A rash of shootings, one deadly, near the site of this year's Taste of Chicago festival blemished the event and showcased the rampant gun violence plaguing some of the city's neighborhoods.

Hundreds of young Chicago professionals flock downtown to the Victor Hotel. Their dress code is corporate casual, but the impeccably dressed, multi-cultural crowd isn't there for a seminar: they're attending one of Mark Fuller's parties.

Lindblom Math and Science Academy students Lea Starling, Jonathan Parnell, Everett Murrell and Jon Murphy never paid much attention to their old gym teacher, Greg Outlaw.

DETROIT Michigan compiled law (MCL) 168.327 reads, in part, “The governor shall remove all city officers chosen by the electors of a city or any ward or voting district of a city, when the governor is satisfied from sufficient evidence submitted to the governor that the officer has been guilty of official misconduct, willful neglect of duty, extortion or habitual drunkenness.”

KINGSTON, Jamaica–Plans to translate the Bible into patois - Jamaica's unofficial language - have ignited a fiery debate that stretches beyond the shores of this island nation.

PHILADELPHIA Looking to capitalize on someone else's misfortune with a foreclosure sale? Don't look in Philadelphia because Sheriff John Green has stayed the foreclosure sales and instead is offering help and hope to beleaguered homeowners.

Nigerian government officials are welcoming a wider U.S. role in the oil-rich Niger Delta where members of an insurgent group have attacked oil flow stations and staged kidnappings in an effort to redistribute enormous profits generated from the region's natural wealth.

A former U.S. State Department official has conceded that U.S. policies were “foolish” towards Liberia during the country's deadly civil war.

So, we are deep in the heart of taxes here in Cook County. The new sales tax hike went into effect July 1, and no one is happy about it. The 10.25 percent sales tax is the highest in the nation, and, coupled with the price of gas, the price of groceries, the price of energy and the price of housing, it has Cook County residents digging deeper and deeper.

New Orleans. It's hard to talk about that city without the ravages of Hurricane Katrina coming to mind. The memories of the devastation are fresh even to those who've only seen it on TV and even fresher to New Orleans' residents who remain displaced, disheartened, out of work and out of hope.