Nation/World

image (6).Hersh Goldberg-Polin (left) is pictured with his parents, Rachel Goldberg and Jon Polin. Goldberg-Polin was taken hostage by Hamas at a music festival on Oct. 7.

Hamas releases video of Hersh Goldberg-Polin — hostage with Chicago roots

The video is the first proof of life of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who was captured Oct. 7 in southern Israel. His parents have Chicago ties. Last week, his mother was named one of Time magazine’s most influential people of 2024.

By Associated Press

“Russian War Prisoner” by Egon Schiele is a watercolor painting with shades of green, blue and red on a pencil drawing.

Art

Art Institute argues it legally owns watercolor: 'No evidence' it was 'ever physically seized or “looted” by Nazis.’

The Art Institute of Chicago, responding to allegations by New York prosecutors, says it’s ‘factually unsupported and wrong’ that Egon Schiele’s ‘Russian War Prisoner’ was looted by Nazis from the original owner’s heirs.

By Emmanuel Camarillo

A TikTok content creator, sits outside the U.S. Capitol, Tuesday, April 23, 2024, in Washington as Senators prepare to consider legislation that would force TikTok's China-based parent company to sell the social media platform under the threat of a ban, a contentious move by U.S. lawmakers.

Technology

What a TikTok ban in the US could mean for you

It would be at least a year before a ban goes into effect — but with likely court challenges, this could stretch even longer, perhaps years.

By Associated Press

President Joe Biden speaks before signing a $95 billion Ukraine aid package that also includes support for Israel, Taiwan, and other allies, in the State Dining Room of the White House, Wednesday, April 24, 2024, in Washington.

Nation/World

Biden signs a $95 billion war aid measure that forces TikTok to be sold or banned in the U.S.

The Democratic president Wednesday reached the end of a long, painful battle with Republicans to secure urgently needed replenishment of aid for Ukraine.

By Aamer Madhani | AP and Seung Min Kim | AP

Columnists

An empty chair at Passover Seder, affixed with a picture of a hostage

The continuing bloody war in Gaza — the 33,000 Palestinians killed and the unknown fate of Israeli hostages — casts a pall over Passover celebrations.

By Neil Steinberg

Chicago

Lou Malnati's aims to honor 10 teachers with a year of free pizza

In honor of Teacher Appreciation Week next month, 10 winners will be awarded a free medium cheese pizza per week for a year in addition to a $250 catering package for their school.

By Sun-Times Wire

Money

Kroger, Albertsons — still hoping to merge — agree to sell more stores to satisfy regulators

The companies now plan to sell 579 Kroger and Albertsons stores in markets where they overlap to C&S Wholesale Grocers, a New Hampshire grocery supplier and operator.

By Dee-Ann Durbin | AP

FILES-US-JOURNALIST-CAPTIVE(FILES) Former US hostage Terry Anderson and his fiancee Madeleine Bassil arrive at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York on December 10, 1991. American journalist Terry Anderson, who was snatched by Islamic militants in Lebanon in 1985 and held hostage for six years, died at age 76 on April 21, 2024, his former employer the Associated Press (AP) said. Anderson, then the AP's Beirut bureau chief, was the longest-held Western hostage in Lebanon when he was finally released in 1991. (Photo by Ted HORODYNSKY / AFP) (Photo by TED HORODYNSKY/AFP via Getty Images)

Obituaries

Terry Anderson, AP reporter abducted in Lebanon and held captive for years, has died at 76

Terry Anderson was chief Middle East correspondent for the AP when he was kidnapped in Beirut in 1985 by the militant group Hezbollah, who suspected he was a spy. His 1991 best-seller ‘Den of Lions’ chronicles his torture and time in captivity.

By Associated Press

Columnists

Congress backs billions in aid for Ukraine, Israel. How did Illinois members vote?

Chicago Reps. Delia Ramirez, Jesus ‘Chuy’ Garcia and Jonathan Jackson, all Democrats and the most pro-Palestinian members of the Illinois delegation, voted no on aid to Israel. GOP Rep. Darin LaHood split from his party to support aid to Ukraine.

By Lynn Sweet

Black and picture of a soldier standing in front of a jeep.

