"Chicago Tribune" Reader

"Chicago Tribune" Reader

Cantor: ‘I can’t tell you what’s in that big Senate bill’

Posted: 27 Jun 2013 04:33 PM PDT

Rep. Cantor calls U.S. immigration system "broken."Some House Republicans say they haven't bothered to find out what's in the immigration bill.

Jurors in Zimmerman trial hear 911 call, deadly gunshot

Posted: 27 Jun 2013 04:57 PM PDT

George Zimmerman listens during his murder trial for 2012 shooting death of Trayvon Martin in Seminole circuit court in SanfordJurors for the first time heard the shot that brought a nation's focus to a teenager name Trayvon Martin and a town that had been known before mostly for an airport and the end of a railway.

Cavs take Bennett with No. 1 pick in NBA draft

Posted: 27 Jun 2013 05:43 PM PDT

NBA Commissioner David Stern, left, shakes hands with UNLV's Anthony Bennett, who was selected first overall by the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA basketball draft, Thursday, June 27, 2013, in New York. (AP Photo/Jason DeCrow)NEW YORK (AP) — Anthony Bennett became the first Canadian to be the No. 1 pick and Nerlens Noel tumbled out of the top five Thursday night, a surprising start to the NBA draft.

Tollway says new system will improve customer service

Posted: 27 Jun 2013 05:26 PM PDT

$44 million contract awarded

Paying tolls with smartphones and using kiosks to replenish I-PASS accounts with cash could be in the future for Illinois Tollway customers, officials said Thursday.

Ecuador heats rhetoric as Obama downplays Snowden

Posted: 27 Jun 2013 05:49 PM PDT

A woman sits at her vegetable stand at a market in downtown Quito, Ecuador, Thursday, June 27, 2013. Unlike with China, Russia or Cuba, countries where the U.S. has relatively few tools to force Edward Snowden's handover, the Obama administration could swiftly hit Ecuador in the pocketbook by denying reduced tariffs on cut flowers, artichokes and broccoli if it grants Snowden's request for asylum. Those represent hundreds of millions of dollars in annual exports for this country where nearly half of foreign trade depends on the U.S. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa)QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — President Barack Obama tried to cool the international frenzy over Edward Snowden on Thursday as Ecuador stepped up its defiance and said it was preemptively rejecting millions in trade benefits that it could lose by taking in the fugitive from his limbo in a Moscow airport.

NFL criminal cases put focus on vetting

Posted: 27 Jun 2013 05:13 PM PDT

Former New England Patriots football player Aaron Hernandez, right, stands with his attorney Michael Fee, during a bail hearing in Fall River Superior Court Thursday, June 27, 2013, in Fall River, Mass. Hernandez, charged with murdering Odin Lloyd, a 27-year-old semi-pro football player, was denied bail. (AP Photo/Boston Herald, Ted Fitzgerald, Pool)Two felony charges in one day were more than a bump in the NFL's offseason. They pointed to an ongoing problem for the league — players who wind up at the center of criminal cases.

Rare jaguar spotted roaming Ariz. mountains

Posted: 27 Jun 2013 01:18 PM PDT

This photo released by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service shows a remote camera that photographed a rare male jaguar west of the proposed Rosemont Mine site in the mountains southeast of Tucson. The photographs come as federal wildlife officials consider designating more than 1,300 square miles in New Mexico and Arizona as critical habitat for the jaguar. (AP Photo/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service )Photos of an extremely rare jaguar roaming Forest Service land near Arizona's Santa Rita Mountains have been published by the Arizona Daily Star, which got the images from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. The male jaguar, believed to be the lone known unconfined jaguar in the U.S., has been in the area since at [...]

Spy program gathered Americans' Internet records

Posted: 27 Jun 2013 02:55 PM PDT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration gathered U.S. citizens' Internet data until 2011, continuing a spying program started under President George W. Bush that revealed whom Americans exchanged emails with and the Internet Protocol address of their computer, documents disclosed Thursday show.

Egypt's opposition criticizes president's speech

Posted: 27 Jun 2013 03:05 PM PDT

CORRECTS DATE - In this Wednesday, June 26, 2013 image released by the Egyptian Presidency, Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi delivers a speech, in Cairo, Egypt. Morsi told his opponents to use elections not protests to try to change the government and said the military should focus on its role as the nation's defenders in a nationally televised address on Wednesday, days before the opposition plans massive street rallies aimed at removing him from office. (AP Photo/Egyptian Presidency)CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's main opposition coalition on Thursday rejected the Islamist president's offer for dialogue on reconciliation and said it insists on holding early elections, ratcheting up pressure on Mohammed Morsi just days ahead of planned mass protests seeking his ouster.

Iraq official says Baghdad open to US military aid

Posted: 27 Jun 2013 03:18 PM PDT

FILE - In this June 4, 2013 file photo, Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Martin Dempsey, right, testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington. Dempsey has recommended that military American commanders look for ways to help improve the military capabilities of Iraq and Lebanon, which both face the risk of spillover from the civil war in neighboring Syria. From right are, Dempsey, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno, and Judge Advocate General of the Army Lt. Gen. Dana K. Chipman. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq is open to greater American military cooperation as U.S. commanders explore ways to boost security assistance to the country, a top Iraqi official said Thursday as a fresh wave of bombings claimed 16 lives.

