FILE - Two United Airlines Boeing 737s are parked at the gate at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., July 7, 2022. (Wilfredo Lee / AP Photo, File)

Among the most recent issues, a chunk of outer aluminum skin was discovered to have fallen off the belly of a United Boeing 737 after it landed in Oregon. Earlier this month, a United jet suffered an engine fire during takeoff from Houston, and a tire fell off another United jet as it left San Francisco.

Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias is pictured in a file photo. (Andrew Adams / Capitol News Illinois)

The cause was an outage in the “national network that connects driver’s license facilities,” a network run by the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators. That outage resulted in the system having to shut down across the country.

An electric vehicle is pictured charging in Chicago. (Andrew Adams / Capitol News Illinois)

The new standards will avoid more than 7 billion tons of planet-warming carbon emissions over the next three decades and provide nearly $100 billion in annual net benefits, the EPA said.

Illinois Commerce Commission Chair Doug Scott presides over a commission meeting in Chicago in late January. (Andrew Adams / Capitol News Illinois)

Consumers likely to pay more for infrastructure improvements

The plans propose billions of dollars in spending and lay out the companies’ plans for supporting the state’s climate goals, including the transition away from greenhouse gas emitting energy generation over the next 20 years. The ICC is now reviewing the plans in a process likely to last the rest of the year. 

Scott Kirby, CEO of United Airlines, during a Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation oversight hearing, Wednesday, Dec. 15, 2021, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (Tom Brenner / The Washington Post via AP, File, Pool)

CEO Scott Kirby said the airline was already planning an extra day of training for pilots starting in May and changes in training curriculum for newly hired mechanics. In a memo to customers on Monday, Kirby tried to reassure travelers that safety is the airline's top priority.

Illinois State Capitol. (WTTW News)
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Illinois has laws to protect against gender discrimination in pay, but it can be difficult for workers to know whether there’s a pay discrepancy. That may be easier to figure out starting next year.

(WTTW News)

Illegally delayed responses are a chronic problem with the CTA’s FOIA office. Other news organizations and advocacy groups have also dinged the agency for its FOIA transparency failures. Despite not sending information on operator working hours as required, available information indicates the CTA continues to rely on overtime.

(Courtesy of Pexels)

For a third year in a row, complaints regarding home repair and remodeling top the list of written consumer complaints filed to the Illinois Attorney General’s Office.

(Medill School of Journalism)

For Chicago residents with disabilities, getting around the city can be more of a burden than a simple task. Users and advocates say the Pace Taxi Access Program is plagued by long wait times, verbally abusive drivers and unreliable rides.

Screenshots from a video show leaky pipes, piles of trash and generally filthy conditions in what a source identified as the embalming room of the Moran Queen-Boggs Funeral Home in Centralia. The source who provided the video requested anonymity due to safety concerns. The funeral home’s director, Hugh Moran, would not confirm its authenticity. (Photos provided)

Eight photographs and one video taken late last year purported to show the conditions of the funeral home depict piles of dirty sheets, a dead rodent rotting in a stairway and water running from pipes in the embalming room.

Shoppers carry Macy's bags during Black Friday in New York in November 2023. (Yuki Iwamura / AFP / Getty Images via CNN Newsource)

The company is closing 150 underperforming stores — 50 by the end of 2024 and the other 100 over the next few years. By 2026, it will have just 350 Macy’s stores, the company announced.

Mitch Maddox, a bread route salesman, loads bread Tuesday, May 30, 2006, outside the Eagle Rock Albertsons store in Los Angeles. The Federal Trade Commission on Monday, Feb. 16, 2024, sued to block a proposed merger between grocery giants Kroger and Albertsons, saying the $24.6 billion deal would eliminate competition and lead to higher prices for millions of Americans. (AP Photo / Damian Dovarganes, File)

On Monday, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission filed an administrative complaint against Kroger’s $24.6 billion deal to acquire Albertsons and a federal lawsuit that asks a judge to block the merger for now.

A rendering of a proposed new White Sox stadium and surrounding development, including housing, at The 78 site. (Credit: Related Midwest)
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Gov. J.B. Pritzker said he’s “reluctant” to use taxpayer funds to help the White Sox move from Bridgeport to the South Loop.

A “Help Wanted” sign is displayed in Deerfield, Ill., Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2022. (AP Photo / Nam Y. Huh)

The economy looks set to grow 2.2% this year after adjusting for inflation, according to the National Association for Business Economics. That’s up from the 1.3% predicted in the association’s prior survey, which was conducted in November.

An American Ethanol label is shown on a NASCAR race car gas tank at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas, Nov. 1, 2014. (AP Photo / Randy Holt, File)
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The move reflects the importance of ethanol to agriculture. The fuel additive consumes roughly 40% of the nation’s corn crop, so higher sales of ethanol could mean greater profits for corn farmers.