The pause affects a long-awaited plan to extend the city’s Red Line train. The money was “put on hold to ensure funding is not flowing via race-based contracting,” budget director Russ Vought wrote on social media.

Illinois and Cook County law enforcement have constructed designated areas for protesters to “safely exercise their rights” outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in suburban Broadview.

The announcement comes just a week and a half before lawmakers are set to return to Springfield for the fall veto session, during which numerous legislators say transit will be a main priority.

Conyears-Ervin, who is running to represent Illinois’ 7th Congressional District, had been fined a total of $70,000 by the Chicago Board of Ethics in two separate probes.

Calls from local residents seeking legal aid have “skyrocketed” in recent months, Chicago immigration advocates said Thursday, as families are increasingly seeking out assistance amid ongoing federal enforcement operations.

These cuts are likely to affect battery plants, hydrogen technology projects, upgrades to the electric grid and carbon-capture efforts, among many others, according to the environmental nonprofit Natural Resources Defense Council.

President Donald Trump has seized on the government shutdown as an opportunity to reshape the federal workforce and punish detractors, meeting with budget director Russ Vought on Thursday to talk through “temporary or permanent” spending cuts.

A budget forecast for 2026 projects a $1.15 billion deficit for the city, driven by the end of one-time federal pandemic aid and continued uncertainty over pension payments for Chicago Public Schools employees.

It’s not yet clear when military troops could be deployed into Illinois, but Gov. JB Pritzker expects President Donald Trump to “keep the militarization going” even after the federal government shut down overnight.

U.S. District Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer said officers who have an alternative service weapon that “meets appropriate standards should be required immediately to use that alternative weapon.”

“Someone who says ‘I’m against abortion but says I am in favor of the death penalty’ is not really pro-life,” Pope Leo XIV said. “Someone who says that ‘I’m against abortion, but I’m in agreement with the inhuman treatment of immigrants in the United States,’ I don’t know if that’s pro-life.”

The Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed Lisa Cook to remain as a Federal Reserve governor for now, declining to act on the Trump administration’s effort to immediately remove her from the central bank.

Mayor Katrina Thompson on Tuesday accused Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials of waging a “disinformation campaign” amid their continued use of chemical and less-lethal munitions directed at crowds outside the agency’s Broadview processing center.

The last shutdown was in President Donald Trump’s first term when he demanded that Congress give him money for his U.S.-Mexico border wall. Trump retreated after 35 days — the longest shutdown ever — amid intensifying airport delays and missed paydays for federal workers.

Nearly 400,000 Social Security and SSI recipients receive their benefits through paper checks.

Chicago taxpayers paid $295 million between 2019 and 2024 to resolve lawsuits naming officers whose alleged misconduct led more than once to payouts, according to an analysis of city data by WTTW News. In all, the city spent $491.7 million to resolve lawsuits alleging 1,643 Chicago police officers committed a wide range of misconduct.