Stories by Jenna Schweikert — Capitol News Illinois

The minimum age for a driving test will be raised from 79 to 87, although drivers 79 and older will still be required to take a vision test, and if they have a driving violation, a written test.

It’s part of a four-year upwards trend that experts say is mostly normal weather variation but could be part of long-term severe weather increases related to climate change.

The Supreme Court sided with the maker of the Roundup weedkiller Thursday in a ruling expected to block thousands of lawsuits alleging it failed to warn people the product could cause cancer.

The justices, in a 6-3 decision, overturned a lower court order blocking the practice that limited the number of people who could apply for asylum each day, first under the Obama administration and then expanded during President Donald Trump’s first term.

The 6-3 decision overturns lower court orders and allows the Department of Homeland Security to swiftly end temporary protected status, a program that protects a total of 1.3 million people from 17 countries.

A federal judge on Thursday halted President Donald Trump’s executive order that sought to create a federal voter list and limit who can receive a mail ballot.

The announcement comes just months after Mayor Brandon Johnon moved to oust Brewer when he served as chair of the Chicago Housing Authority.

The Chicago Financial Future Task Force published a final report Thursday that included 58 policy recommendations, such as instituting a downtown congestion fee, restructuring electricity tax rates and instituting property tax increases based on the national consumer price index.

Every Thursday, WTTW News newsletter producer Josh Terry highlights his picks for the week’s must-see cultural events.

“While Chicago’s creative economy generates extraordinary economic value, many artists and creative workers continue to face economic insecurity,” said Arts Alliance Illinois Executive Director Claire Rice.

Details into new proposals to keep the Bears in Illinois. And meet people behind the scenes at the Obama Presidential Center.

There are a host of locals who acted as the behind-the-scenes cast to prepare the Obama Presidential Center for its opening ceremony.

“(The Bears) haven’t said, ‘OK, we’re done. We don’t want to talk anymore, we don’t want to hear from you, we are moving to Indiana,’” state Rep. Dan Ugaste (R-Geneva) said. “There’s at least one site we know they’re very interested in, in Illinois, and that’s Arlington Heights.”

The bill is designed to protect abortion-seekers in Illinois from potential retaliation by shielding their digital medical records from out-of-state entities.

Tickets will become available to the general public on July 8. Founding members of the Obama Foundation will receive presale access starting one week earlier on July 1.

President Donald Trump ratcheted up tensions with Senate Republicans on Wednesday, abruptly canceling plans to sign a bipartisan measure that could help spur more home construction.

After his team got rained out two days in a row, Chicago Cubs manager Craig Counsell sounded a little miffed about the second one.

Each Wednesday, WTTW News producer Josh Terry presents must-see live music shows from indie rock to jazz, country, hip-hop and more.

The program, launched in 2021, aims to provide payments to Black residents and descendants of Black residents who experienced housing discrimination in the city between 1919 and 1969.

The Trump administration challenges Evanston’s reparations program. And why Cook County is called the wrongful conviction capital of the country.

Illinois makes up about 15% of wrongful conviction cases nationwide, according to Nicole Gonzalez Van Cleve, the author behind “Crime Fictions: How Racist Lies Built a System of Mass Wrongful Conviction.”

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is retreating from a plan to use warehouses to hold up to 10,000 people on a single site.

Members of Chicago’s Puerto Rican community recently took park in a special screening of a new short film based on the life of Pedro Albizu Campos. 

After nearly 100 years on the air, CBS News Radio signed off for the last time on May 22, citing economic challenges. From Chicago to Ottawa and Jacksonville, local radio stations across Illinois are grappling with the shutdown in different ways.

Tuesday marks the first community engagement session as CPS continues working to address its fiscal challenges ahead of an Aug. 29 deadline to pass a balanced budget for the 2027 fiscal year.

Brexit fractured the European Union, and broke British politics. The U.K. is about to get its seventh prime minister since June 23, 2016, when the country voted 52%-48% to leave the EU after more than four decades of membership.