U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin announced Wednesday he will not seek a sixth term in the U.S. Senate, setting off a scramble for a rare open seat that will reshape Illinois politics.

President Donald Trump’s executive order to end birthright citizenship for the children of people who are in the U.S. illegally has been halted nationwide by three district courts around the country. Appeals courts have declined to disturb those rulings.

The task force, formed in February, has met twice, and the next meeting is set for Wednesday, Deputy Mayor Garien Gatewood said.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker has made supporting LGBTQ rights a regular part of his platform as governor, including speaking at dinner events for the HRC and Equality Illinois in recent months. He’s set to speak to the New Hampshire Democratic Party on Sunday – one of the first Democratic presidential primary states.

“The Emanuel administration had immense disdain for public education, particularly for Black, Brown and poor children, and he was vocal about it,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said. “And now he is prancing around this country, asking people to reconsider him. It is not just frustrating. It is beyond offensive.”

The latest turmoil threatens to engulf the Pentagon, where Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has pushed out top advisers and faces fresh controversy over sharing sensitive information about airstrikes in Yemen outside of classified channels.

Pope Francis will be laid to rest Saturday after lying in state for three days in St. Peter’s Basilica, where the faithful are expected to flock to pay their respects to history’s first Latin American pontiff.

In a speech last week, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. claimed kids with autism will “never pay taxes, hold a job,” play sports or participate in the arts.

“We’re certainly going to mourn the loss of a truly wonderful leader, someone who was a great example, who lived their faith in word and action,” Auxiliary Bishop Lawrence Sullivan said. “But it’s also a time to really be grateful for his phenomenal leadership.”

Anyone trying to handicap the outcome should remember that Jorge Mario Bergoglio was considered too old to be elected pope in 2013 at age 76, and that Karol Wojtyla wasn’t on any front-runner lists going into the 1978 conclave that elected him Pope John Paul II.

Mayor Brandon Johnson on Monday sounded the alarm about the financial crisis facing the city, warning that Chicago “will have to do more with less” as President Donald Trump threatens to upend its finances and officials confront the results of decades of financial mismanagement.

Cardinal Blase Cupich, the Archbishop of Chicago, has released a statement on the death of Pope Francis.

Pope Francis, history’s first Latin American pontiff who charmed the world with his humble style and concern for the poor but alienated conservatives with critiques of capitalism and climate change, died Monday. He was 88.

Former President Joe Biden returns to the national stage — calling out the Trump administration’s actions on Social Security. And alderpeople are blocking Jan. 6 rioters from working with the city.

Indiana’s Legislature this week gave final approval to a bill that would create the Indiana-Illinois Boundary Adjustment Commission to recommend whether to change the border between the two states. The move comes as residents of some Illinois counties are seeking to separate from the Chicago area.

Departed staffers include people who booked complex international trips to remote Indian pharmaceutical plants, lab scientists who tested food samples for contamination, and communication specialists who alerted the public to urgent safety recalls.