Voting legislation that’s a top priority for Democrats and civil rights leaders seemed headed for defeat as the Senate opened Tuesday, a devastating setback as two holdout Democratic senators refuse to support rule changes to overcome a Republican filibuster.

Incarcerated people in Illinois prisons are having difficulty getting access to basic necessities, like hygiene items or detergent. The Illinois Department of Corrections says this is due to a supply chain issue, but advocates point to disputes between IDOC and vendors.

It’ll be easier to access birth control in Illinois, courtesy of a new law that allows pharmacists to dispense hormonal contraception without a doctor’s prescription.

In a sentencing memorandum filed Tuesday, defense attorney Richard Kling claimed that supervised release would be a “sentence sufficient, but not greater than necessary” penalty for the former Chicago alderperson.

Each business was issued two citations, which will trigger a hearing before fines ranging between $100 and $10,000 can be imposed.

It’s been nearly a year since candidates began announcing their intent to run for Illinois governor, but Monday brought a new entrant to shake up the race. Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin declared he’s running as a Republican in an online video. 

“It’s time for every elected official in America to make it clear where they stand," President Joe Biden said. “It’s time for every American to stand up. Speak out, be heard. Where do you stand?”

The indictment last week of the leader of the Oath Keepers and 10 other members or associates was stunning in part because federal prosecutors, after a year of investigating the insurrection of Jan. 6, 2021, charged them with seditious conspiracy, a rarely-used Civil War-era statute reserved for only the most serious of political criminals.

A battle over voting rights legislation in Washington D.C. President Joe Biden and Democratic lawmakers are pushing for two bills that would set national standards for federal elections.

The nation marks Martin Luther King Jr. Day Monday. Dr. King led the Chicago freedom movement to fight for open and affordable housing. United Way of Metro Chicago will hold a Zoom webinar where local Tik-Tok star and urban historian Shermann “Dilla” Thomas will share some facts about the movement.

Chicago Public Schools students are back to in-person learning but tensions still surround the CTU. A new entrant is set to join the Republican candidates in the governor’s race. Mayor Lightfoot gets COVID-19. And the Bears search for a new general manager and head coach.

The unreleased report attempts to tell the “full story — thoroughly documented and sourced — of how the city’s government worked to prevent a victim of what was plainly either official misconduct or error from obtaining video proof of the raid on her home, thereby frustrating her efforts to secure redress for the injuries inflicted on her, however unintentionally, by government actors.”

The first report from interim Inspector General William Marback disclosed that Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration declined to fire an employee of the Chicago Department of Public Health or punish two other employees of the Department of Buildings responsible for approving and overseeing the implosion of the smokestack.

Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, objected to extending the credit out of concern that the money would discourage people from working and that any additional federal spending would fuel inflation that has already climbed to a nearly 40-year high.

Surging COVID-19 cases fueled by the omicron variant will not delay the trial of Ald. Patrick Daley Thompson (11th Ward) on seven charges that he lied to federal bank regulators and filed false tax returns, a judge ruled Friday.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot will renew her push for a new city law designed to fight crime by suing gang leaders in civil court on Friday, prompting opponents of the revised proposal to form a coalition determined to convince the City Council to reject the measure they say would target Black and Latino Chicagoans and do nothing to stop violent crime.