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CHICAGO — Sports remain our greatest escape, offering a few hours of downtime from the daily dose of madness that surrounds us from when we awaken to the moment we crash.

DETROIT — As the deficit began to grow Sunday at Ford Field and the Detroit Lions defensive line continued to pummel quarterback Justin Fields, Chicago Bears coaches had the conversation after every drive.

CHICAGO — The strain on Chicago’s resources from a continued influx of migrants was underscored this week when Mayor Lori Lightfoot asked the state for $54 million in emergency funding and her administration confirmed it will open a shelter at a former school in Woodlawn to temporarily house asylum-seekers.

The airline with the ticker LUV, now a far cry from its early customers-first days under co-founder Herb Kelleher, ruined countless holiday reunions over the past week. Southwest Airlines marooned not just passengers but also its own crews and landed tens of thousands of its customers in a Sisyphean holiday-week…

Imagine you’re crammed into your middle seat — behind a crying baby, of course — and a wave of turbulence rocks the plane. Then another. Then that singular, ominous “ding” as the flight crew kindly urges — demands, really — that passengers return to their seat and buckle up. They’re…

CHICAGO — The Denver Broncos’ firing of coach Nathaniel Hackett on Monday after 15 games was a reminder of how fortunate the Chicago Bears are that the Seattle Seahawks rebuffed their effort to trade for Russell Wilson.

CHICAGO — The Illinois criminal justice system is set for a major makeover beginning Sunday, replacing a cash-bail structure with one that requires judges to more carefully weigh who among the accused should be held in custody before trial without using money as a factor.

Buffalo Grove, Illinois, police responded to more than a dozen calls for help before police say Andrei Kisliak stabbed his wife, two daughters and mother to death in an apparent murder-suicide in November, according to records obtained by the Chicago Tribune/Pioneer Press.

Freedom of speech is forever embattled. That is its nature. Easy to assent to in the abstract, the principle becomes more challenging when the speech at issue assails one’s most cherished values. Polls over the years have consistently reflected this dynamic. “Of course I support freedom of speech,” respondents say,…