Man slain on way to dialysis treatment: police

Police at the scene of a fatal shooting early Saturday at Homicide at Eberhart and 95th Streets. ...

Read More..

WHO: Slight cancer risk after Japan nuke accident

LONDON (AP) — Two years after Japan's nuclear plant disaster, an international team of experts said Thursday that residents of areas hit by the highest doses of radiation face an increased cancer risk so small it probably won't be detectable.In fact, experts calculated that increase at about 1 extra percentage point added to a Japanese infant's lifetime cancer risk."The additional risk is quite small...

Read More..

Comings and goings at 'Downton Abbey' next season

NEW YORK (AP) — Shirley MacLaine will be returning to "Downton Abbey" next season, and opera star Kiri Te Kanawa is joining the cast.MacLaine will reprise her role as Martha Levinson, Lord Robert Crawley's freewheeling American mother-in-law, Carnival Films and "Masterpiece" on PBS said Saturday. MacLaine appeared in episodes early last season.New Zealand-born soprano Te Kanawa will play a house guest....

Read More..

Washington stares down start of sequester cuts

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. government hurtled on Friday toward deep spending cuts that threaten to hinder the nation's economic recovery, after Republicans and Democrats failed to agree on an alternative deficit-reduction plan.Locked in during a bout of deficit-reduction fever in 2011, the time-released “automatic” cuts can only be halted by agreement between Republican lawmakers and the White House.That...

Read More..

Groupon fires CEO, Mason admits "failure" in candid memo

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Groupon Inc fired Andrew Mason as chief executive officer on Thursday, ousting a co-founder who captured headlines with his quirky style but failed to reverse a crumbling share price or stop a gradual erosion of its main daily deals business. The leader in Internet daily deals launched a search for a new leader to turn the company around, the same day its stock...

Read More..

Leaving NKorea, Rodman calls Kims 'great leaders'

PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — Ending his unexpected round of basketball diplomacy in North Korea on Friday, ex-NBA star Dennis Rodman called leader Kim Jong Un an "awesome guy" and said his father and grandfather were "great leaders."Rodman, the highest-profile American to meet Kim since he inherited power from father Kim Jong Il in 2011, watched a basketball game with the authoritarian leader Thursday...

Read More..

WHO: Slight cancer risk after Japan nuke accident

LONDON (AP) — Two years after Japan's nuclear plant disaster, an international team of experts said Thursday that residents of areas hit by the highest doses of radiation face an increased cancer risk so small it probably won't be detectable.In fact, experts calculated that increase at about 1 extra percentage point added to a Japanese infant's lifetime cancer risk."The additional risk is quite small...

Read More..

Lindsay Lohan driving case returns to LA court

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Lindsay Lohan's attorney returns to court Friday for a hearing in the actress's latest criminal case, as discussions continue about a possible plea deal before trial.The 26-year-old isn't required to attend the hearing.The hearing is intended to take care of any issues before a March 18 trial on misdemeanor charges that Lohan lied to police about a June car crash and was driving...

Read More..

Groupon CEO Andrew Mason fired

After he was fired Thursday, Andrew Mason wrote a note to his Groupon colleagues filled with the same offbeat humor, charm and...

Read More..

Low-key departure as Pope Benedict steps down

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Benedict slips quietly from the world stage on Thursday after a private last goodbye to his cardinals...

Read More..

Samsung Electronics says loses a Japan patent lawsuit to Apple

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Carrie Fisher, who played Princess Leia in the original "Star Wars" trilogy, was briefly hospitalized due to her bipolar disorder, the actress' spokeswoman said on Tuesday after video emerged of Fisher giving an unusual stage performance. The video came from a show Fisher gave aboard a cruise ship in the Caribbean last week, according to celebrity website TMZ, which posted...

Read More..

Medicare paid $5.1B for poor nursing home care

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Medicare paid billions in taxpayer dollars to nursing homes nationwide that were not meeting basic requirements to look after their residents, government investigators have found.The report, released Thursday by the Department of Health and Human Services' inspector general, said Medicare paid about $5.1 billion for patients to stay in skilled nursing facilities that failed to...

Read More..

Steven Spielberg to head Cannes jury this year

PARIS (AP) — France's Cannes Film Festival says it has finally snagged Steven Spielberg to serve as president of the award jury.Gilles Jacob, the festival's president, recounted how he had been trying to get the award-winning director to head the jury for years — but the American was always working. Finally, this year, Spielberg got in touch."When this year I was told 'E.T., phone home,' I understood...

Read More..

Groupon drops 24% on weak results, forecast

Groupon Inc., the Chicago-based daily deals website, offered up an earnings disappointment Wednesday after the market closed,...

Read More..

Kelly says win in Congressional primary a 'message' to the NRA

Former state Rep. Robin Kelly easily won the special Democratic primary Tuesday night in the race to replace the disgraced Jesse...

Read More..

Networking creates devices buzz at mobile fair

BARCELONA (Reuters) - Networks, whether superfast mobile broadband, wifi or a combination of both, are helping add pizzazz to new mobile products as the rapid evolution in smartphone and tablet design slows to a trickle. The world's fastest smartphone, new "phablets" - sized between a phone and tablet - and small tablets optimized to watch video and run multiple applications on 4G mobile...

Read More..

Advanced breast cancer edges up in younger women

CHICAGO (AP) — Advanced breast cancer has increased slightly among young women, a 34-year analysis suggests. The disease is still uncommon among women younger than 40, and the small change has experts scratching their heads about possible reasons.The results are potentially worrisome because young women's tumors tend to be more aggressive than older women's, and they're much less likely to get routine...

Read More..

Greek man charged in NY Dali theft pleads guilty

NEW YORK (AP) — A Greek man has admitted to stealing a Salvador Dali painting from a New York City gallery, only to return it in the mail.Phivos Istavrioglou pleaded guilty on Tuesday following his arrest in the theft of a work titled "Cartel de Don Juan Tenorio."Prosecutors say the fashion industry publicist walked into the Manhattan gallery in June, put the painting valued at about $150,000 in a...

Read More..

What's next for revitalized Chicago Loop?

Michael Edwards has only been in town for a few months, but the new executive director of the Chicago Loop Alliance says the...

Read More..

Porch collapses on 2 firefighters battling extra-alarm blaze

Two firefighters were hurt in an extra-alarm fire on the South...

Read More..

Koop, who transformed surgeon general post, dies

With his striking beard and starched uniform, former Surgeon General Dr. C. Everett Koop became one of the most recognizable figures of the Reagan era — and one of the most unexpectedly enduring.His nomination in 1981 met a wall of opposition from women's groups and liberal politicians, who complained President Ronald Reagan selected Koop, a pediatric surgeon and evangelical Christian from Philadelphia,...

Read More..

Reversing trend, world music revenue inches upward

LONDON (AP) — More than a decade after online file swapping tipped the music industry into turmoil, record executives may finally be getting a sliver of good news.Industry revenue is up. A measly 0.3 percent, but it's still up."For the global music business, it is hard to remember a year that has begun with such a palpable buzz in the air," said Frances Moore, whose International Federation of the...

Read More..