State

CHICAGO (AP) – Mosques across the Chicago area are increasing security and asking Muslims to be vigilant for fear of retaliation after the Fort Hood shootings.

CHICAGO – Candidates for Illinois governor are split over a national health care plan with all but one Republican saying the state should opt out if it could, a position rejected by Democrats Pat Quinn and Dan Hynes.

CHICAGO – A federal judge agreed Thursday to postpone the trial of a former Chicago police commander charged with lying about the use of torture on suspects so the defendant can undergo treatment for prostate cancer.

State offers help in Medicare enrollment

CHICAGO – The full field of Republican candidates for Illinois governor faced off for the first time Thursday in a bloodless debate that focused more on their similarities than any small differences.

CHICAGO – Just hours after a state board voted Wednesday to allow the enforcement of a long-debated Illinois law requiring a teenage girl’s parents be notified before she has an abortion, a judge issued a temporary restraining order putting the measure back on hold.

WASHINGTON (AP) – Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki ordered a high-level, quality-management team to assess problems at a troubled VA hospital in southern Illinois, lawmakers said Wednesday.

CHICAGO – Gov. Pat Quinn and Comptroller Dan Hynes aren’t letting up in their Democratic primary fight for governor, launching another round of TV ads critical of one another.

CHICAGO – A former handyman convicted of killing seven people during a robbery at a suburban Chicago fast-food restaurant in 1993 has been sentenced to life in prison.

Ill. GOP to crack down on negative ads

CHICAGO – An Illinois judge has issued a temporary restraining order delaying enforcement of a law requiring doctors to notify parents of teens who are seeking an abortion.

CHICAGO (AP) — A former handyman convicted of killing seven people at a suburban Chicago fast food restaurant has been sentenced to life in prison.

WOODSTOCK – The McHenry County Board rejected an advisory referendum on video gambling, but it will be another month until the board votes on whether to ban it.

CHICAGO – With opponents speaking out at health care town halls and “Tea Party” demonstrations, supporters of President Obama gathered Tuesday in the Chicago park where he gave his election night speech to celebrate and encourage his mantra of change.

CHICAGO – Cook County’s Stroger Hospital is going green with its medical instrument cleaning.

CHICAGO – A Chicago man charged with scheming to launch a terrorist attack on a Danish newspaper also discussed a possible attack against a military college in India and advised a member of a Pakistan-based terrorist group on how to slip people into the U.S., prosecutors said Tuesday.

Although a flurry of last-minute candidates promises to make the 2010 election interesting, the 8th Congressional District race might yet again be the race to watch.

ST. LOUIS – Midwestern flooding usually is associated with the spring or summer, so even officials at the National Weather Service are perplexed about the unusual fall flood that is causing rivers to spill over their banks in parts of Missouri and Illinois.

CHICAGO – Researchers studying antibiotics in pregnancy have found a surprising link between common drugs used to treat urinary infections and birth defects. Reassuringly, the most-used antibiotics in early pregnancy – penicillins – appear to be the safest.

SPRINGFIELD – A former aide to Gov. Rod Blagojevich officially has signed up to run for office, and so has a former Blagojevich opponent.

CHICAGO – Household products maker The Clorox Co. said Monday it was changing how it makes its namesake bleach so it can stop transporting chlorine to U.S. factories by rail amid growing safety concerns and regulatory scrutiny.

WASHINGTON – The nightly attacks by two man-eating lions terrified railway workers and brought construction to a halt in one of east Africa’s most notorious onslaughts more than 100 years ago.

SPRINGFIELD – Illinois is close to adopting the first limits on campaign donations in its long, sordid political history. But nothing is simple. The legislation, which Gov. Pat Quinn said he planned to sign, contains loopholes, delays and gray areas that raise important questions.

CHICAGO – Nearly half of all U.S. children and 90 percent of black youngsters will be on food stamps at some point during childhood, and fallout from the current recession could push those numbers even higher, researchers say.

