The meeting of party officials Thursday morning was a precursor to the annual Republican Day festivities at the Illinois State Fair, an event where the party showcases its major candidates for the next round of elections and tries to generate enthusiasm among its core base of voters.

Illinois Republicans held their annual events around the Illinois State Fair on Thursday, with former Illinois GOP Chair Don Tracy launching a U.S. Senate campaign and Ted Dabrowski announcing he will launch a campaign for governor in the coming weeks.

Judge Scott Larson said Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton “failed to present a legal basis” for the Illinois court to consider civil arrest warrants filed in a different state.

Today, the program provides benefits to almost 69 million Americans monthly. It’s a major source of income for people over 65 and is popular across the country and political lines. It also looks more threatened than ever.

Springfield attorney and former chair of the Illinois Republican Party Don Tracy announced Wednesday he is running for U.S. Senate — adding to a field of candidates making a bid for outgoing Sen. Dick Durbin’s seat.

Democrats across the country are searching for a winning message in the 2026 elections, but Illinois Democrats say they’re already found one.

The bill is designed to make sure that Chicago police officers and firefighters earn pension benefits at the same level as downstate first responders.

U.S. Census data shows more than half of home care workers in the Chicago metro area are not U.S. citizens.

Former Sangamon County sheriff’s deputy Sean Grayson faces first-degree murder and other charges in Sonya Massey’s killing.

President Donald Trump has taken control of D.C.’s law enforcement and ordered National Guard troops to deploy onto the streets of the nation’s capital, arguing the extraordinary moves are necessary to curb an urgent public safety crisis.

Chicago taxpayers have already paid $1.46 million to defend the lawsuit that accuses the CPD of making more than 1.5 million traffic stops between 2016 and 2023 based on dubious evidence of minor violations that took direct aim at Black and Latino Chicagoans but spared White Chicagoans, according to records obtained by WTTW News.

CPS officials are faced with closing a whopping $734 million deficit by the end of the month. There is little wiggle room to cut costs or bring in revenue.

After touting Chicago's significant and sustained drop in crime, Mayor Brandon Johnson accused the president of “spreading misinformation.”

U.S. District Judge William Orrick agreed to allow Chicago and 33 other cities and counties, including Los Angeles, Denver, Boston and Baltimore, to join the lawsuit that claimed the Trump administration was unlawfully trying to force local officials to help federal immigration agents conduct deportation efforts.

Of 439 positions in the Chicago Police Department charged with implementing the consent decree, 207 positions, or 47%, were empty seven months into 2025, according to a Freedom of Information Act request filed by WTTW News. CPD officials failed to account for another 226 positions.

The Texas representatives, who are entering their second week of their quorum break, stood with U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin in Chicago Monday, days after a pair of bomb threats were called in to their St. Charles hotel.