Chicago Sun-Times

The silver glint of tens of thousands of dead fish dotted the brown water of the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal on Thursday. But among those fish, officials found just one Asian carp -- the dreaded invasive species that the state's largest fish kill was designed to root out and destroy. Full Story »

It's Christmas tree time, and, if you're heading out to find one soon, here are a few tree facts:• There are 291 Christmas tree farms in Illinois -- ranking the state 17th in the nation, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture . (Oregon is No. 1, with 1,852, according to the USDA.)• Illinois Christmas tree farms collectively produce a crop worth $6.5 million.• McHenry County harvests ... Full Story »

The city's vast network of surveillance cameras tracked Chicago School Board chief Michael Scott from a convalescent home to a lonely downtown spot along the Chicago River and showed he didn't meet with anyone before his body was discovered face-down in a foot of water with a bullet wound in his head, Police Supt. Jody Weis said Thursday.Weis stopped short of declaring Scott's death a suicide ... Full Story »

The images of the slain, burned and mutilated Blackwater contractors hanging from a bridge in Fallujah , Iraq , in 2004 -- with cheering crowds around them -- shocked the United States. Full Story »

The dejected pose comes naturally to genuine Cubs fans -- furrowed brow, sagging shoulders, arms hanging limply. But it took Frank McNulty a dozen or so tries to nail it when he modeled as a Cubs batboy for Norman Rockwell's 1948 painting "The Dugout," which sold at auction in New York this week for $662,500 to an undisclosed buyer. Full Story »

Maggie Daley is midway through 10 radiation treatments for a malignant tumor in her right leg and should be out of a wheelchair within weeks, her doctor said Thursday, insisting, "This is not a permanent disability."Chicago's first lady has defied the odds by surviving 7½ years with metastatic breast cancer. Dr. Steve Rosen said there is no reason she can't continue."I also don't see anything ... Full Story »

A City of Chicago supervisor pocketed cash bribes and was treated by developers to Bulls skybox tickets -- all in exchange for overlooking code violations and pushing through permits, prosecutors said Thursday.In the opening day of the trial of onetime supervisory plumbing inspector Mario Olivella as well as husband-and-wife developers Dumitru and Lavinia Curescu, prosecutors said the three ... Full Story »

A teenage thug punched Bridget Seemann in the skull while his gang-banger buddy ripped off her iPhone as she walked home from the drugstore Tuesday night in Rogers Park. Who knew getting mugged could bring so much holiday cheer? Full Story »

It's exactly three weeks till Christmas , Santa's helpers, and 7-year-old Tierra has a huge request."What I would like for Christmas are some books," the second-grader wrote in her letter to the guy known for his red suit and reindeer.Doesn't seem so huge? It is, to Tierra, one of 585 students at Ericson Scholastic Academy in East Garfield Park, where 97.4 percent of the kids live below poverty ... Full Story »

Mayor Daley on Thursday used the grand opening of the Chicago French Market to browbeat aldermen who wanted him to erase a massive budget shortfall by borrowing from the $1 billion stashed away in tax increment financing districts. Billed as Chicago's "first and only year-round European-inspired indoor market," the 15,000-square-foot market is the anchor tenant of MetraMarket, which has breathed ... Full Story »

Tony Cole just can't seem to stay out of trouble.The onetime steakhouse busboy hired by Cook County Board President Todd Stroger to a $61,000-a-year county Highway Department job -- then fired in a patronage scandal -- is back in jail.Wednesday afternoon, Cole returned to his old stomping grounds to retrieve some of the personal items he left after he was fired in April. But as he was leaving an ... Full Story »

"The Merry Widow" will dance her opening night waltz as scheduled at the Civic Opera House Saturday evening.Despite an escalating war of words between Lyric Opera of Chicago and the players committee of the company's 76-member orchestra, a possible strike by the instrumentalists has been averted less than 48 hours before members of the Chicago Federation of Musicians were set to walk out.After ... Full Story »

The "Bootylicious" Beyonce Knowles, who notched 10 Grammy nominations this week, just had a tour cancellation she's likely happy about. Knowles and her group, Destiny's Child, evaded what would have been an eight-day stint in Chicago's federal courthouse by settling claims today that they ripped off the work of a Chicago singer and performer with their song: "Cater 2 U." Full Story »

Throughout a 7 1/2-year battle that has defied the odds against metastatic breast cancer, Maggie Daley has been a tower of strength and an inspiration to women facing similar struggles.Her always emotional husband, Mayor Daley, is not quite so strong. And as Chicagoans well know, he wears his heart on his sleeve. Today, the mayor talked about his wife's latest setback: radiation treatments for a ... Full Story »

A Rogers Park neighborhood man was charged with felony eavesdropping after allegedly taping conversations  -- including  the voices of officers who arrested him -- without permission while selling art for a $1 Wednesday afternoon in the Loop. Full Story »

Two 15-year-old boys and one 18-year-old female, all students atFenger High School, were arrested in three separate incidents ofviolence that took place Wednesday at the Far South Side school. Full Story »

Silver fish of all sizes washed up today amid the garbage floating along the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, but, so far, none of the dreaded Asian carp that officials hoped for have turned up.On Wednesday, a group of scientists poured 2,200 gallons of the fish poison rotenone into six miles of the canal south of Chicago in what was planned as the biggest fish kill in Illinois history ... Full Story »

Police Supt. Jody Weis stopped short of declaring Scott's death a suicide - despite the Cook County medical examiner's conclusion it was. Full Story »

A grocery store chain with south and southwest suburban locations has been fined $55,000 for child labor violations. Full Story »

A South Side man was charged early Thursday with sexually assaultinga 5-year-old boy in the Englewood neighborhood Wednesday, police said. Full Story »

Teachers in Prairie-Hills School District 144 are on strike today after a late-night bargaining session failed to achieve a new contract. Representatives of the teachers' union and the district said talks broke down about 10 p.m. Wednesday and that teachers would begin picketing in front of their respective schools about 7:30 a.m. today. Teachers union spokeswoman Michele Gallagher declined to ... Full Story »

Shots were fired at police and police returned fire in a shooting in the West Town neighborhood early Thursday. Full Story »

A man with a baseball bat, or similar type object, robbed a beauty salon on Belvidere Street in Waukegan Wednesday morning. Full Story »

Six people were left homeless when a fire started at an apartment building on the Northwest Side Thursday morning. Full Story »

A 59-year-old female inmate awaiting trial on charges related to a2008 disfiguring acid attack on a Logan Square woman died Wednesday. Full Story »