Illinois

Regulators have shut down Bank of Lincolnwood, a small bank in Illinois, marking the 37th failure this year of a federally insured bank. More are expected to succumb amid the pressures of the weak economy and mounting loan defaults. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. was appointed receiver of the failed bank, which had about $214 million in assets and $202 million in deposits as of May 26.

A popular toy maker is refusing to pull a lead-tainted doll from store shelves across Illinois, challenging a state law governing lead content in toys, the state says. Ty Inc., best known for its Beanie Babies, says federal law takes precedence over the Illinois statute. The state is considering suing Ty, based in suburban Chicago, to force it to comply.

The trial of political fundraiser Antoin Rezko has been delayed one week to give his attorneys more time to prepare. Rezko has raised thousands of dollars for Sen. Barack Obama and Gov. Rod Blagojevich. He was jailed Monday after U.S. District Judge Amy St. Eve determined that he might flee to avoid trial. Rezko is accused of shaking down companies seeking state business. Neither Obama, who is seeking the Democratic presidential nomination, nor Blagojevich has been accused of any wrongdoing. St.

The hottest political souvenir in the childhood hometown of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is a small green "Rodham Corner" sign hanging at Wisner and Elm streets, just a few doors from the two-story brick house where she spent her youth. The sign has been stolen so many times that last year city workers bolted it 30 feet up a wooden light pole, said Mayor Howard P. Frimark. "It's been nonstop political talk here ever since Hillary announced her candidacy," Frimark said Tuesday afternoon.

Sears Holdings Corp. will install safety brackets on its stoves in millions of households or offer gift cards in settling an Illinois class-action lawsuit over the appliances' supposed propensity to topple. Under an agreement signed off on last month by a Madison County judge, Hoffman Estates, Ill.-based Sears will offer to fix all brands of its free-standing or slide-in kitchen ranges in as many as 3.9 million homes by bolting them to a wall or floor.

Starting even before Barack Obama graduated from law school, his career as a lawyer and politician was nurtured by a Chicago businessman named Tony Rezko. Now Obama avoids discussing Rezko, and his former backer isn't in a position to speak publicly. The once-dapper businessman appeared in federal court the other day, unshaven, wearing an orange jumpsuit and leg irons.

. -- When the first thief drove off with nearly a ton of rock salt last month, pilfered from a road de-icing firm's supply stored behind a strip mall, local police officers in this affluent Chicago northwestern suburb were flabbergasted. "It was so strange," said Buffalo Grove Police Commander Steve Husak. "Salt?" Then, as winter storms continued to bombard the Midwest with snow and sleet, there were reports of a second salt heist.

Math: An article in Sunday's Section A on the Singapore math curriculum said one of its advocates, Yoram Sagher, is a math professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Sagher works for Florida Atlantic University; he was formerly affiliated with the University of Illinois at Chicago.