The sobbing starts at the mere mention of that fateful Friday afternoon. The guilt-driven nightmares never end about the co-worker left behind in that smoke-filled stairwell. Meribeth Mermall will soon be forced to relive the agony of the fire at the Cook County Administration Building, 69 W. Washington, in October 2003.

Four males are in police custody in connection to the fatal shooting Saturday afternoon of an 18-year-old man outside a South Side high school. About 4 p.m., police responded to the 8200 block of South Vincennes Avenue where an 18-year-old male was shot, police News Affairs Officer JoAnn Taylor said.

Police remain on the scene of a shooting in the Englewood neighborhood that hospitalized an 18-year-old man Sunday afternoon.

For three glorious minutes, Edwin Evashenk was a millionaire. Then - according to a lawsuit he's filed in Cook County Circuit Court - a sexy Miller Lite girl snatched his fortune from his hand.

Right before a Chicago public high school student was gunned down outside Simeon Career Academy on Saturday, a group of students inside the school were brainstorming on ways to curb gun violence.

Sen. Barack Obama's former pastor surprised a South Side congregation Friday night by showing up at an event marking poet Maya Angelou's birthday.

The Chicago Sun-Times, in an attempt to "stick it to the man" (cough, cough, Sam Zell), is giving away 100 free "Keep It Wrigley" T-shirts for the best original limericks.

A total of 13 people were displaced in a fire early Sunday that caused extensive damage to a home on the city's Far South Side.

She walks into the room, staring at the strangers. Sometimes, the tears slide down her cheeks when she conjures up the painful details of her past. They are the tears of a high school dropout forced to take refuge in a shelter after she discovered her third husband was molesting their daughter.

Waukegan police officers arrested the offenders late Friday evening during a botched robbery at Papa John’s, 1321 N. Green Bay Road. The suspects, who were known to rob stores, stick employees in coolers and sexually assault victims, are responsible for eight robberies in Waukegan, Gurnee, Zion and Round Lake Beach.

Police and animal control officials in Lake County are on the lookout for a large cat, believed to be a cougar, seen wandering in yards in north suburban North Chicago.

Trinity United Church of Christ is building Barack Obama's controversial former pastor a million-dollar Tinley Park home complete with an elevator, whirlpool, butler's pantry, circular driveway and four-car garage, building plans show. The four-bedroom home being built for the Rev. Jeremiah Wright is in the Odyssey Club neighborhood, which boasts some of Tinley Park's largest homes and a mix of town homes. It backs up to the Odyssey Country Club and golf course.

A teenage girl is in “stable” condition after she was shot twice Saturday night while walking with friends in the South Side’s Gresham neighborhood.

A Hoffman Estates man driving with his girlfriend and her three kids was busted carrying $1.2 million of methamphetamine, stashed in a secret compartment blocked by the children's car seats, Lake County, Ind., authorities said. An officer pulled over the car on a traffic stop in Lowell, Ind., and 25 pounds of the drug was found behind the back seat. The driver was held at the Lake County Jail..

Traffic in suburban Niles was snarled for hours Saturday after a 28-year-old department store clerk barricaded himself inside his apartment. The man called police just before 8 a.m. to say he had been shot in his arm in the 8600 block of North Milwaukee. A SWAT team finally went into the apartment at 2 p.m. and found the man, unarmed and unhurt, authorities said. He is now facing disorderly conduct charges. Busy Milwaukee Avenue was shut down for hours in the area.

Authorities say a portion of Los Angeles International Airport has been evacuated after a message was found saying there was a bomb in the ladies room.

Unions representing film and television actors will negotiate separately with producers in upcoming contract talks after board members of the TV actors union voted Saturday to sever a long-standing agreement between the two guilds.

Congressional leaders are racing to push through an array of election-year housing measures and the White House is examining its own plan to further help homeowners caught in the mortgage meltdown. Democrats want the government to back up to $400 billion in troubled loans.

STOWE, Vt. -- Bob Shannon is an avid hunter, a fishing guide and owns a tackle shop, but he sometimes struggles to get his own son out into Vermont's woods and fields.