by Sophia Tareen CHICAGO  — Illinois Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton won Tuesday’s Democratic primary for U.S. Senate, edging out two sitting members of the U.S. House to advance to a November general election against Republican nominee Don Tracy, the former state party chair. The retirement…

by Sophia Tareen CHICAGO  — Illinois voters are deciding primaries Tuesday for six open U.S. House and Senate seats that will spur a new generation of leadership in the state’s heavily Democratic congressional delegation. The retirement of longtime Sen. Dick Durbin, a Democrat, has triggered…

by Darlene Superville WASHINGTON  — John Wrory Ficklin was 7 when he learned that his father, the son of a slave, was important. It was 1963, and the nation was mourning President John F. Kennedy. Wrory Ficklin was sitting with his mother and brother, watching…

by Hallie Golden and Kathy McCormack Major storms whipped up tornadoes in parts of Illinois and Indiana that leveled homes, killing at least two people and injuring others, and another round of rain, hail and strong winds made its way through the region Wednesday, authorities…