Jesse Jackson Jr. served in Congress for 17 years until he resigned in 2012 amid a criminal investigation. He was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to conspiring to defraud his reelection campaign of $750,000 over a span of 10 years. Now, he's drawing attention to President Joe Biden’s recent pardon of his son.

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker frustrated several of his counterparts by trying to get them to sign on to a group he started postelection to push back on Trump, but only Colorado Gov. Jared Polis signed on as a co-chair. Pritzker has his staff exploring ideas such as blocking GPS tracking on apps for women who may be traveling to the state to get abortions. 

Birthright citizenship means anyone born in the United States automatically becomes an American citizen. It’s been in place for decades and applies to children born to someone in the country illegally or in the U.S. on a tourist or student visa who plans to return to their home country.

A federal judge in Texas rejected the auction sale of Alex Jones’ Infowars to The Onion satirical news outlet, criticizing the bidding for the conspiracy theory platform as flawed as well as how much money families of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary shooting stood to receive.

The four-year driver's license for noncitizens features a standard red banner and replaces “Not Valid For Identification” with “Federal Limits Apply.” Noncitizens who are unable or choose not to drive also have the option to obtain a standardized ID.

Two key Chicago City Council committees voted Tuesday to send Johnson’s $17.3 billion spending plan for 2025 to the full City Council for a final vote. The two-step process is set to start Wednesday, with a final vote scheduled for Friday.

The Illinois Flag Commission chose the 10 finalists from nearly 5,000 submissions in a contest that closed in October. The fate of Illinois’ official banner will ultimately be up to lawmakers and the governor.

A judge has rejected a request from defense attorneys in the corruption trial of ex-Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan after they claimed federal prosecutors could not prove their case in one of the alleged bribery conspiracy schemes after opting not to call a key witness to testify.

“The level of compliance is unsatisfying to the public,” U.S. District Court Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer said. “I am determined that we will be seeing good progress ... in 2025. Let’s accelerate the progress.”

“A budget that would lay off workers and cut services is just, you know, one that should not be tolerated by any Chicagoan,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said.

The Illinois Senate last spring passed a proposal to require the Illinois Law Enforcement Training Standards Board to develop or approve a hate crimes training program, which would become part of police officers’ introductory and continuing mandatory education. The measure did not advance.

After an unrelated news conference, Mayor Brandon Johnson declined to say whether he still had confidence in Jason Lee, but praised his track record of helping progressive politicians get elected.

The CTA’s Red Line Extension project will create four new stops on the Far South Side. Residents in nearby communities harbor both concerns about how the project will play out and hope about how it could improve their communities.  

The Merriam-Webster entry for “polarization” reflects scientific and metaphorical definitions. It’s most commonly used to mean “causing strong disagreement between opposing factions or groupings.” Merriam-Webster, which logs 100 million pageviews a month on its site, chooses its word of the year based on data, tracking a rise in search and usage.

Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability President Anthony Driver, Jr., said he had no doubt that he was stopped because he is a 6-foot-3-inch Black man who weighs more than 200 pounds and wears his hair in dreadlocks.

What’s in a new city budget proposal. Chicago Public Schools’ CEO rejects a buyout. And a pivotal week in the Michael Madigan trial.