Anyone trying to handicap the outcome should remember that Jorge Mario Bergoglio was considered too old to be elected pope in 2013 at age 76, and that Karol Wojtyla wasn’t on any front-runner lists going into the 1978 conclave that elected him Pope John Paul II.

Mayor Brandon Johnson on Monday sounded the alarm about the financial crisis facing the city, warning that Chicago “will have to do more with less” as President Donald Trump threatens to upend its finances and officials confront the results of decades of financial mismanagement.

Cardinal Blase Cupich, the Archbishop of Chicago, has released a statement on the death of Pope Francis.

Pope Francis, history’s first Latin American pontiff who charmed the world with his humble style and concern for the poor but alienated conservatives with critiques of capitalism and climate change, died Monday. He was 88.

Former President Joe Biden returns to the national stage — calling out the Trump administration’s actions on Social Security. And alderpeople are blocking Jan. 6 rioters from working with the city.

Indiana’s Legislature this week gave final approval to a bill that would create the Indiana-Illinois Boundary Adjustment Commission to recommend whether to change the border between the two states. The move comes as residents of some Illinois counties are seeking to separate from the Chicago area.

Departed staffers include people who booked complex international trips to remote Indian pharmaceutical plants, lab scientists who tested food samples for contamination, and communication specialists who alerted the public to urgent safety recalls.

U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson said she is “deeply concerned” that Trump administration officials aren’t complying with her earlier order that maintains the bureau’s existence.

Kat Abughazaleh’s campaign reported just $3,250 in contributions of more than $200 from people who live in the 9th Congressional District, less than 1% of the total amount raised by the campaign, federal records show.

The Illinois House gave its approval to legislation that would give high school athletes a limited right to compete in non-school events or on non-school teams during the same season in which they play for their school.

Many public defender offices in Illinois, especially in rural areas, are in desperate need of resources to provide adequate defense services.

President Donald Trump in January pardoned more than 1,500 people who were convicted of attacking the Capitol as part of an effort to overturn the 2020 election, including a former Chicago police officer.

Speaking at an Economic Club of Chicago luncheon Wednesday, Powell said that despite the instability, the nation’s economy is still in a “solid position,” in particular its labor market. But he acknowledged that while the rate of inflation is slowing, the sharp price increases consumers have faced over the last several years are still hitting Americans in their pocketbooks.

Some of the nation’s largest law firms have recently been faced with a stark choice — cooperate with the Trump administration or face punitive executive orders.

The 82-year-old Democrat has largely avoided speaking publicly since leaving the White House in January, which is typically the tradition for immediate past presidents.

Mayor Brandon Johnson said Tuesday that President Donald Trump’s efforts to strip federal funding from cities like Chicago with laws on the books designed to protect undocumented immigrants amount to “terrorism” and vowed again to fight the federal government.