Early voting gets off to a record start

Chicago and Cook County suburban voters cast ballots in record numbers Monday -- the first day of early voting before the Nov. 4 presidential election.

Just in time for holidays: Gas could slide below $3

Drivers who've been suffering cruising anxiety may get to rev it up by the holidays, when gasoline could drop below $3 a gallon, an expert said Monday.

'You all have to love your kids'

She looked like a sleeping princess.  She was dressed in royal purple, her head resting on a satin pillow. Braids and a heart-shaped locket framed her pretty face. It was easy to see why the 17-year-old's nickname was "Gorgeous."

Does spanking children lead to violence?

During a recent speech in Chicago, Dr. Alvin Poussaint, a Harvard psychiatrist, related how, when he was a child and misbehaved, his father would "smack me in the back of the head.''

Disabled to share parking spaces?

Motorists with disabilities in two congested lakefront wards would be forced to share the designated on-street spaces in front of their homes under a pilot program in the works tailor-made to ease the parking crunch.

The bank of Banks

For years, James J. Banks, a nephew of Chicago's powerful Ald. William Banks (36th), has been the attorney of choice for developers who need the city's OK to knock down homes and small businesses and replace them with three- and four-story condo buildings.

Booze may speed shrinking of the brain

First, the experts said drinking low to moderate amounts of alcohol was a good idea, that it might protect against heart disease.  Now, a study has found that such drinking has a risk: It might speed the shrinking of the brain that naturally comes with age.

Teen charged in slaying of boy in S.E. Side store

A 15-year-old has been charged in the death of a 13-year-old boy at a Southeast Side grocery store earlier this month, a bit of good news for a family grieving the death of a loved one.

Lesson from Japan helps teachers here improve

On a recent day in a sixth-grade classroom at Sabin Elementary, math instructor Jaime McLaughlin was teaching 11-year-olds how to add positive and negative numbers.

Clintons want you to know they back Barack

Hillary Rodham Clinton and Bill Clinton knocked themselves out for the Obama-Biden ticket Sunday, campaigning with Joe and Jill Biden. And they want you to know it.

Runners kept well-watered

The heat was on Sunday, but that didn't stop thousands of long-distance runners from crossing the finish line at the 31st Chicago Marathon.

Why did girl make up horrific rape story?

As word spread that the horrific story of the abduction and rape of a Palos Heights teen working at a sandwich shop was a hoax, stunned residents, initially terrified that a knife-wielding rapist was on the loose, asked a new question: Why?

Hard to believe what idiots think of Obama

Is Barack Obama a terrorist? The smiling woman answers: "He's got the bloodlines. Just think about the name. The name says it all."

Attorney General, Lisa Madigan sues Country-Wide Financial

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Man charged with shooting girl on CTA bus

A South Side man was charged Thursday with the shooting death of a high school student aboard a CTA bus -- one day after he surrendered at a South Side church, authorities said.

McCain, Palin attack Obama at Wis. rally

Starting a two-day blitz in Wisconsin, where they're running 5 to 10 percentage points behind, John McCain and Sarah Palin praised veterans, denounced abortion, slammed the media and blamed the country's economic mess on Barack Obama and the his fellow Democrats.

Sheriff must obey eviction orders: suit

A mortgage lender wants a Cook County judge to force Sheriff Tom Dart to get back to the business of evicting people from foreclosed homes.

Ticket to gripe

CTA rider Sherman Mosley wonders why he may have to pay higher fares next year, when service hasn't improved.  "The trains and buses are still late," said Mosley, 28, on hearing fares could go up to $2.25 next year. "We're not getting anything new. It's just costing us more money."

Cell phone law may be softened

Chicago motorists who get caught talking on cell phones while driving without a hands-free device would no longer lose their driver's licenses, under a mayoral plan that would have spared a North Side alderman political embarrassment.

Run, watch or stay put

Chicagoans have a choice Sunday: either join the 1.5 million people expected to watch the Chicago Marathon -- or try to avoid it altogether. But it won't be easy, as 45,000 runners will clog up the 26.2 mile race course and more streets for a good part of the day.

Teen's mourners ask how many more

Row after row of wide brown eyes glistened under ponytails, cornrows and barbershop fades. "How many more?"

Man wanted for questioning in CTA shooting surrenders

Milton Wardlaw walked in to a South Side church Wednesday, first into the arms of family who publicly pleaded for his surrender and then into the hands of Chicago Police who want to question him about the Sunday night shooting death of a high school student on a CTA bus.

Marathon runners, organizers ready to forget last year

Denise Sluterbeck's long-held marathon dreams ended abruptly last year when she was ordered to stop running the Chicago Marathon eight miles before the finish line.

Garbage crews 'paid to do nothing' city surveillance finds

Chicago garbage collection crews work fewer than six hours a day -- and get "paid to do nothing" for 25 percent of their time on the clock -- costing taxpayers at least $14.3 million a year, according to an internal investigation denounced as a "witch hunt."

Beating victim 'was just getting started with his life'

Shaun Bowens told his mother he would bring up his grades after she got angry with him for not doing well in school.

The gloves come off

Republican John McCain unrelentingly laid into Democrat Barack Obama in Tuesday's debate as though he were a man dropping in the polls -- which McCain is.

Victim's mom pleads for bus shooting suspect to 'do right thing'

A Chicago family has reached out to police, saying their relative is the man being sought for the fatal shooting of a high school student on a CTA bus Sunday night.

CPS chief refuses anti-violence award

His voice quaking with emotion, Chicago Schools CEO Arne Duncan refused Tuesday to accept an anti-gun violence award, saying "I don't feel I've earned it'' with student deaths on track to double this school year.

Thousands register to vote

Folks swarmed downtown election offices in record numbers Tuesday -- the last chance to register to vote at your local polling place in the Nov. 4 presidential election.

Living within her means has paid off big-time

Single mom Kathy Sullivan has been out of work for three years, but she's managing to make ends meet, even as gas and food prices have soared.