Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Monday declined to demand that indicted Ald. Carrie Austin (34th Ward) step down as chair of the City Council’s Contracting Oversight and Equity Committee or resign from the City Council. The committee is poised to convene a subject-matter hearing at 1 p.m. Tuesday.

City workers will “absolutely” have to be vaccinated against COVID-19, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Monday, promising a formal announcement in “days.”

President Joe Biden said Sunday the U.S.-led evacuation of Americans, at-risk Afghans and others from the Kabul airport accelerated this weekend, although it remains vulnerable to threats posed by the Islamic State extremist group.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s picks for key city posts during her first two years in office failed to keep pace with the growing number of Latino Chicagoans, according to an analysis by WTTW News.

Potential Islamic State threats against Americans in Afghanistan are forcing the U.S. military to develop new ways to get evacuees to the airport in Kabul, a senior U.S. official said Saturday.

The Supreme Court is temporarily halting a judge’s order that would have forced the government to reinstate a Trump administration policy forcing thousands to wait in Mexico while seeking asylum in the U.S.

A surge in COVID-19 infections prompts indoor mask mandates. Democrats and Republicans campaign at the Illinois State Fair. Officer Ella French is laid to rest. And a chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan has President Joe Biden on the defensive. 

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia rejected a bid by Alabama and Georgia landlords to block the eviction moratorium reinstated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention earlier this month.

U.S. military helicopters flew into Taliban-held Kabul on Friday to scoop up would-be evacuees, American officials confirmed to The Associated Press, as President Joe Biden pledged firmly to bring all Americans home from Afghanistan — and Afghans who aided the war effort, too.

The order covers all of the employees who work for the office of Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle as well as those covered by Cook County Employment Plan, officials said.

The high-profile diplomatic post for Chicago’s famously profane and brusque mayor is sure to be jeered by the progressive wing of the Democratic Party as well as those who believe his handling of the murder of Laquan McDonald should have disqualified him from public office.

The Taliban takeover of Afghanistan and chaotic withdrawal by U.S. forces are weighing heavily on the minds of veterans who fought in America’s longest war.

Democrats had their day in the limelight at the Illinois State Fair on Wednesday. Next, it was Republicans’ turn to get into campaign mode, with an annual meeting of the Illinois GOP’s top leaders and a rally.

Democrats have their day at the Illinois State Fair. Our politics team weighs in on that story and others — and crunches some City Council committee spending numbers — in this week’s roundtable.

U.S. personnel and Afghan allies are being safely evacuated from Afghanistan. The Senate-passed infrastructure bill heads to the House. And Illinois Democrats prepare to redraw the state’s congressional districts. U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis weighs in on those topics — and a possible run for governor.

It’s an annual tradition that is back after a break last year due to the coronavirus: political rallies at the Illinois State Fair. Typically, the fair is roughly six months away from the primary, but this cycle, the calendar is a bit off due to delayed census results.