Sunday night, according to Chicago police.

LACON — Marshall County has reported its fifth death related to COVID-19, while neighboring Bureau County has reached a total of 27 deaths, public health officials announced Sunday.And those deaths are accompanied by new cases that are "rising at an alarming rate" in the area served by the Bureau, Putnam & Marshall County Health Departments, according to the administrator of the agency t...

WYOMING — A long-weekend break in classes in the Stark County School District appears to have succeeded in snapping a string of COVID-19 cases that had threatened to disrupt the in-school instruction that has taken place for the past 13 weeks, according to the top administrator.After six students and three staff had earlier tested positive for the disease in instances of outside community tr...

Mayor Lori Lightfoot doubles down on property tax hike in private meeting, tells Chicago aldermen not to record her

MARRIAGESTazewell County* Ryan Bridson, 41, Maquon; Lanell Demmin, 39, Hanna City.* Zakry Cummings, 22, Bedford, Ind.; Marissa Barber, 21, Peoria.* Evan DeHart, 21, Danvers; Danielle Atherton, 20, Minier.* Brandon Horchem, 24, Pekin; Payton Colvin, 21, South Pekin.* David Hughes, 81, Washington; Priscilla Lewis, 78, Peoria.* Jerad Litherland, 35; Cydnee Martin, 32; both Tremont. ...

One of the perennial certainties of any election season is how pundits chew over the politics of losing campaigns rather than discuss the policy implications of winning campaigns.The biggest reason is the cleanliness of who’s up and who’s down, as opposed to a messy dive into the greasy nuance of what victory means to legislative sausage making.That is especially so for U.S. farm polic...

The Illinois Department of Public Health reported 10,631 newly confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 in the state Sunday, including 72 additional deaths.It marked the 10th day in a row case totals have exceeded 10,000. The 7-day rolling positivity rate in the state is 12.8%.As of Saturday night, 5,474 people in Illinois were reported ...

At-Large City Councilman Sid Ruckriegel on Sunday joined a growing field of candidates for Peoria mayor."I love Peoria and believe City Hall can do much better to improve the perception of opportunity and vision in our city," he said.Bringing together diverse perspectives will be a key theme in his campaign, he suggested – repeatedly returning to the theme that Peoria is a city in which, "wh...

A rollover crash near the Gold Coast neighborhood sent one person to the hospital and slowed traffic Sunday night on Lake Shore Drive, officials said.

The Cook County sheriff’s office is cancelling all in-person visits to the county jail starting Monday because of the recent spike in coronavirus cases, the sheriff’s office said Sunday.

The latest numbers released by the Illinois Gaming Board show bettors in the state wagered more than $285 million on sports contests in September.

Two killed in Lake County crash near Wisconsin border.

The family of Ryan Bost is asking anyone information about his murder to come forward.

Evanston officials on Friday issued an advisory stay-at-home order for residents due to rising COVID-19 numbers.

Police were searching for someone who shot a man in Lake County Saturday.