Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials have arrested over 400 people in the Chicago area as part of an operation that began less than two weeks ago.

The Border Patrol agent who has led an immigration crackdown in Los Angeles has arrived in Chicago, possibly signaling a new phase in an enforcement surge announced last week.

Activists in Chicago’s immigrant rights network say there’s been a noticeable uptick in immigration enforcement in recent days as the nation’s third-largest city awaits federal intervention repeatedly promised by President Donald Trump.

Week 4 rankings from the AP Top 25 college football poll are out.

Federal agents have seized illegal vaping products nationwide as the Trump administration cracks down on items often used by teens.

The Department of Homeland Security is trumpeting the start of a new immigration operation in Chicago that's stirring up fresh confusion and anxiety.

Ohio State, Penn State and LSU remain the top three teams in The Associated Press Top 25.

A federal appeals court has approved Illinois’ ban on carrying firearms on public transit, reversing a lower court decision that found the prohibition violated the Second Amendment.

President Donald Trump says he will direct federal law enforcement intervention to combat crime in Chicago and Baltimore, despite staunch opposition from state and local officials in both cities.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem says the Trump administration will soon expand immigration operations in Chicago.

A company that installs license plate-detecting cameras to aid law enforcement has halted operations with federal agencies because of ongoing concerns among officials in Illinois and elsewhere.

After two weeks out of state, Democratic lawmakers returned to Austin, paving the way for Republicans to pass their proposed congressional map.

Judge Scott Larson ruled that the Texas speaker and attorney general had “failed to present a legal basis for the court” to take up the issue.

Texas Republicans have escalated the penalties against Democrats as they enter a second week camped out in states across the country to block new U.S. House maps pushed for by President Donald Trump to win more seats ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.

Chair Rep. Gene Wu and his colleagues reassure their supporters: "We are safe, we are secure, and we are undeterred."

As a political chess match wages on against Texas lawmakers and an attempt to block a vote on a “rigged” congressional redistricting map, officials with the Democratic National Convention are joining the effort in Illinois.

Texas Democrats have left the state in an attempt to prevent the state House from holding a vote Monday on new congressional maps that Republicans hope will net them several additional U.S. House seats in the 2026 midterm elections.

Three Democratic-led states that led the way in offering free health care to low-income people who are in the U.S. without legal permission are either limiting or ending the programs because of significant budget concerns.

Illinois has one of the nation’s worst problems with child sex abuse at juvenile detention centers.

A veteran who died in Chicago without any recollection of their life has been memorialized in a funeral service with military honors.

JB Pritzker, who has spent years building a national profile, will seek a third term as Illinois’ governor.

A tragic accident on an Illinois highway left animal rescuers and adoptive families heartbroken—but amid the sorrow, one survivor’s story is capturing hearts across the country.

The Supreme Court has rejected an appeal from an Illinois toy company pushing for a quick decision on the legality of President Donald Trump’s tariffs.

Summer will make a dramatic entrance in the U.S. this week with a heat dome that will bring stifling heat and uncomfortable humidity to millions.

U.S. Reps. Veronica Escobar and Joaquin Castro said their names appeared on a list of targets compiled by the assassin who has been charged with killing the Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband and shooting two others on Saturday.

President Donald Trump's administration has released to deportation officials the personal data for millions of Medicaid enrollees, including their immigration status.

Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias has asked for an investigation into a suburban Chicago police department for allegedly sharing data from automatic license-plate readers with a Texas sheriff seeking a woman who had an abortion.

The Supreme Court has agreed to consider reviving a Republican challenge to an Illinois law that allows mail ballots to be counted if they are received up to two weeks after Election Day.

The bill does not expand abortion access, but further explains when a doctor can intervene to save a pregnant patient’s life.

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker has signed an executive order protecting the privacy of autism-related health data.

Illinois is getting set to close on property that officials want to buy to keep invasive carp from reaching the Great Lakes.

Attorneys handling the $2.8 billion NCAA settlement are proposing a massive do-over when it comes to roster limits.

