Pope Benedict XVI celebrated his 81st birthday on the first full day of his visit to America. CBS 2 Chief Correspondent Jay Levine reports, a crowd of 12,000 sang "Happy Birthday" outside the White House and a birthday cake awaited

Mourners lined up Wednesday afternoon to write their farewells onto the casket of 15-year-old Brashai Griffin. CBS 2's Pamela Jones reports area businesses are helping pay for the funeral costs and rallying to support the family.

Searchers swooped low over the Skokie Lagoons in a helicopter Wednesday morning to look for signs of a cougar after several reported sightings of a big cat there -- including one on Tuesday, a day after a cougar was shot

Top Senate Democrats are holding off on a measure asking voters to weigh in on a recall amendment after heated political debate turned personal.

Four people were injured -- one critically -- in a crash that involved a rollover in the Andersonville neighborhood on the city's North Side Wednesday afternoon.

An armed man has taken a child hostage Wednesday afternoon and barricaded himself in a southwest suburban apartment, police said.

There was plenty of Monday morning quarterbacking Wednesday, the day after a mechanical malfunction forced an emergency evacuation on the CTA Blue Line. CBS 2's Vince Gerasole reports some passengers are complaining that information could have been better communicated to

Chicago's pothole-plagued Lake Shore Drive will soon get a $4.5 million facelift. Earlier this month, Chicago officials said the north end of the scenic route along Lake Michigan was so bad that the speed limit couldn't be raised from 40

Chicago-based United Airlines has raised its domestic fuel surcharge by $10 to $20 roundtrip.

Craig and Lisa Stebic may have had a rocky relationship, and lived thelast six months of their marriage barely speaking to each other beforeLisa disappeared on April 30.

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has won the endorsement of a union representing plasterers and cement masons in the construction industry. The 45,000-member Operative Plasterers' and Cement Masons' International Association timed its announcement for Clinton's speech Wednesday before the AFL-CIO's Building

A federal judge in Miami has declared another mistrial for six men accused of plotting to spark an anti-government war by toppling Chicago's Sears Tower and bombing FBI offices.

The Museum of Science and Industry has some big ideas for moving toward the future, among them a 40-foot tornado.

Sen. Barack Obama on Wednesday criticized former President Jimmy Carter for meeting with leaders of the Islamic terrorist group Hamas as he tried to reassure Jewish voters that his candidacy isn't a threat to them or U.S. support for Israel.

Democratic Rep. John Murtha said Wednesday that Republican Sen. John McCain is too old to be president. Murtha is 75, four years older than McCain. He says they are nearly the same age, and the rigors and stress of running

The Supreme Court upheld Kentucky's use of lethal injection executions Wednesday, likely clearing the way to resume executions that have been on hold for nearly 8 months.

The furor over Sen. Barack Obama's words about bitter voters in small towns looms large as the Democratic front-runner and rival Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton are slated to debate Wednesday just days before the Pennsylvania primary.

Rock star Bruce Springsteen endorsed Democratic Sen. Barack Obama for president Wednesday, saying "he speaks to the America I've envisioned in my music for the past 35 years."

A southwest suburban school was closed Wednesday after someone phoned in a bomb threat and said it would explode this morning.

Police are looking for a 15-year-old girl who went missing from her Northwest Side home earlier this month.