Chicagoans struggling to make ends meet because of the COVID-19 pandemic can apply for grants to cover 15 months of missed rental payments starting Monday, officials said.

Full-capacity block parties will return to the city’s streets starting July 5 as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to wane — but bounce houses will not be allowed, officials announced Thursday. Applications for the street gatherings will be accepted starting June 6.

The Treasury Department said Monday that 39 million families are set to receive monthly child payments beginning on July 15.

President Joe Biden’s efforts to persuade Benjamin Netanyahu to halt military strikes against Hamas in Gaza are plunging the two leaders into a difficult early test of the U.S.-Israeli relationship.

The measure would give the Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection the authority to license tow trucks in Chicago in an effort to crack down on the kind of operators immortalized in song by Steve Goodman as “Lincoln Park Pirates.”

Independent journalist Jamie Kalven called the revised plan for the database “nothing more an exercise in smoke and mirrors.” The city's watchdog hammered the plan as “significantly smaller step, in scope and scale” than the one presented to aldermen in April.

Top Republicans in Congress are working to stop the formation of an independent commission into the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, aligning themselves with former President Donald Trump ahead of a Wednesday House vote on the proposal.

President Joe Biden and progressive Democrats have proposed to lower Medicare’s eligibility age to 60, to help older adults get affordable coverage. But a new study finds that Medicare can be more expensive than other options, particularly for many people of modest means.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker signaled Monday that he’ll lift the statewide ban on evictions in August, prompting widespread concern that the move will lead to a sudden burst of evictions.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced Monday that the state’s ban on evictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic will be phased out during the next three months before expiring in August.

Aldermen and Mayor Lori Lightfoot have agreed to create a database of police misconduct files dating back to 2000, an effort championed by Inspector General Joseph Ferguson as a way to start restoring Chicagoans’ trust in officers, Ald. Scott Waguespack has told WTTW News.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Monday the city’s travel order could lift for all states and territories “soon” as the COVID-19 pandemic wanes. Michigan and Minnesota are the only Midwestern states now covered by the order.

Chicago officials lifted the city’s mask mandate for fully vaccinated residents on Tuesday, but the city’s top doctor said she “strongly advises” businesses to require their employees and patrons to wear face coverings until the city fully reopens.

The massive four-day music festival that Mayor Lori Lightfoot says is “synonymous with summer” will return this year after being canceled in 2020 because of the pandemic. The lineup will be announced at 10 a.m. Wednesday.

Typically, a substantive piece of legislation like the creation of an elected board to oversee the police department would be unlikely to pass without the support of the mayor — but the City Council may be poised to buck Mayor Lori Lightfoot.

President Joe Biden expressed support for a cease-fire between Israel and Gaza’s militant Hamas rulers in a call to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday, the eighth day of air strikes and rocket barrages that have killed at least 200 people, most of them Palestinians in Gaza.