Local

Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias will launch a new campaign encouraging residents to obtain a REAL ID on Tuesday, which will mark one year until the enforcement deadline. Called “Get Real Illinois,” the campaign will raise awareness about the upcoming deadline and encourage residents to apply early, so they can avoid proble...

A phone call about a 1966 Calumet City murder prompted detectives to reexamine the cold case more than 55 years later and then make an arrest, authorities said Monday. In November 1966, Karen Snider was stabbed more than 120 times inside the home she shared with her husband. Evidence led detectives to initially arrest James Barbier, a family friend...

A man in north suburban McHenry was arrested after allegedly robbing a bank while he left his 9-month-old baby home alone, officials said. Peter Sova, 36, was apprehended and charged with felony aggravated robbery, felony theft and felony child abandonment, police stated in a news release. At around 10:44 a.m., officers with the McHenry Police Depa...

As hundreds of millions of birds migrate northward for their spring breeding season, the city of Chicago has a critical role to play in keeping the animals safe.

For the first time, the woman at the center of a lawsuit involving Dolton Trustee Andrew Holmes and Mayor Tiffany Henyard issued a recorded public video message Monday detailing what she said happened both during and after a taxpayer-funded business trip to Las Vegas last May.

Citing a growing need for accessible mental health services, Josselyn, the longtime Lake County mental health provider, has expanded to provide assistance throughout the whole county. Susan Resko, CEO and president of the community mental health center, said its clinics regularly serve 8,000 clients and receive over 1,000 calls every month. “...

A lockdown was put in place on Monday afternoon at Acero Charter School’s Veterans Memorial Campus following a report of an armed person and a shooting at a nearby restaurant, school officials and authorities said. In a statement, a school spokesperson said its security personnel witnessed two individuals chase someone down Kildare Avenue wit...

Child sexual abuse at Illinois juvenile detention centers was pervasive and systemic for decades, according to disturbing accounts in a lawsuit filed Monday by 95 men and women housed at the youth centers as children. The lawsuit details alleged incidents of abuse from 1996 to 2017, including gang rape, forced oral sex, beatings and groping of chil...

A central Illinois jury found a pediatric surgeon acted negligently in his treatment of a baby more than a decade ago and awarded the now-teenager more than $2 million, according to the law firm representing the teenager and her family. A Peoria County jury returned a verdict on Friday and found Dr. Mark Holterman, then a pediatric surgeon at OSF&#...

Officials are warning pet owners to “take special precautions” as a historic cicada emergence begins in the city and suburbs.

Chicago’s Field Museum has unveiled an incredible new fossil that displays the evolutionary link between birds and dinosaurs, with Illinois’ governor calling it the “world’s most important fossil.” That fossil, known as Archaeopteryx, dates back to the Jurassic Period, roaming the Earth 150 million years ago according to Field Museum scientists. Wi...

The magazine’s ‘New Ivies” consists of 10 public universities and 10 private colleges, and many of them are in the Midwest.

A Wisconsin man has been charged with attempted murder and aggravated battery, including strangulation, after what authorities said was a seemingly random attack on a woman walking her dog in a suburban park over the weekend. According to police, Raymond P. Link, 47, was with his unleashed dog in Petersen Park in McHenry Sunday when he suddenly att...