Stories by Nick Blumberg

U.S. House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi (D-California) has been hailed as a party legend at Democratic National Convention guests all week — but even her star power was outshone at a meeting of the Women’s Caucus on Thursday morning when actor and singer Sheryl Lee Ralph took the stage.

Labor leaders tried to draw a sharp contrast Wednesday between Democrats and Republicans at the Illinois delegation’s breakfast on the third day of the Democratic National Convention — saying the GOP and Donald Trump aren’t on the side of working people.

Chicago police officers made 13 arrests Tuesday, the majority of which were related to the fence breach. That incident coincided with the Coalition to March on the DNC, an approved demonstration that saw an extensive police presence along the route. 

Thousands of protesters stretching for several blocks took to the streets on Monday, saying Democrats have no cause to celebrate when tens of thousands of Palestinians are being killed during Israel’s war in Gaza.

Illinois Democrats are putting their money where their mouths are this election cycle — but a change at the top of the ticket and federal campaign finance reporting deadlines mean we won’t have the full picture of the cash influx until later this year.

Applause broke out Wednesday at the Chicago Transit Authority’s board meeting after directors approved a $2.93 billion contract for the design and construction of the Red Line Extension to 130th Street.

City and state transportation officials showed off their recommended plan to overhaul North DuSable Lake Shore Drive on Thursday, touting its expected benefits for all modes of travel. But the “Redefine the Drive” project got a chilly reception from some transportation advocates and lawmakers.

The Century and Consumers Buildings – which date to 1916 and 1913, respectively – have been empty since they were purchased by the government in 2005 through the use of eminent domain.

Carbon capture and sequestration, known as CCS, is a technology that prompts both eager anticipation and environmental anxiety. It’s a technology that’s been eyed by energy producers in Illinois for years, with multiple previous proposals and one that’s expected to resurface soon. And it’s a technology that landowners and environmentalists view with concern at best and fear at worst.

U.S. Rep. Darin LaHood called on Illinois Republicans to get out the vote for congressional candidates hoping to increase the state’s GOP representation from the current three seats they currently occupy.

U.S. Rep. Mary Miller (R-Illinois) said excessive regulations are hurting agriculture, blaming the so-called “communist environmental movement, the ‘Green Bad Deal’ that Donald Trump has called out as a sham issue. And I want to tell you as a farmer, we love CO2 – and trees and plants love it too. They have demonized the miracle molecule that causes things to grow.”

“The Republican party isn’t a scary place for Black folks,” said Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin to a gathering under the auspices of the Black Republican Mayor’s Association, an organization he founded and chairs.

The Illinois delegation to the RNC got a message they might not have been expecting at their daily breakfast on Tuesday – early voting and mail-in ballots are your friends.

The Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center in Skokie is taking its mission on the road this summer, bringing the stories of survivors to life at the Republican and Democratic National Conventions through virtual reality headsets.

Illinoisans in Wisconsin for their first Republican National Convention say they’re excited about the week ahead and motivated by their passion to see former President Donald Trump reclaim the White House.

Illinois might be a solidly blue state when it comes to presidential elections, but the Land of Lincoln still has plenty of big-money donors backing conservative candidates and causes. With the Republican National Convention upon us, here’s a look at the Illinoisans who have been spending big so far in this political cycle.

Tuesday marked the first of at least six planned hearings about overhauling Chicago-area public transit agencies, proposed as part of legislation filed in May. That plan also calls for $1.5 billion in additional funding.

Eight months after the measure was approved, Streets and San has yet to write a single ticket, despite receiving reports about dozens of scofflaws from sleepless Chicagoans.

The Chicago Transit Authority board of directors approved a combined daily pass allowing seamless trips across CTA, Metra and Pace. The proposal calls for daily passes ranging from $10-16 depending on how far passengers are traveling.

A one-off assignment to photograph Route 66 turned into a years-long labor of love. Now, his work highlighting a more complicated side of the highway memorialized in that famous tune is being shown at Uptown’s Chicago Center for Photojournalism, 1226 W. Wilson Ave.

Chicago Transit Authority President Dorval Carter took the fight to foes of his leadership – including the 29 alderpeople who signed on to a resolution calling for him to be replaced – at a lengthy City Council hearing on Thursday.

CTA President Dorval Carter said the agency will use the report as “a major foundational point for our overall advocacy of the transit system,” an effort to get Springfield lawmakers to address the fiscal cliff facing transit when billions in federal COVID-19 relief funding runs dry.

After decades of decline, traffic fatalities have been climbing nationwide since 2014. Advocates said reducing speed limits is a relatively easy and high-impact intervention that will protect drivers, passengers, pedestrians and cyclists alike.

Backers of the MMA plan say siloed agencies have long competed for funding, failed to integrate fares for passengers and aren’t delivering the service riders should be able to depend on.

Environmental advocates in the Chicago area and northwest Indiana applauded a tough new slate of Environmental Protection Agency rules for coal-fired power plants — rules that cover local generating stations that are already offline or slated to be phased out.

Failing to tackle a looming $730 million budget hole for CTA, Metra and Pace could have “potentially debilitating” effects on disinvested Chicago area communities that rely on transit – but boosting funding for public transportation without drastic governance reform would be a major failure, a new report says.