President Biden hopes to resolve lingering disputes over Democrats’ long-stalled effort to craft an expansive social and environment measure. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va. and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., two of their party’s most moderate members, have insisted on reducing the size of the package.

In August, Gov. J. B. Pritzker signed into law, the Illinois Way Forward Act. Among the changes are stronger protections for immigrants and an effective discontinuation of federal detention centers in Illinois by 2022. 

Thousands of Puerto Ricans are taking to the streets to protest massive blackouts. The island’s antiquated power grid has long been unreliable, and it was decimated by Hurricane Maria in 2017. This summer, officials hoped the privatization of the power grid by LUMA Energy would help.

The police union is in a standoff with the mayor over vaccine mandates. Remap proposals are drawing ire from all sides. Rahm Emanuel, at his confirmation hearing, apologizes for Laquan McDonald. And the city celebrates the Sky.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s proposal to spend $16.7 billion in 2022 is on track to be approved next week by the Chicago City Council after she agreed Friday to demands from the Progressive Caucus that the city boost spending on mental health services and affordable housing programs.

The Supreme Court is allowing the Texas law that bans most abortions to remain in place, but has agreed to hear arguments in the case in early November.

The Chicago City Council’s Latino Caucus on Friday unveiled a map that would reduce the number of wards with a majority of Black voters by two to 16 wards and add two wards where a majority of voters are Latino.

Even though Mayor Lori Lightfoot opposed the push led by Ald. Sophia King (4th Ward) and Ald. David Moore (17th Ward) to honor Chicago’s first non-native settler by changing the name of the city’s most well-known roadway, the three gathered Thursday near Buckingham Fountain to celebrate the compromise all three settled on.

The House vote sends the matter to the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington, where it will now be up to prosecutors in that office to decide whether to present the case to a grand jury for possible criminal charges.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s proposal to hike property taxes by $76.5 million cleared a key hurdle Thursday, with the City Council’s Finance Committee advancing the mayor’s $16.7 billion spending plan to the full City Council.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s proposal to spend $16.7 billion in 2022 faces two critical votes in the coming days, as members of the City Council wrangle behind the scenes on how to spend nearly $2 billion in federal aid while closing massive shortfalls caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“A grave tragedy occurred seven years ago. And that tragedy sits with me, as it has, every day and every week for the last seven years,” Rahm Emanuel said during a hearing before the Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday that took place on the seventh anniversary of Laquan McDonald’s murder.

Former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel said Wednesday he did nothing improper but still fell short in his handling of the fatal police shooting of a Black teenager in the city seven years ago.

Despite holding all the power, Democratic state lawmakers are getting pushback from both sides of the aisle for the newly drawn congressional map which shrinks the number Republican House members from five to three.

According to Police Superintendent David Brown, about 67% of officers have provided their vaccination status to the city, and of those 82% are vaccinated. But 21 officers have refused to share their vaccination status with the city.

The final report from former Inspector General Joseph Ferguson did not detail why he concluded that the three employees should be disciplined, or whether city leaders would follow his recommendations.