Illinois lawmakers are back in Springfield for the spring legislative session. They’re facing some tough realities: a budget gap in the billions, growing pressure to deliver affordability relief, and a widening financial rift with Washington, D.C.

The lawsuit claims the ongoing “assault” on the state’s sovereignty amid the administration’s “Operation Midway Blitz” immigration enforcement violates the Tenth Amendment and the Administrative Procedure Act.

Reporters found the 60-year-old governor did roughly 100 one-on-one media interviews in 2025, his most of any year in his tenure as governor. Of those, 81% were with national media outlets, podcasters, social media influencers or television entertainment hosts — a major uptick from early in his tenure.

The City Council’s Finance Committee on Wednesday is set to consider the proposed settlement, which calls for taxpayers to pay $20 million and the city’s insurance company to pay $2 million. A final vote of the City Council could come Jan. 21.

Video captured by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Jonathan Ross gives a raw, up-close perspective of the pivotal moments surrounding his fatal shooting of Renee Good in Minneapolis.

Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul on Thursday announced the state had joined on to a lawsuit that seeks to halt what plaintiffs claim is the Trump administration’s unconstitutional freeze of funding that allows families to access food, safe housing and child care.

The Trump administration announced Tuesday its decision to withhold billions of federal dollars from five Democrat-led states, including Illinois, intended to provide child care and support for low-income families.

The bill will fund battery storage, grant greater authority to state utility regulators, create new options for “virtual power plants” and lift a longtime ban on new large-scale nuclear power plants.

President Donald Trump’s and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency disbanded less than a year into Trump’s second term and appeared to have caused more chaos than actual savings to the federal government.

Four Illinois sheriff’s offices defied the state’s sanctuary laws and transferred individuals into Department of Homeland Security custody in 2024, according to a new report.

The Trump administration is now seeking to control Venezuela’s oil resources and its government, but the war powers resolution would require congressional approval for any further attacks on the South American country.

The fatal shooting Wednesday of a woman by an immigration officer in Minneapolis was at least the fifth death to result from the aggressive U.S. immigration crackdown the Trump administration launched last year.

Venezuela’s oil industry has been in the spotlight since President Donald Trump used military force to capture the country’s leader, President Nicolas Maduro.

Mayor Brandon Johnson warned again on Wednesday that the Chicago City Council may have to make emergency cuts if revenue baked into the city’s 2026 spending plan fails to materialize.

A final vote on the proposal by the full City Council could come as soon as Jan. 21.

Seemingly contradictory statements from Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio have suggested at once that the U.S. now controls the levers of Venezuelan power or that the U.S. has no intention of assuming day-to-day governance and will allow Maduro’s subordinates to remain in leadership positions for now.