A letter led by Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts to six of Trump’s cabinet secretaries asks administration officials to explain why they are cutting programs to help Americans pay for high energy costs, while passing a tax cut bill that eliminated incentives for cheaper forms of energy like wind and solar.

Senate Democrats are using an arcane procedural tool to try to force the Department of Justice to release additional files from the Jeffrey Epstein case — the latest gambit to keep the issue front-and-center as lawmakers prepare for their month-long August recess.

Ald. Walter Burnett’s resignation from the City Council will be official on Thursday, according to a letter he sent to Mayor Brandon Johnson on July 17.

“It’s on the table,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said Tuesday at a City Hall news conference. “Everything has to be on the table. Everything has to be on the table.”

Gov. JB Pritzker on Monday signed the two bills into law, which he said will continue Illinois’ efforts to be among the most aggressive states in combating gun violence.

The finger-pointing with more than two months to go in the fiscal year indicates the threat of a stoppage is more serious than usual as a Republican-controlled Congress seeks to make good on its policy priorities, often with no support from the other political party.

The “worst-case scenario of famine is currently playing out in the Gaza Strip,” the leading international authority on food crises said in a new alert Tuesday, predicting “widespread death” without immediate action.

Environmental advocates, elected leaders and workers at the Environmental Protection Agency gathered at Federal Plaza downtown Monday to push back against the president’s reported plans to repeal a key federal determination that allows the EPA to help combat climate change.

Community leaders on Monday demanded that Immigration and Customs Enforcement refrain from targeting neighborhood celebrations in Chicago.

President Donald Trump’s administration had withheld more than $6 billion in funding on July 1, as part of a review to ensure spending aligned with the White House’s priorities.

Forcing Chicago and Illinois law enforcement officials to help federal agents conduct deportation operations is unconstitutional, U.S. District Judge Lindsay Jenkins ruled.

The plan says to combat “radical climate dogma,” a number of restrictions — including clean air and water laws — could be lifted, aligning with Trump’s “American energy dominance” agenda and his efforts to undercut clean energy.

Critics have condemned the South Florida facility as cruel and inhumane. DeSantis and other Republican officials have defended it as part of the state’s aggressive push to support President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration.

“I will not be proposing a property tax increase in my budget,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said Thursday. “I’m going to continue to work hard to find progressive revenue so that we can continue to make critical investments in transforming our city.”

None of the alderpeople at the sparsely attended committee hearing pressed CPD officials about why the department had fully complied with just 16% of the court order known as the consent decree by the end of 2024, five years after it took effect.

The new database launched after WTTW News reported the city spent $510.9 million on employee overtime in 2024 — 1.5% less than in 2023, with more than half of the total amount used to compensate Chicago Police Department officers for working extra hours.