LOS ANGELES -- Los Angeles shoppers soon won't hear the question, "Paper or plastic?" at the checkout line. The City Council voted Tuesday to ban plastic shopping bags from stores, beginning July 1, 2010. Shoppers can either bring their own bags or pay 25 cents for a paper or biodegradable bag......
NORMAL -- For more than 30 years, Jim Bland has combined a hobby and a job at Guitar World. By early next month, however, plans for uptown Normal redevelopment will force him to move from his longtime location at 105 N. Broadway to 129 E. Beaufort......
UPDATED 8 a.m. WASHINGTON, D.C. -- President Bush has dropped his opposition to legislation that aims to calm the chaotic housing market despite his opposition to a $3.9 billion provision, the White House said Wednesday......
NEW YORK -- Sony, Samsung and other consumer-electronics heavyweights are uniting to support a technology that could send high-definition video signals wirelessly from a single set-top box to screens around the home......
SAN DIEGO — Sid Craig, the co-founder of Jenny Craig Inc., who built the weight loss company with his wife and was a prominent thoroughbred horse owner has died, the company said Tuesday......
LINCOLN -- Clyde Zellers is drawn to help farmers, though not from any particular attraction to agriculture. While the rural Springfield man is not a farmer at heart, his love of aviation prompted him to become a part-time aerial applicator — commonly known as a crop duster — for Holzwarth Flying Service, which has a location in Lincoln. | Video | ......
NORMAL — The Economic Development Council is holding a Bloomington-Normal “One Vision” contest through Aug. 15. The contest seeks photographs and black and white artistic expressions that capture the spirit of Bloomington-Normal and residents’ vision of the community......
PITTSBURGH -- Caterpillar Inc.’s second-quarter profit jumped 34 percent as stronger international sales outpaced higher raw material and freight costs for the maker of backhoes and other heavy equipment......
NEW YORK -- The losses keep piling up for airlines, as three of the nation's biggest carriers said Tuesday high fuel costs overwhelmed higher revenue in the quarter that ended June 30......
UPDATED 1:05 p.m. NORMAL -- One man was dead after a crane collapsed Wednesday morning at a north Normal construction site, McLean County Coroner Beth Kimmerling said at the scene......
UPDATED 1:30 p.m. FORREST -- A 24-year-old man from Fairbury has been identified as the firefighter who died during a house fire in Forrest on Tuesday night. | Photo galler......
UPDATED 1:45 p.m. BLOOMINGTON -- Deliberations will begin Wednesday afternoon in a trial involving a Bloomington man charged with selling and conspiring to sell cocaine......
UPDATED 1:20 p.m. CHICAGO -- Drew Peterson says he’s confident he never said anything to friends who claim they wore a wire and taped conversations with him that links him to the disappearance of his fourth wife and slaying of his third wife......
BLOOMINGTON -- Discrepancies in sworn statements taken as part of an investigation into a McLean County Board member have been forwarded to State’s Attorney Bill Yoder......
BLOOMINGTON — McLean County Board members will learn next month about the results of a test of the Starcom21 radio system at State Farm Insurance Cos. buildings. | Board to reconsider filing fe......
PONTIAC — Resident concerns over the safety of Pontiac’s Fell Park area were brought to the City Council after the July 12 shooting at a nearby grocery store......
BLOOMINGTON -- Mary Embry saves money on her family’s food bill every month by taking advantage of the Share Food program. “I’ve been doing it three or four years,” she said. “It comes in handy so much.” | Where to get free, cheap meals across Central Illinoi......
NORMAL -- A 21-year-old man woke to shattering glass and his bedroom door forced open to find two males masked with red bandanas holding handguns......
NEWARK -- A pilot found dead Monday afternoon in a crashed plane in LaSalle County was apparently trying to land when he went down in a bean field half a mile short of a runway, the airfield owner said Tuesday. | Joseph E. Johnson obituar......
