The U.S. is sending 1,000 more troops to the Middle East as tensions in the Persian Gulf mounted over Iran’s announcement it will not comply with the international agreement that keeps it from making nuclear weapons. 

The Supreme Court decided Monday against a high-stakes, election-year case about the competing rights of gay and lesbian couples and merchants who refuse to provide services for same-sex weddings.

Illinois Supreme Court Justice Anne Burke received blowback from faith and community leaders on Chicago’s West Side for appointing a white woman to fill a vacancy formerly held by a black woman.

The National Security Council is an integral part of U.S. foreign policy, despite the fact that most Americans know little about what it actually does. In a new book, author John Gans traces the council’s “unprecedented evolution.”

Regional leaders are scheduled to meet in Chicago next month to discuss a plan devised by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for preventing invasive Asian carp from reaching Lake Michigan. 

A federal judge OKs construction of the Obama Presidential Center in Jackson Park. Mayor Lori Lightfoot stares down the police union. A stunning admission in the trial of Brendt Chrisetensen. And: the scooters are coming.

It’s a program that costs the city more than $100 million a year, and Mayor Lori Lightfoot says that under Ald. Ed Burke, it was “ripe for corruption.”

Next week, a holiday commemorates the abolition of slavery in Confederate states. We discuss Juneteenth and African American history in general.

President Donald Trump announced the news on Twitter. He says Sarah Sanders will be returning to her home state of Arkansas and has not immediately named a successor.

The U.S. Office of Special Counsel says Kellyanne Conway has become a “repeat offender” of the Hatch Act by disparaging Democratic presidential candidates while speaking in her official capacity during television interviews and on social media.

“In a time when too many states across the nation are taking a step backward, Illinois is taking a giant step forward for women’s health. In this state, we trust women,” said Gov. J.B. Pritzker at a bill signing ceremony Wednesday in Chicago. 

The just-completed spring legislative session produced a slew of initiatives championed by Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s administration. What Illinoisans can expect from those initiatives, the new state budget and more.

Did the Chicago police union instruct cops not to police during the violent Memorial Day weekend? Mayor Lori Lightfoot clarifies a rumor she says she heard in this wide-ranging, one-on-one interview.

Ald. Ed Burke gets his day in court. Gov. J.B. Pritzker gets his budget priorities passed. Chicago grapples with a spike in violence. And the Cubs get some much-needed pitching help.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot wants to set some restrictions on outside employment for aldermen. We analyze the latest batch of financial disclosure forms to find out who could be impacted.

In light of the charges against Ald. Ed Burke, what can Mayor Lori Lightfoot and aldermen do to clean up City Hall?