SNAP benefits meant to help feed Houston families are ending up in the hands of the wrong people and being spent a thousand miles away in the Chicago area.

Police say the driver of a car that barreled through a building used for a popular after-school camp in central Illinois, killing three children and a teenager, may have had a medical emergency.

SNAP benefits stolen via skimming are hitting families hard, with no funds to replace them.

Indiana is taking a first step toward merging parts of Illinois into its state.

The Army has released the identity of the fourth soldier who died in a training accident in Lithuania, a day after his body was recovered during a weeklong search that took hundreds of troops and other rescuers from three nations.

Weather forecasters are using a relatively rare “high-risk” designation to warn that a major tornado outbreak appears likely Wednesday.

Tornadoes and violent storms have struck parts of the South and Midwest, killing at least one person, knocking down power lines and trees, ripping roofs off of homes and shooting debris thousands of feet into the air.

Lamont Butler doesn’t want to settle for just one shining moment on a Final Four stage.

The Prairie Land Potawatomi Nation has reclaimed land in Illinois that was promised to the tribe’s leader 175 years ago but stolen by the federal government 20 years later.

Kentucky’s Amari Williams apparently just needed a breakfast reminder of his home country to spark him to a stat-stuffing performance.

Gov. JB Pritzker of Illinois is trying to chart a path for national Democrats to counter President Donald Trump.

The deadliest tornado in recorded U.S. history occurred 100 years ago.

A dynamic storm system threatening to spawn powerful tornadoes and hail as big as baseballs has earned a relatively rare designation from forecasters.

The Illinois state flag is sometimes derided as an “SOB” — a state “Seal on a Bedsheet.”.

The largest urban counties in the U.S. kept growing last year because of immigrants.

Some residents of rural Illinois and Oregon are hoping to ditch their states and either join neighboring ones or create whole new states.

Tre White had 19 points and 11 rebounds to lead Illinois to a 93-73 rout of No. 15 Michigan 93-73.

JuJu Watkins and Southern California have moved up to a No. 1 seed in the women’s NCAA Tournament in the latest projections of the top teams.

Cooper Flagg has certainly lived up to the hype.

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker is planning to endorse a statewide ban on cellular devices in public schools.

Michigan State’s Tom Izzo followed one of the most disappointing losses of his coaching career with a record-setting victory.

Jaxson Kohler had 23 points and 10 rebounds, Tre Holloman scored 14 points and No. 11 Michigan State rallied to beat Illinois 79-65 and giving the Spartans’ Tom Izzo the most conference wins in Big Ten history.

Texas leads the nation in attempts to ban books, sparking a heated debate over educational freedom and censorship.

When the Illinois Department of Corrections shut down the century-old Stateville Correctional Center in September, officials transferred 278 inmates convicted of murder and dozens more serving time for violent crimes to other lockups across the state.

More than 130 people allege they were sexually abused as children while in custody at youth detention centers in Illinois.

Deputies respond to a welfare check in NE Harris County after reports of a naked man seen near children heading to school.

Juvenile flips stolen car in high-speed chase with Harris County deputies.

A man was found dead from a stabbing under an overpass near Main Street and Blodgett Street in Houston's Midtown area.

The Huntsville Police Department, in collaboration with multiple law enforcement agencies, is currently conducting a SWAT operation on White Circle near Martin Luther King Jr. Drive.

Grubhub Inc. will pay $25 million to settle a dispute over alleged deceptive business practices with the Illinois attorney general and the Federal Trade Commission.

Texas has more miles of freight train tracks than any other state, surpassing Illinois and California combined.

There are traffic disruptions at a major crash at the intersection of Fallbrook and West Sam Houston Parkway North in northwest Harris County.

Houston police are investigating after a man was found shot to death Saturday morning in west Houston.

Luke Altmyer found Pat Bryant for a catch-and-run, 40-yard touchdown pass with 4 seconds left, sending No. 24 Illinois to a wild 38-31 victory over Rutgers.

Investigators said one female passenger, seated in the back of the car, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Houston Police say two people are in the hospital and another is in police custody following a shooting overnight

A toddler is in critical condition after a near-drowning incident in Windfern Lakes.

