At roughly 0.1% of the city’s recently passed $16.77 billion budget, the initial cost of Mayor Brandon Johnson’s effort to begin reopening Chicago’s city-run mental health clinics is minuscule.

But the political ramifications are potentially huge.

Johnson rode into office on a progressive wave powered by unions and activists who have ...Read more

In Vietnam’s “driest and hottest” region, a “limbless” forest creature took refuge under a rotten log, scrounging around for termites to eat. Suddenly, something lifted the nearly-blind animal into the air. It tried to defend itself, but to no avail.

Scientists successfully captured the “elusive” animal — and discovered a new ...Read more

Hundreds of election workers in Washington state’s second-largest county were busy opening mail-in ballots earlier this month when one of them came across a plain white envelope. As she cut it open, white powder leaked out.

She carefully took off her gloves, put them down, backed away and called her supervisor. Workers evacuated the building ...Read more

SEOUL, South Korea — Dressed in borrowed camouflage fatigues, they fumbled with their ammunition belts and K2 assault rifles. Some had white hair and a slow, shuffling gait; their average age was 63, the oldest 75.

It was the most unconventional batch of trainees that the 52nd Infantry Division's Seocho Reserve Forces Training Center had ever...Read more

Chicago is poised to see a double-digit percentage drop in homicides in 2023, welcome news for a freshman mayor and a police superintendent who took the reins of the department just a couple of months ago.

But the small measure of success may not be exactly as it seems, a Tribune analysis of police data has found. While citywide figures show ...Read more

BOSTON — Tea bags are coming in from all over the U.S. for a semiquincentennial bash in Boston.

Dec. 16 marks the Boston Tea Party’s 250th Anniversary, with reenactments, retrospectives, and, of course, the dumping of British tea into the Boston Harbor.

Spearheading these efforts is Revolution 250, a consortium of more than 70 ...Read more

MISSOULA, Mont. — An hour before sunrise, Shelly Brost walked a mile in freezing rain to the public assistance office. She was running out of time to prove she still qualified for food aid after being stymied by a backlogged state call center.

Twice, she’d tried to use Montana’s public assistance help line to complete an interview ...Read more

More states are making it easier for residents to clear or seal their criminal records.

The effort has drawn bipartisan support, as lawmakers across the political spectrum say it will help people find jobs and housing, in turn boosting local economies and reducing reliance on social services.

“Folks that get out of jail or prison with ...Read more

President Joe Biden spotlighted the arts as shaping “the very soul of the nation” as he celebrated the latest group of Kennedy Center honorees at the White House on Sunday.

Comedian Billy Crystal, rapper Queen Latifah, and singer Dionne Warwick were among the group honored for their contributions. Soprano Renee Fleming and Bee Gees frontman...Read more

Coca-Cola discontinued its once groundbreaking Tab diet soda three years ago and a hardy group of fans are actively trying to get the company to bring it back to retail shelves.

Last month, on a sunny fall Friday, a dozen of them from all over the country gathered at the World of Coca-Cola Museum and handed over a petition with 6,500 names and ...Read more

For more than a decade, Ellie Hidalgo has been campaigning to expand the role of women in the Catholic Church.

The Miami woman is co-director of a nonprofit, Discerning Deacons, which invites other Catholics to consider ordaining women as deacons — a clergy role that has already been opened to married men. That would allow women for the first...Read more

China criticized the U.S. after an American warship sailed in disputed waters in the South China Sea, underscoring lingering military tensions between the nations.

The appearance of the U.S.S. Gabrielle Giffords near the Second Thomas Shoal on Monday “seriously violated China’s sovereignty and security,” according to a statement from the ...Read more

President-elect Javier Milei aims to present reforms to Argentina’s tax and labor laws, political processes and potential privatizations in an economic “shock” package immediately after taking office on Dec. 10, La Nacion newspaper reported Sunday.

Milei, a radical libertarian who swept to victory on a promise to shake up Argentina’s ...Read more

Bill Dixon, 80, lay on a bed between two white fabric dividers in the hallway of the emergency department at Scripps Memorial Hospital Encinitas Friday, one of 14 patients waiting for an emergency bed to open up.

He had been there for two hours, having come in from his Solana Beach home with chest pain and dizziness, comfortable with the ...Read more