For years, Illinois' high school juniors took the ACT college entrance exam for free at school, like their brothers and sisters and friends before them.

It has, all things considered, been a very good year for the preservation of Chicago's architectural treasures.

Billy Williams and Glenn Beckert were on the phone minutes after Cole Hamels tossed the first no-hitter against the Cubs in 50 years Saturday.

John Russell Houser was deeply troubled long before he shot 11 people in a movie theater in Louisiana, but decades of mental problems didn't keep him from buying the handgun he used.

Eddie Horns took a dip in the lake while celebrating his little sister's birthday, but the 17-year-old drowned despite the efforts of a relative and two joggers, according to his family and police.

Sandra Bland's mother was the last to speak at her daughter's funeral.