A federal judge has overturned Illinois’ ban on semiautomatic weapons, leaning on recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings that strictly interpret the Second Amendment right to keep and bear firearms.

Max Brosmer threw a 1-yard touchdown pass to Jameson Geers and Dragan Kesich kicked his fourth field goal of the game in the final five minutes, rallying Minnesota to a 25-17 victory over No. 24 Illinois.

Missouri voters are considering whether to make the state the 40th jurisdiction to legalize sports betting.

Luke Altmyer threw for a touchdown and ran for another, leading No. 22 Illinois to a 21-7 victory over No. 24 Michigan.

The nation's unique Electoral College system for electing a president, which replaces the popular vote, puts disproportionate voting power in the hands of a relative few states.

The former Illinois House Speaker once lauded as the longest-serving legislative leader in American history will enter a federal courtroom this week on charges he used his vast influence to run a “criminal enterprise” to amass even more wealth and power.

Survivors of child sex abuse at juvenile detention facilities in Illinois are hoping for justice.

More than 200 men and women allege they were sexually abused as children while in custody at youth detention centers in Illinois.

The Mega Millions jackpot has risen to an estimated $800 million with a cash option of $401.8 million.

Advocates for domestic violence survivors in Illinois celebrated earlier this month when Gov. JB Pritzker signed a bill into law making it easier for those who are incarcerated to get reduced sentences.

As a heat wave stretched into a second day this week, residents in more than half a dozen states are looking for ways to beat the heat amid hot soupy temperatures approaching triple digits.

Illinois will soon become just the fifth state in the nation to prohibit corporal punishment in all schools.

President Joe Biden is expected to sign a proclamation designating a national monument in Springfield, Illinois, at the site of a 1908 race riot that later fueled the formation of the NAACP.

A new report shows the number of monthly abortions in the U.S. went up slightly in the first three months of 2024 compared with before the Supreme Court overturned Roe V. Wade.

An Associated Press analysis of county tax data across three states — Illinois, Iowa and Nebraska — found wind companies rank among the biggest taxpayers in many rural communities, with their total tax bills at times outstripping that of large farms, power plants and other major businesses.

A man wanted for hitting and killing a woman with a car while fleeing from police on Houston’s south side has been arrested in Illinois.

Severe storms in the Midwest have overtopped a dam in southern Illinois and left the Chicago area cleaning up.

The Supreme Court has sidestepped a new set of Second Amendment fights.

A giant sinkhole has swallowed the center of a soccer field in Illinois.

Illinois is poised to right a 175-year-old wrong by returning land in northern Illinois guaranteed to a Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation chief in 1829.

Facial recognition startup Clearview AI has reached a settlement in a lawsuit alleging its massive photographic collection of faces violated the subjects’ privacy rights.

States are looking to increase their take from the $16 billion online sports gambling industry as it expands across the country with big partnerships.

Located on 671 Lincoln Avenue in Winnetka, Illinois, the house hit the market over the weekend for the second time since the 1990 film was released.

The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum is under the spotlight again after a manager failed to consult a collections committee before purchasing a 21-star flag, supposedly from 1818 when Illinois became the 21st state to join the Union.

The 2024 cicada emergence is underway in Illinois.

Several tornadoes have been reported in Iowa and Illinois as storms downed power lines and trees.

A man has been found fit to stand trial on charges of killing four people and injuring seven others during a series of frenzied attacks in northern Illinois in March.

A baby girl who weighed just over one pound when she was born prematurely has beaten the odds and gone home with her parents after six months at a Chicago area hospital.

Three men who say they were sexually abused as children while incarcerated at Illinois juvenile detention centers have stepped forward with their stories as part of a lawsuit chronicling decades of disturbing allegations of systemic child abuse.

A lawsuit alleges that child sexual abuse at Illinois juvenile detention centers was pervasive and systemic for decades.

Illinois Gov_ J_B_ Pritzker’s office says the Chicago Bears' proposal to fund a new lakefront stadium remains a “non-starter."