NEW YORK (AP) — The timing couldn't have been more symbolic: On the eve of National Missing Children's Day, police said they'd at last cracked the case that started it — the 1979 disappearance of 6-year-old Etan Patz.

Crystal Lake resident Donna Clasen, 44, could not imagine sending her two daughters to school for eight hours a day where they would have to sit in desks and be told what to do.

CARY – Registration has begun for sports and fitness vendors interested in participating in the Cary Grove Chamber SportsFest on Aug. 19. The event will take place in the Feinberg Court business district near Wool Street Grill & Sports Bar off Route ...

Bob Anderson has been the subject of both praise and scorn in his years-long crusade against expansive government.

SPRING GROVE – It took at least eight students to hold the balloon as it was pumped up. By launch time, it stood at 8 feet in diameter and held 120 cubic feet of helium.

LONG BEACH, Calif. – A former high school football star whose dreams of a pro career were shattered by a rape conviction burst into tears Thursday as a judge threw out the charge that sent him to prison for more than five years.

DES MOINES, Iowa – President Barack Obama delivered his harshest rebuttal yet to rival Mitt Romney on Thursday, dismissing his challenger’s claims as “a cowpie of distortions” as he sought to rekindle the all-but-faded Iowa magic that launched him in ...

WONDER LAKE – Authorities are asking for the public’s help in identifying a man involved in a “suspicious” incident Thursday morning.

LAKE IN THE HILLS – The Lake in the Hills Police Department is looking to terminate one of its officers who has not worked since August 2010.

WOODSTOCK – While one city official touted the historic importance of the old McHenry County Courthouse, another referred to it as a “bogey.”

There’s a familiar scene in many medical shows where a hospital is flooded with trauma patients from some terrible event.

CRYSTAL LAKE – Firefighters battled a fire Thursday at a condominium building that left three units uninhabitable.

LAKEWOOD – The village plans to show off the recently remodeled clubhouse at RedTail Golf Club in early June.

CRYSTAL LAKE – Appointments are still available for a June 1 cardiovascular screen at the McHenry County Department of Health.

WOODSTOCK – The Illinois Secretary of State Driver Services facility will be closed Saturday in observance of Memorial Day.

LAKEWOOD – Commercial development near the intersection of Routes 47 and 176 is so crucial to the future of Lakewood that the Village Board agreed to buy 43.8 acres there for $600,000.

NEW YORK – A former convenience store worker confessed to luring 6-year-old Etan Patz from his school bus stop in 1979 and choking him to death in a basement, police said Thursday, ending a three-decades long investigation into one of the nation’s mo ...

CARPENTERSVILLE – A Liberty Elementary student inched closer to his dream of being an aeronautical engineer after his artwork of airplanes was selected to be displayed at a Boeing aviation museum.

WOODSTOCK – A Wonder Lake man is to appear in court Tuesday for allegedly trying to alter the results of a probationary drug test.

CRYSTAL LAKE – Registration for the Crystal Lake Public Library’s summer reading program begins next week.

CARY – The Cary Park District is holding an amateur photo contest for residents.

Mitt Romney’s campaign team has been quietly laying plans for an outreach effort to President Barack Obama’s most loyal supporters – black voters – not just to chip away at the huge Democratic margins, but also as a way to reassure independent swing ...

SPRINGFIELD – Hundreds of thousands of people would see their health care cut back or even eliminated under legislation approved Thursday by Illinois lawmakers in a desperate attempt to repair the state’s crumbling budget.

WOODSTOCK – The Woodstock Fire-Rescue District and the village of Lakewood are beginning to work out an extension beyond 2015 of an agreement under which the district provides fire protection to the village.

SPRINGFIELD (AP) – Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan says it would be unconstitutional to force current state employees to work to age 67 before collecting full retirement benefits.

SPRINGFIELD – Hundreds of thousands of people would see their health care cut back or even eliminated under legislation approved Thursday by Illinois lawmakers in a desperate attempt to repair the state's crumbling budget.

SPRINGFIELD (AP) – A statewide plastic-bag recycling plan has significant support in the Illinois House -- but not quite enough.

CHARDON, Ohio (AP) – A 17-year-old will be tried as an adult in the school shooting deaths of three students, a juvenile court judge ruled Thursday after hearing a sheriff's deputy describe how the teen wore a T-shirt with the word "Killer" and ad ...

WONDER LAKE – Police are asking for the public's help in identifying a man involved in a "suspicious" incident Thursday morning.

CAIRO (AP) – The Muslim Brotherhood says its candidate is leading in Egypt's presidential election, citing the group's exit polls, as official counting begins after two days of voting.

WASHINGTON (AP) – Mitt Romney's vice presidential search has entered a new phase: auditions.

CHICAGO (AP) – State and federal officials say they're stepping up efforts to track and test for Asian carp in Illinois waterways this summer.

WASHINGTON (AP) – The Supreme Court ruled unanimously Thursday that three families cannot sue a mortgage company for allegedly charging them a loan discount fee without giving them a lower interest rate.

URBANA (AP) – The University of Illinois Foundation says its Brilliant Futures fundraising campaign ended with nearly $2.5 billion in pledges.

SPRINGFIELD (AP) – The Illinois House has approved budget cuts that would slash health care for hundreds of thousands of people around the state.

WASHINGTON (AP) – A Senate panel expressed its outrage Thursday over Pakistan's conviction of a doctor who helped the United States track down Osama bin Laden, cutting aid to Islamabad by $33 million – $1 million for every year of the physician's ...

MIAMI (AP) – U.S. forecasters predicted Thursday that this year's Atlantic hurricane season would produce a normal number of about nine to 15 tropical storms, with as many as four to eight of those becoming hurricanes.

SPRINGFIELD (AP) – Illinois license plates would cost $2 more per year to help finance state parks under a plan the House will consider.

CHICAGO (AP) — U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald said Thursday he isn't sure what his future holds as he steps down from the job he has held for 11 years. He ruled out elected office and hinted that switching sides and becoming a defense attorney w ...

CRYSTAL LAKE – Firefighters battled a fire Thursday at a condominium building at 1216 Walnut Glen Drive in Crystal Lake.

CHICAGO (AP) – Outgoing U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald says he's spoken with Illinois' top ranking U.S. senator about issues surrounding his possible replacement.

CHICAGO (AP) – The FBI has announced a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of a man accused of killing his new bride.

WOODSTOCK – A Wonder Lake man will appear in court later this month after allegedly trying to alter the results of a probationary drug test.

HARVARD – Harvard Savings Bank shareholders voted “by an overwhelming majority” to re-elect directors their board nominated, showing opposition to a New York-based group of hedge funds.

CHICAGO (AP) – U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald seemed perfectly suited for his job: Relentless in going after corruption and seemingly oblivious to the politics of the public figures, government officials and business leaders his office prosecute ...

NEW YORK (AP) – A man has implicated himself in the death of 6-year-old Etan Patz, whose disappearance 33 years ago on his way to school helped launch a missing children's movement that put kids' faces on milk cartons, police said Thursday.