Nation/World

Remains of Illinois soldier who died in Japanese prisoner-of-war camp during WWII identified

Harry Jerele, 26, of Berkeley, died of pneumonia at a prison camp in the Philippines in 1942. Military scientists used DNA analysis and historical records to officially identify his remains in December. His remains will be interred in Elwood in October.

By Jessica Ma

News

Prairie Band Potawatomi becomes first federally recognized tribal nation in Illinois

The U.S. Department of the Interior announced the decision Friday, placing 130 acres into trust for the tribal nation, giving it sovereignty over the land that the U.S. auctioned off 175 years ago.

By Violet Miller

Israel-Hamas War

Chicagoans with ties to Middle East brace for consequences after Iran's missile strike on Israel

“There’s all kinds of dangers that can happen,” said Itai Segre, a teacher who lives in Roscoe Village with family in Jerusalem.

By Mary Norkol

Iranian women without wearing their mandatory Islamic headscarf walk past a banner showing missiles being launched from Iranian map in northern Tehran, Iran, Friday, April 19, 2024. Iran fired air defenses at a major air base and a nuclear site near the central city of Isfahan after spotting drones early Friday morning, raising fears of a possible Israeli strike in retaliation for Tehran's unprecedented drone-and-missile assault on the country.

Nation/World

Iran fires at apparent Israeli attack drones near Isfahan air base and nuclear site

The strike came just days after Tehran’s unprecedented drone-and-missile assault on Israel.

By Associated Press

Rev. Frederick Douglass Haynes III points at Rev. Jesse Jackson as both sit and eat at a red cloth covered table at the Rainbow PUSH Convention, with a packed crowd seen behind them.

Politics

Rainbow PUSH leader’s quick exit underscores challenge of following Rev. Jackson: ‘It’s the most difficult job in Black America’

It’s unclear why the Rev. Frederick Haynes III, a Texas megachurch pastor, suddenly resigned Tuesday as president of the South Side social justice organization. But longtime observers say an out-of-towner was doomed from the start.

By Mitchell Armentrout

2024 Democratic National Convention

No cracks in Blue Wall? Top Democrats vow Chicago is ready for convention, despite party divisions

Democrats are deeply focused on Wisconsin and Michigan to help bolster President Joe Biden’s re-election chances — and officials, in town for meetings hosted by the Democratic National Convention Committee, say they plan on showing voters a deep party contrast.

By Tina Sfondeles

Crime

Man charged with trafficking stolen Masters golf memorabilia

Richard Brendan Globensky allegedly transported stolen Masters golf tournament merchandise and memorabilia from the Augusta National Gold Club in Georgia between 2009 and 2022.

By Sun-Times Wire

Walter "Slim" Coleman (center) speaks at a rally in the Loop called to protest an immigration raid in Little Village in 2007.

Obituaries

Walter 'Slim' Coleman, 'supreme organizer' who helped elect Mayor Harold Washington, dies at 80

Mr. Coleman led countless demonstrations in his six decades as an activist. “Slim believed the real power was in organization, putting people in the streets and packing people into government meetings,” said friend Michael Klonsky.

By Mitch Dudek

Rev. Frederick Douglass Haynes III chats with Rev. Jesse Jackson at the Rainbow PUSH Convention Faith Leaders Luncheon at the David Rubenstein Forum at the University of Chicago on the South Side, Tuesday, July 18, 2023. | Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times

Chicago

New leader of Jesse Jackson's Rainbow PUSH Coalition steps down after less than 3 months on the job

The Rev. Frederick Haynes III, pastor of Friendship-West Baptist Church in Dallas, took over as president and CEO of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition in February and had planned to run the organization from Texas.

By Associated Press

Crime

1,000 pounds of substances used with meth, cocaine seized in Chicago

The substances were found April 11 in a shipping container on its way from China to northwest suburban Wood Dale.

By Sun-Times Wire

U.S. Supreme Court associate justices, from left, Ketanji Brown Jackson in 2022; Neil Gorsuch in 2021 and Brett Kavanaugh in 2022.

Chicago corruption trials

Supreme Court puzzles over corruption definition in bribery law at center of Madigan trial: 'Is it a sin?'

The case before the nation’s high court Monday was actually the corruption case against James Snyder, a former mayor of Portage, Indiana. The justices acknowledged their decision in the case will have implications for prosecutions across the country.

By Jon Seidel and Dave McKinney | WBEZ