In a reversal from previous years’ pollution reductions, the United States spewed 2.4% more heat-trapping gases from the burning of fossil fuels in 2025 than in the year before, researchers calculated in a study released Tuesday.

Illinois lawmakers responded to President Donald Trump’s crackdown on immigrant communities with new legal protections for students and guidelines for schools that will take effect Jan. 1. Lawmakers also focused on the use of AI in education.

The report found that Instacart uses AI to gauge how “price sensitive” customers are, meaning how much grocery stores can charge for an item before the shopper decides to not purchase it. That’s different from dynamic pricing, where prices instantly change depending on supply and demand.

The order calls on Attorney General Pam Bondi to establish an AI Litigation Task Force within 30 days to review state AI laws and sue those with regulations that undermine a national policy framework to promote “global AI dominance” for the United States.

U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis wrote the footnote in a 223-page opinion issued last week, noting that the practice of using ChatGPT to write use-of-force reports undermines agents’ credibility and “may explain the inaccuracy of these reports.”

While the study has its fair share of critics, it has raised alarms when it comes to the business benefits around a multi-billion-dollar advancement in the tech industry. 

Employees at Fermilab in Batavia and Argonne in Lemont were recently offered voluntary separation packages. The move comes as the Department of Energy recommends funding for the local national labs be reduced by almost $240 million for the next fiscal year, and focuses on new research priorities.

A study of how three popular AI chatbots respond to queries about suicide found they generally avoid answering questions that pose the highest risk to the user, such as for specific how-to guidance. But they are inconsistent in their replies to less extreme prompts that could still harm people.

The plan says to combat “radical climate dogma,” a number of restrictions — including clean air and water laws — could be lifted, aligning with Trump’s “American energy dominance” agenda and his efforts to undercut clean energy.

In his first formal meeting with cardinals, which began with a standing ovation, the new pontiff said he chose his papal name to continue down the path of Pope Leo XIII, who addressed “the social question in the context of the first great industrial revolution.”

U.S. immigration officials are asking the public and federal agencies to comment on a proposal to collect social media handles from people applying for benefits such as green cards or citizenship.

The vast majority of the ideas won’t make it to the desk of Gov. J.B. Pritzker or become law, but the list of proposals offers some insights into the issues members of the lower chamber are concerned about as they kick off their new terms in office.

Artificial intelligence holds the promise of helping countless other students with a range of visual, speech, language and hearing impairments to execute tasks that come easily to others. Schools everywhere have been wrestling with how and where to incorporate AI, but many are fast-tracking applications for students with disabilities.

A bill banning what unions refer to as employer-sponsored “captive audience” meetings about religion and politics has cleared the General Assembly. It was one of 466 measures to do so during the Illinois legislature’s spring session, including a bill allowing for digital driver’s licenses.

A group of eight U.S. newspapers is suing ChatGPT-maker OpenAI and Microsoft, alleging that the technology companies have been “purloining millions” of copyrighted news articles without permission or payment to train their artificial intelligence chatbots.

The Times says that the companies are threatening its livelihood by effectively stealing billions of dollars worth of work by its journalists, in some cases spitting out Times’ material verbatim to people who seek answers from generative artificial intelligence like OpenAI’s ChatGPT.