Illinois

USA: Clinton urges Democrats to vote in ‘overwhelming’ numbers

CHICAGO (AP) — Hillary Clinton urged Democrats to vote in “overwhelming” numbers in remarks Wednesday night to the Democratic National Convention that at times reflected her bitter loss to Donald Trump four years ago despite winning the popular vote.

“Don’t forget: Joe and Kamala can win by 3 million votes and still lose. Take it from me,” the former secretary of state said in a video recorded from her home in Chappaqua, New York. “We need numbers overwhelming, so Trump can’t sneak or steal his way to victory.”

USA: Hillary Clinton returns to DNC championing women in politics

CHICAGO (AP) — After more than four decades in public life, Hillary Clinton will return to the Democratic National Convention to cement her legacy as a champion of women in politics.

Clinton, who lost the presidency to Donald Trump in 2016 despite winning the popular vote by nearly 3 million votes, is a complicated figure in American political culture. She’s despised by many Republicans and viewed warily by some progressives who are increasingly assertive in shaping the modern Democratic Party.

Pro-Russia vaccine misinfo finds home in US Facebook groups

CHICAGO (AP) — A false report claiming five Ukrainians had died after taking an American-made coronavirus vaccine spread in just a matter of days from a small Kremlin-friendly website to an audience of thousands in U.S.-based Facebook groups.

Russian media outlets picked up the claim, and soon social media users in the U.S. were sharing screenshots and links to those articles — all as 30,000 Americans were preparing to roll up their sleeves for shots of an experimental COVID-19 vaccine late last month.

Kids getting caught in crossfire as US gun violence surges

CHICAGO (AP) — July in Chicago ended as it began: Mourning the death of a child whose only mistake was venturing outside to play when someone armed with a gun came to the neighborhood hunting for an enemy.

On Monday, two days after his department released statistics that revealed the month had been one of the deadliest in the history of the city, Police Superintendent David Brown repeated what has become a grim ritual of recounting the death of a child.

Trump administration won’t accept new DACA applications

CHICAGO (AP) — The Trump administration said Tuesday that it will reject new applications and shorten renewal periods for an Obama-era program that shields young people from deportation, taking a defiant stance after the U.S. Supreme Court refused to let it be scrapped completely.

The move, detailed in a memo from Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf, ended a month of uncertainty about how the administration would respond to its Supreme Court defeat in an election year that has President Donald Trump looking for ways to energize his base.

USA: Twitter and Facebook become targets in Trump and Biden ads

CHICAGO (AP) — Social media has become the target of a dueling attack ad campaign being waged online by the sitting president and his election rival. They’re shooting the messenger while giving it lots of money.

President Donald Trump has bought hundreds of messages on Facebook to accuse its competitor, Twitter, of trying to stifle his voice and influence the November election.

USA: Christopher Columbus statues taken down at 2 Chicago parks

CHICAGO (AP) — Two statues of Christopher Columbus that stood in Chicago parks were taken down early Friday at the direction of Mayor Lori Lightfoot, a week after protesters trying to topple one of the monuments to the Italian explorer clashed with police.

Crews used a large crane to remove the statue in downtown Chicago’s Grant Park from its pedestal. A small crowd cheered and passing cars honked as the statue came down about 3 a.m. The second statue was removed about 5:30 a.m. from Arrigo Park in Chicago’s Little Italy neighborhood.

USA Cops: 14 injured after shooting outside Chicago funeral home

CHICAGO (AP) — Fourteen people were injured, one person was being questioned and multiple suspects were being sought after gunfire erupted outside a funeral home on Chicago’s South Side where at least one squad car was present, police officials said Tuesday.

First Deputy Superintendent Eric Carter said mourners outside a funeral home in the Gresham neighborhood were fired upon from a passing vehicle. Carter said several targets of the shooting returned fire. The vehicle later crashed and the occupants fled in several directions. Carter said all the victims were adults.

USA: Baseless Wayfair child-trafficking theory spreads online

CHICAGO (AP) — The baseless conspiracy theory took off after an anonymous user posted a bizarre question in an internet chatroom: What if retail giant Wayfair is using pricey storage cabinets to traffic children?

Self-proclaimed internet sleuths quickly responded by matching up the names of Wayfair products to those of missing children, producing social media posts that have since overrun Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.

Subscribe to Illinois