CHICAGO – As Democratic leaders in Washington try to round up votes to pass health care reform legislation, U.S. Sen. Roland Burris on Monday stuck by his demand for a public option, calling any provision that would let states opt out not as strong.

CHICAGO – Serious safety issues continued to plague a southern Illinois Veterans Affairs hospital even after major surgeries were suspended two years ago because of a spike in patient deaths, according to a federal report released Monday.

Abortion notification law’s fate unclear

2 slain at Rockford Halloween party

SPRINGFIELD – Illinois candidates passed an landmark last week on the road to election day: Filing opened, letting politicians officially submit paperwork to get on the ballot in February. And Andy McKenna jumped into the race for governor by focusing on hairdos and don’ts. Here’s a look at action on the cam­paign trail:

CHAMPAIGN – The president of the University of Illinois and chancellor of its flagship campus have both resigned following months of pressure over special treatment granted to well-connected student applicants, but neither man is leaving the state payroll.

SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois Senate signed off on a compromise Friday that would establish Illinois’ first limits on campaign donations, sending it to the governor despite complaints that the bill concentrated power in the hands of political insiders.

CHICAGO – Illinois hopes to save millions of dollars by releasing about 1,000 prisoners during the next few weeks, and some nonviolent inmates will be released up to a year early.

CHICAGO – Illinois senior citizens can continue riding for free on mass transit, but the perk means other commuters could see their fares increase.

SPRINGFIELD – Illinois lawmakers have approved the state's first limits on the size of political contributions, with one key exception.

SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois House on Thursday passed a Democrat-driven compromise that would establish Illinois’ first limits on campaign donations and avoid an embarrassing failure on one of the highest-profile ethics proposals to follow the Blagojevich scandal.

CRYSTAL LAKE – Not all stalking victims know or have had a romantic relationship with their stalkers, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan said Wednesday at a symposium at McHenry County College.

McHenry County, like all county and municipal governments, has a plan for how to react to natural disasters.

SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois Department of Human Services said it had no evidence that two highly paid ex-employees did any work other than acting as chauffeurs, a position that contradicts earlier statements by former Secretary Carol Adams.

CHICAGO – Prosecutors urged a federal judge Wednesday to deny bond to one of two Chicago men charged with plotting a terrorist attack against a Danish newspaper, while the man’s lawyer argued that his client could have been the innocent dupe of an alleged co-conspirator.

CHAMPAIGN – The president of the University of Illinois and chancellor of its flagship campus have both resigned after months of pressure over special treatment granted to well-connected student applicants, but neither man is leaving the state payroll.

CROWN POINT, Ind. – Two teenagers charged with robbing a northwestern Indiana couple whose bodies were later found in an Illinois forest preserve have been ordered held on $250,000 bond.

WILMINGTON, Del. – A Delaware bankruptcy judge has deferred action on the Tribune Co.’s request to halt a lawsuit alleging that Chairman Sam Zell misused an employee stock ownership plan in taking the company private in a 2007 leveraged buyout.

PEORIA – An admitted al-Qaida agent who spent years behind bars will have to wait another day to find out how much longer he’ll be in prison.

CHICAGO – The number of students staying home sick with the flu is multiplying nationwide, and normally quiet school nurses’ offices suddenly look like big city emergency rooms, packed with students too ill to finish the day.

Rates for serious crimes fell overall by 3.1 percent in McHenry County last year, despite increases in many jurisdictions of burglary and theft.

BLUE ISLAND – A bit of history soon will be replaced in Blue Island.

CHICAGO – Officials from Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Police Department plan to work closely with the juvenile justice system to prevent youth violence.

SPRINGFIELD – With budget problems climbing, Gov. Pat Quinn said Tuesday that he soon would need to borrow another $1 billion to keep state government running this winter.

CHICAGO – Two Chicago men who were schoolmates in Pakistan plotted terrorist attacks against a Danish newspaper that triggered widespread protests by printing cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad, federal prosecutors said Tuesday in announcing charges against the men.

CHICAGO (AP) – Northwestern University is holding a free event on its Chicago medical campus for people seeking information on organ transplants.