Matt Stefanski

The popular "sales tax holiday" applied to many back-to-school items in years past.

Significant traffic backups were reported during the Monday afternoon rush hour as falling concrete forced a partial closure of Interstate 55 near Joliet.

Following a seasonable day on Friday, temperatures and humid conditions are slated to build throughout the weekend and beyond, sending heat index values to nearly 105 degrees.

Many retailers, including Target, Aldi, Trader Joe's and Jewel-Osco will be open Labor Day Every year, a special American holiday comes around: Labor Day.

A Chicago-area college student, who was a gymnast at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, was shot and killed in an apartment late Friday night, Whitewater police said.

Steven Cotner, 23, was the only brother in a family with five sisters and was always the protector, relatives said.

The 15-year-old was at Hamlin Park in the 3000 block of North Hoyne Street just before 2:20 p.m. when he was shot.

A Chicago firefighter sustained serious injuries Sunday evening after falling from the roof of a three-story building during a fire in the city's Humboldt Park neighborhood, authorities said.

At around 8 p.m., several police vehicles were seen in the area of South Ingleside Avenue near East 82nd Street.

Chicago Police Supt. Larry Snelling confirmed that one of the occupants of the vehicle involved in the traffic stop that left one officer killed had cut an ankle monitor off