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It looked like some Chicagoans would soon have more places to get groceries: A Wal-Mart Express opened in Lakeview in late November and the city approved a Mariano’s Fresh Market in Greektown at Halsted and Monroe Streets; the chain could also open another spot in Ravenswood.

CME Group and suburban-based Sears are one step closer to getting the state tax breaks meant to persuade them to stay headquartered in Illinois.On Monday the Illinois House approved a new tax relief package after it resoundingly rejected a similar measure last month.

This weekend, Russians hit the streets by the tens of thousands to protest alleged vote rigging in the country's parliamentary elections. Taking place in 60 cities, the protests were the largest anti-government activism that post-Soviet Russia has ever seen.

The U.S.

Professional sports has another kind of paywall--salary caps. They limit how much teams can spend on player salaries and can make it difficult for sports teams to change things up or keep them the same. So when players become free agents and head onto the sports market, things can get a bit nutty.

The Chicago Sun-Times has made its online content a little less accessible; the newspaper put its paywall into place last week and now all visitors will be limited to 20 page views per month. Non-subscribers will have to shell out $6.99 a month.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Sunday that he has ordered a probe into the allegations of electoral fraud during the Dec.