The U.S. Agency for International Development has lost almost all ability to track $8.2 billion in unspent humanitarian aid following the Trump administration’s foreign funding freeze and idling of staffers, a government watchdog warned Monday.

Lurie Children’s Hospital will continue to provide hormone therapy and puberty blockers, a hospital spokesperson confirmed, and specifically noted that mental health care will also continue as part of the hospital’s gender care program.

Former Gov. Rod Blagojevich was convicted on charges that included seeking to sell an appointment to then-President Barack Obama’s old Senate seat and trying to shake down a children’s hospital.

President Donald Trump says he has ordered the U.S. Mint to stop making pennies, which he correctly says cost more than one cent to produce.

Karina Gonzalez and her 15-year-old daughter Daniela were shot and killed on Fourth of July weekend in 2023 at their Chicago home, allegedly by her husband. After more than a year of negotiations, Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed a bill in her honor that is designed to remove guns from domestic violence situations.

President Donald Trump will need the Supreme Court, with three justices he appointed, to enable the most aggressive of the many actions he has taken in just the first few weeks of his second White House term. But even a conservative majority with a robust view of presidential power might balk at some of what the president wants to do.

Finance Committee Chair Ald. Pat Dowell (3rd Ward) failed to hold a vote on the agreement as scheduled Monday, an indication that the deal does not have enough support to advance to the full City Council.

During the past six years taxpayers have spent at least $472.4 million to resolve police misconduct lawsuits, setting a new record, according to a WTTW News analysis.

The U.S. Department of Justice strikes at Illinois’ immigration laws. And a debate over a controversial piece of art at the Chicago Cultural Center leads to an alderperson’s ejection.

State Department officials and others were appealing to the Trump administration to allow more USAID workers to remain on the job at least temporarily, including to manage the return home of thousands of USAID direct hires, contractors and their families abroad.

Elon Musk’s DOGE team already has gained access to a database housing personal information on millions of students and parents with federal student loans, according to two people with knowledge of the issue.

With hundreds of billions of dollars in transportation money still unspent from the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law, such changes could be a boon for projects in Republican-majority states, which on average have higher fertility rates than those leaning Democratic.

Undocumented immigrants account for 16% of America’s food supply chain, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that 42% of farm workers are lacking legal immigration status.

Fears are heightening over the potential of a new trade war and its possible impact across the country. President Donald Trump has agreed to a temporary pause on the 25% tariffs he is proposing on goods from Mexico and Canada — the country’s two largest trading partners.

The lawsuit is the latest indication that the Trump administration, which is attempting to strip self-proclaimed sanctuary cities of all federal funding, will target Chicago directly.

Supporters of gender-affirming care called on the University of Illinois health care system to be clearer and more transparent about its commitment to providing gender-affirming care in light of President Donald Trump’s executive order seeking to end such care for minors.