Usa news

Dansby Swanson’s mind was on overdrive. His first month of hitting was frustrating. So he tried different drills. He chased different feelings in the batter’s box. Now, after days of tinkering, it was a blur. “One of my biggest strengths …

Former Illinois Gov. George Ryan faced trial more than a decade ago, though his funeral Thursday afternoon in Kankakee felt like one last relitigation of his legacy as he was laid to rest. A Republican who served as a state …

It looks like the Cubs and White Sox series started a little early this season as the two jostled to gain a famous fan. After news of Pope Leo XIV‘s election as the first American pope was announced, it was …

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The White Sox’ pitching staff is past the well-intentioned getting-to-know-you stage. Like most male friendships, the pitchers have entered the good-natured-ribbing phase. ‘‘We have a lot of characters and we have a lot of personalities, so …

First-round pick Colston Loveland will wear No. 84 this season. He was one of eight Bears draft picks who received their jersey numbers Thursday, one day before the Bears will open their three-day rookie minicamp at Halas Hall. Giving the …

When staff and students at the Catholic Theological Union in Hyde Park heard on Thursday that white smoke was emitting from the Sistine Chapel, indicating the election of a new pope, they scurried to a classroom to watch the announcement …

Transit advocates urged Chicago Transit Board members Thursday to conduct a thorough search for the agency’s new president amid speculation that it would appoint the city’s chief operating officer. A series of public speakers at the board’s special meeting pleaded …

If Bulls forward Patrick Williams was looking for another life preserver to be thrown his way last month, he was in for a long wait. Even executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas, the man who bet on Williams …

Pope Leo XIV will always be Father Bob to Heidi Skokal and her South Side family. Her dad, Ed Schmit, was close friends with Robert Francis Prevost for decades. The two were both die-hard Sox fans and often went to …

When the Cubs launched Marquee Sports Network five years ago, I pushed for them to air a package of games on WGN. It would’ve been a wonderful gesture, an acknowledgment that without WGN there is no Marquee. And for viewers …

This new pope? He’s an American, for one, which is cool. And a Chicagoan. And a former South Sider, like me. But most of all — and, I hope, best of all — Pope Leo XIV is this: a Catholic …

Holly Boblink remembers pretending to hold Catholic Masses with a childhood friend in south suburban Dolton during the 1960s. Boblink said she had no idea then that Robert Prevost, who she called Robbie, would become the newly elected Pope Leo …

The president of the Chicago Board of Education is tearing into the school district’s embattled CEO, saying that the budget proposals he produced for next school year are “unsatisfactory and incomplete,” and that Pedro Martinez’s planned June exit from the …

Moon alert There are no restrictions to shopping or important decisions today. The moon is in Libra. Aries (March 21-April 19) A positive day Your relations with partners, spouses and close friends will be warm and friendly today. Even your …

In recent weeks, Maria and Francisco have been going regularly to an elementary school near their home on the Southwest Side. The couple are doing so to learn about the U.S. Constitution and American history in preparation for a civics …

When Robert Bakken scratched off the final number on a prize ticket he got in the mail and saw that it revealed a match for $10,000, he thought it must be his lucky day. Now, the 84-year-old military veteran says …

Mayor Brandon Johnson seems to know that he has dug himself into a political hole, in part, by failing to communicate. That’s not easy for the fast-talking preacher’s son to admit. But it’s a reality Johnson is confronting and changing …

DEAR ABBY: My cousin (more like a sister) has made some extremely rash and concerning choices over the last year. After she had her second baby, she left her husband and started seeing a series of borderline-abusive men. She’s now …

Chicago police officers fatally shot a man who fired shots at them Thursday after a vehicle pursuit that ended in a crash in Northwest Indiana. Officers responded to a call of a person with a gun about 5:50 p.m. in …

A $1.2 million grant to restore the aged 92-foot bell tower of Pullman’s historic Greenstone United Methodist Church was unanimously approved Thursday by the Commission of Chicago Landmarks. Made under the city’s Adopt-a-Landmark program, the grant — if approved by …