Hundreds of civilians had been taking shelter in the grand, columned theater in central Mariupol after their homes were destroyed in three weeks of fighting in the southern port city.

“I don’t agree with the argument that because public corruption is ongoing and persistent, apparently that I should just throw up my hands and not sentence you to a term of imprisonment because it won’t do any good,” Judge John F. Kness said.

WNBA star Brittney Griner was detained at a Moscow airport, reportedly in mid-February, after Russian authorities said a search of her luggage revealed vape cartridges allegedly containing oil derived from cannabis, which could carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.

The $1 trillion federal infrastructure package includes spending on construction projects and puts the U.S. on the path toward transitioning to electric-powered and hybrid vehicles. It also contains a variety of safety provisions, including impaired driver monitors.

An amendment to the Equal Pay Act means new requirements are coming for some Illinois businesses.

Wednesday’s meeting will be the second time in six months that alderpeople have called an emergency meeting of the City Council to publicly push back against Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot — and the three-person committee advising her — will have to work fast to narrow down the applicant pool and nominate a replacement for the disgraced grandson and nephew of Chicago Mayors Richard J. Daley and Richard M. Daley who was convicted Feb. 14 on seven counts of lying to federal bank regulators and filing false tax returns.

For decades, plaintiff Ann Brash commuted into the city each day for work. Blind since birth, she’s experienced at getting around using a cane. But Chicago’s noisy downtown poses a challenge, and in 2017 she had a near miss.

Dmitry Zakhvatov, a lawyer who had formerly been representing Marina Ovsyannikova, told CNN that the administrative charge was based solely on a video statement that she recorded prior to appearing with an anti-war poster on Channel One.

Thirty-three alderpeople currently support the ward map backed by the Black Caucus — eight short of the votes needed to avert a referendum in June. 

The 2020 Census undercounted Latino, Black and Indigenous people. That’s according to a survey by the U.S. Census Bureau itself.

Russia and Ukraine kept a fragile diplomatic path open with a new round of talks on Monday even as Moscow’s forces pounded away at Kyiv and other cities across the country in a punishing assault that the Red Cross said has created “nothing short of a nightmare” for the civilian population.

It is the second time in six months that alderpeople have called an emergency meeting of the City Council to publicly push back against Lightfoot’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The alderpeople demanded the session one day after the deadline for Chicago Police Department members to get at least the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Designed to ease congestion on the Kennedy Expressway around O’Hare Airport, the new tollway will connect Interstate 90 and Interstate 294.

A final vote on the measure, which advanced unanimously Monday, is set for March 23.

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan is planning trips to Iowa and New Hampshire. Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., is considering a rough timeline for a potential presidential announcement. And allies of Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., are openly talking up her White House prospects.