McCormick neighbors concerned over data center

Posted: 27 Jun 2013 02:13 PM PDT

A South Loop residents' group that says a DePaul University basketball arena would damage its neighborhood on Thursday expressed concern that a large-scale data center nearby would do nothing to enliven the McCormick Place area.

Gandolfini: A big man and everyman is eulogized

Posted: 27 Jun 2013 01:56 PM PDT

HBO CEO Richard Plepler, center, and David Chase, center right, producer of "The Sopranos", walk out of Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine after funeral services for actor James Gandolfini, Thursday, June 27, 2013, in New York. Gandolfini, who played Tony Soprano in the hit HBO show, died while vacationing in Italy last week. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)NEW YORK (AP) — The funeral of James Gandolfini took place in one of the largest churches in the world and didn't stint on ceremony.

Congresswoman who shamed contractor: ‘I stood up for veterans’

Posted: 27 Jun 2013 12:43 PM PDT

Rep. Duckworth slams IRS contractor on prep school injuryRep. Tammy Duckworth, a Democratic congresswoman and disabled Iraq War vet, says her shaming of an IRS contractor claiming his decades-old football injury at a military prep school entitled his IT business to government contracts was done out of respect for all veterans. "Yesterday, I stood up for our Veterans and taxpayers in a hearing [...]

Iraq bombings target soccer fans, kill 16 in cafes

Posted: 27 Jun 2013 01:17 PM PDT

A girl cleans shattered glass near the site of a bomb attack in Dora district in BaghdadBAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi officials say a series of bombings targeting soccer fans has struck cafes in and around Baghdad, killing 16 and wounding dozens.

Immigration overhaul: Senate passes historic bill

Posted: 27 Jun 2013 03:37 PM PDT

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., left, and Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., right, two of the authors of the immigration reform bill crafted by the Senate's bipartisan "Gang of Eight," shakes hands on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, June 27, 2013, prior to the final vote. The historic legislation would dramatically remake the U.S. immigration system and require a tough new focus on border security. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)WASHINGTON (AP) — With a solemnity reserved for momentous occasions, the Senate passed historic legislation Thursday offering the priceless hope of citizenship to millions of immigrants living illegally in America's shadows. The bill also promises a military-style effort to secure the long-porous border with Mexico.

Senate passes immigration bill

Posted: 27 Jun 2013 01:35 PM PDT

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., left, and Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., right, two of the authors of the immigration reform bill crafted by the Senate's bipartisan "Gang of Eight," shakes hands on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, June 27, 2013, prior to the final vote. The historic legislation would dramatically remake the U.S. immigration system and require a tough new focus on border security. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate has passed historic immigration legislation offering the hope of American citizenship to millions, while promising a military-style surge to secure the border.

Feds: Boston suspect downloaded bomb instructions

Posted: 27 Jun 2013 03:10 PM PDT

FILE - This file photo provided Friday, April 19, 2013 by the Federal Bureau of Investigation shows Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. A federal grand jury in Boston returned a 30-count indictment against Tsarnaev on Thursday, June 27, 2013, on charges including using a weapon of mass destruction and bombing a place of public use, resulting in death. (AP Photo/Federal Bureau of Investigation, File)BOSTON (AP) — Boston Marathon suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev downloaded bomb-making instructions from an al-Qaida magazine, gathered online material on Islamic jihad and martyrdom, and later scrawled anti-American messages inside the boat where he lay wounded, a federal indictment charged Thursday.

Senate closes in on passage of immigration bill

Posted: 27 Jun 2013 12:56 PM PDT

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., left, and Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., right, two of the authors of the immigration reform bill crafted by the Senate's bipartisan "Gang of Eight," shakes hands on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, June 27, 2013, prior to the final vote. The historic legislation would dramatically remake the U.S. immigration system and require a tough new focus on border security. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate moved with uncommon bipartisanship Thursday to the brink of passage of legislation offering the priceless hope of citizenship to millions of immigrants living illegally in America's shadows, while also promising a military-style effort to secure the long-porous border with Mexico.

Goodbye M&M's, hello granola bars as school snacks

Posted: 27 Jun 2013 02:17 PM PDT

FILE - In this May 3, 2006 file photo, a student purchases a brown sugar Pop-Tart from a vending machine in the hallway outside the school cafeteria, in Wichita, Kan. High-calorie sports drinks and candy bars will be removed from school vending machines and cafeteria lines as soon as next year, replaced with diet drinks, granola bars and other healthier items the Agriculture Department said Thursday, June 27, 2013. (AP Photo/The Wichita Eagle, Mike Hutmacher, File)WASHINGTON (AP) — Kids, your days of blowing off those healthier school lunches and filling up on cookies from the vending machine are numbered. The government is onto you.

Boston bombing suspect indicted

Posted: 27 Jun 2013 11:54 AM PDT

FBI photo of Boston Marathon Bombing suspect Dzhokhar TsarnaevThe 30-count indictment details Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's alleged motives in the attack.