Illinois

CHICAGO, Jan. 8 (Xinhua) -- With Omicron cases surging across the United States, recent recommendations from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) seem quite confusing and risky, according to the American Medical Association (AMA).

In a statement released on Wednesday, Gerald Harmon, president of the association, reckoned that tens of thousands -- potentially hundreds of thousands of people -- could return to work and school infectious if they follow the CDC's new guidance on ending isolation after five days without a negative test.

CHICAGO (AP) — More than a year after the vaccine was rolled out, new cases of COVID-19 in the U.S. have soared to their highest level on record at over 265,000 per day on average, a surge driven largely by the highly contagious omicron variant.

New cases per day have more than doubled over the past two weeks, eclipsing the old mark of 250,000, set in mid-January, according to data kept by Johns Hopkins University.

OAK BROOK, Ill. (AP) — A shooting at a suburban Chicago mall full of Christmas shoppers left four people injured Thursday, police said.

The incident at Oakbrook Center in Oak Brook began with two males involved in a shootout in a corridor around 5:45 p.m., police Chief James Kruger said.

He said the injuries were not life-threatening. Three people who were shot were initially believed to have been hit by ricocheting bullets, but Kruger later said they were directly struck. A fourth person suffered an ankle injury while running away.

CHICAGO (AP) — A prosecutor told jurors Wednesday that there is “overwhelming evidence” that former “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett staged a racist, anti-gay attack against himself in downtown Chicago for publicity, then lied to police about it.

CHICAGO (AP) — Jussie Smollett will return to the witness stand Tuesday at his trial in Chicago, where the former “Empire” actor called claims that he staged an anti-gay, racist attack on himself “100% false.”

Prosecutors will continue cross-examining the 39-year-old, who appeared calm through several hours of testimony Monday. He told jurors “there was no hoax” and that he was the victim of a hate crime in his downtown Chicago neighborhood.

CHICAGO (AP) — Two brothers stand at the center of the case that prosecutors will lay before jurors when the trial of Jussie Smollett begins this week.

The former “Empire” actor contends he was the victim of a racist and homophobic assault in downtown Chicago on a frigid night in January 2019. The siblings, who worked with him on the TV show, say he paid them $3,500 to pose as his attackers.

CHICAGO (AP) — A popular actor steps out onto the street and is brutally reminded that, despite his fame and wealth, places still exist where the color of his skin and sexual orientation put him in danger.

That was the story that ricocheted around the world after Jussie Smollett, a Black and openly gay actor, reported to Chicago police that he was the victim of a hate crime.

Nearly three years later, Smollett is about to stand trial on charges that he staged the whole thing.

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — The Senate approved on Thursday night a weakened and criticized plan to preserve ramifications for those who refuse to be vaccinated against COVID-19.

Democrats who control both houses of the General Assembly struggled through caustic debate all week in pushing a COVID carve-out of the Illinois Health Care Right of Conscience Act. The Senate endorsed the plan 31-24 on the last day of the Legislature’s fall session.

CHICAGO (AP) — After five years of legal battles, gentrification concerns and a federal review, Barack and Michelle Obama were expected to attend a celebratory groundbreaking Tuesday on their legacy project in a lakefront Chicago park.

Construction on the site along Lake Michigan, near the Obama family home and where the former president started his political career on Chicago’s South Side, officially began last month. Work on the Obama Presidential Center is expected to take about five years.

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — The Illinois House on Thursday approved a wide-ranging plan to eliminate carbon emissions by 2050, with a compromise allowing two coal-fired plants to remain open until 2045 but cut their emissions by nearly half in the next 14 years.