Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker called himself the state’s chief marketing officer during a trip to Switzerland for the World Economic Forum. He couldn’t name any specific projects that have been secured after his Swiss schmoozing but said Illinois’ commitment to 100% clean energy by 2050 is an “important calling card here.”

The Treasury Department said in a letter to congressional leaders it has started taking “extraordinary measures” as the government has run up against its legal borrowing capacity of $31.381 trillion. An artificially imposed cap, the debt ceiling has been increased roughly 80 times since the 1960s.

Puppets, a winter market, Disney on Ice and special menus usher in the weekend. Here are 10 things to do in and around Chicago.

Why ComEd wants to raise your utility bills. City action on transgender and abortion issues. The debt ceiling staredown approaches a potential economic cliff. And why artificial intelligence is shaking up the education system.

Utilities companies like ComEd and Peoples Gas make money by delivering energy. The rates they’re seeking to hike are for distribution, including infrastructure like pipes and transmission lines, and the profit they can tack on to those costs.

The Illinois State Rifle Association and other pro-2nd Amendment groups on Wednesday filed a federal lawsuit claiming the ban “infringes on the rights of law-abiding citizens” to possess such firearms and extended magazines “for the defense of self and family and other lawful purposes.”

Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed into law a bill that provides more protection for patients coming to Illinois to seek gender-affirming health care. The move comes as several states attempt to restrict gender-affirming care for transgender people.

Some school districts have banned the chatbot, which can answer questions, generate essays and even write scientific papers from a short prompt.

On the brink of hitting the nation’s legal borrowing limit on Thursday, the government is resorting to “extraordinary measures” to avoid a default. Sounds ominous, right? But — take a breath — the phrase technically refers to a bunch of accounting workarounds.

Lori Lightfoot’s bid for reelection has been weighed down by a growing amount of evidence that she has governed at times more like an old-school machine politician than a reformer.

The board will help ensure the growth, maintenance and health of Chicago’s tree canopy for generations to come, officials said. The group’s first meeting could come as early as February.

The Chicago City Council could vote on what the mayor’s office called a “small scale” pilot program as soon as Feb. 1 — less than a month before Election Day.

CNN has learned that the president’s first slate of judicial nominees this year includes Jeffrey Cummings and LaShonda Hunt for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

CPS on Wednesday published its proposed calendar for the 2023-24 school year, which would see classes resume Aug. 21, 2023, and run until June 6, 2024. Parents and families now have a week to tell the district what they think before the Board of Education approves the new calendar next month.

The Chicago Commission on Human Relations now has the authority to investigate complaints of housing discrimination or retaliation. The commission will work with the city’s Office of Labor Standards to probe complaints of workplace discrimination or retaliation, according to the new law.