Chicago Sun-Times

RALEIGH, N.C.---- A mental patient died after workers at a North Carolina hospital left him in a chair for 22 hours without feeding him or helping him use the bathroom, said federal officials who have threatened to cut off the facility's funding.

HONOLULU---- Hawaii voters for the first time must pick a political party when voting in this year's primary election, a requirement that election officials hope will result in fewer ballots being thrown out.

KAUSWAGAN, Philippines---- The beleaguered Philippine peace process was thrown into disarray Wednesday, with the government saying a proposed deal with Muslim rebels must be renegotiated after the guerrillas shot or hacked 37 people to death.

IGOETI, Georgia---- A convoy of badly needed food aid for beleaguered Georgians rumbled through a Russian checkpoint Wednesday, waved through by soldiers who themselves showed no signs of fulfilling their president's promise of a pullback within two days.

JAMMU, India---- Police using tear gas and batons clashed with Hindu protesters defying a fresh curfew in Indian Kashmir on Wednesday, injuring at least 25 people, medics and witnesses said.

WARSAW, Poland---- Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her Polish counterpart signed a deal Wednesday to build a U.S. missile defense base in Poland, an agreement that prompted an infuriated Russia to warn of a possible attack against the former Soviet satellite.

PRINCETON, N.J.---- At Princeton, pride in being ranked No. 1 comes in a rolling wave of orange.

One of two men in their late teens wounded by gunmen they were allegedly about to shoot has died Wednesday on the South Side.

When the Rev. George Thomas was booted from a Homewood church late last year amid allegations he misappropriated hundreds of thousands of dollars, the last place the congregation expected to see him next was at the pulpit of an affiliated church.

GURNEE -- A group of about 50 licensed independent taxi owner/operators is claiming that they are being discriminated against by some Gurnee Mills security personnel.

Chicago's first firefighters entrance exam in more than a decade finally produced its first graduating class Tuesday at a time of great uncertainty: Police and fire layoffs are on the table to close a $420 million budget gap.

A Melrose Park man suffered an apparent heart attack on a Metra train and died Monday, which led the passenger who was seated beside him to wonder why Metra conductors aren't trained in CPR.

The mournful drone from a lone bagpiper drifted skyward as Chicago Police Detective Robert Soto's steel-blue casket was eased gently into a hearse Tuesday afternoon.

The city blinked Tuesday in a standoff with the police union over action the Chicago Police Department took against union leaders for failing to complete an annual shooting test.

SPRINGFIELD -- Forget the state's cherished copy of the Gettysburg Address or this year's bumper corn crop: The most valuable thing in the state capital Tuesday was the wooden gavel that the boss of the state Senate gets to wield.