Beginning with the 2010-11 academic year, Northwestern University students and parents will borrow their federal loans directly from the federal government, instead of through the Federal Family Education Loan Program, which uses multiple private banks and credit unions.

Here's a recap of our live coverage of tonight's Evanston City Council meeting.

Here's a recap of our live coverage of tonight's Evanston City Council Planning and Development Committee meeting..

Here's a recap of our live coverage tonight's meeting of the Evanston City Council's Administration and Public Works Committee.

The committee approved purchase of new, smaller garbage carts and advanced the city budget and trash rate hike proposals to the full City Council for debate.

Evanston police say two men have been charged with weapons violations after allegedly shooting at a car early Saturday morning.

Police Commander Tom Guenther says the incident apparently began at a party in the 1700 block of Dodge Avenue.

A Lincolnwood youth has been charged with aggravated battery in connection with a shooting Friday night in a parking lot behind Evanston Township High School.

Police say the teenage suspect turned himself in at Evanston police headquarters on Saturday and that additional suspects are being sought for questioning.

If the Evanston City Council tonight adopts the budget proposed by the city manager, it will return city staffing to levels of the mid 1970s.

City staffing hit a recent peak of 886 full-time-equivalent employees in 2002, according to the city's Comprehensive Annual Financial Report.

Evanston aldermen are scheduled to vote tonight on a plan to increase trash hauling fees.

The plan would raise the fee for refuse pickup from $6.95 to $10.95 per month for residents who choose to keep using the 95-gallon wheeled refuse cart now standard across the city.

Residents who opted for a new, smaller, 65-gallon cart would continue to pay the current $6.95 rate.

Thanks to state pension rules, Evanston is likely to see more leadership turnover if the City Council tonight adopts its new budget with the planned 5 percent pay cuts for all management-level city workers.

City Manager Wally Bobkiewicz says a number of division-level managers are likely to decide to retire rather than take the pay cuts.

Police report an 18-year-old man has been treated and released from St. Francis Hospital after being grazed by a gunshot fired by an acquaintance outside Evanston Township High School Friday night.

U.S. Senator Dick Durbin visited the Haitian National Congress Volunteer Center in Evanston today, where he was briefed on issues in Haiti by Alderman Lionel Jean-Baptiste, 2nd Ward, a leader in the local Haitian community.

Evanston officials staged a roadshow event for Sen. Dick Durbin and U.S. Rep Jan Schakowsky this morning, taking them on a tour of the west side neighborhood that's targeted for rehab work under a $18 million grant the city recently received from the federal government.

After touring the home of a local resident who says she can't sell the two-family house she and two siblings inherited from their parents because of how the foreclosure crisis has decimated property values on the block, the politicians talked to reporters about what they hope the program will accomplish.

U.S. Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois told Evanston Chamber of Commerce members this morning that the health insurance reform legislation in Washington is stalled because of a dispute between the House and Senate over how to pay for the plan.

U.S. Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois is scheduled to tour Evanston this morning, starting with an appearance at the annual Chamber of Commerce Legislative Breakfast.

He's expected to talk to the chamber about plans to get credit flowing again to small businesses to help create new jobs.