Chicago has not always had the most cordial relationship with democracy over decades of machine-style politics. A new book from longtime Chicago political observer Dick Simpson aims to diagnose what’s wrong and offer prescriptions to fix it.

A rule finalized Tuesday will restore key provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act, a bedrock environmental law designed to ensure community safeguards during environmental reviews for a wide range of federal projects and decisions, the White House said.

The Republican National Committee has unanimously voted to withdraw from the Commission on Presidential Debates, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that has officially been sponsoring and producing general election presidential debates since 1987. 

A federal judge in Florida struck down the national mask mandate covering airlines and other public transportation Monday, and the Biden administration said the rule would not be enforced while federal agencies decide how to respond to the judge’s order.

Taking less then three hours, a federal jury also found Dustin Byron Thompson, 38, guilty of five other offenses including stealing a coat rack from an office inside the Capitol during the riot on Jan. 6 of last year. The maximum sentence for the obstruction count, the lone felony, is 20 years imprisonment.

The gap extends from a little after 11 a.m. to about 7 p.m. on Jan. 6, 2021, and involves White House calls, according to the person, who was not authorized to speak publicly about the ongoing investigation and spoke to The Associated Press on Tuesday on the condition of anonymity. It’s unclear if that gap includes White House cellphones.

A final vote on the measure, which advanced unanimously Monday, is set for March 23.

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan is planning trips to Iowa and New Hampshire. Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., is considering a rough timeline for a potential presidential announcement. And allies of Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., are openly talking up her White House prospects.

Even though the 2020 census missed an unexpectedly small percentage of the total U.S. population given the unprecedented challenges it faced, the increase in undercounts among some minority groups prompted an outcry from civil rights leaders who blamed political interference by the Trump administration.

The indictment is a further proof of how far the Justice Department is going to prosecute the leaders of extremist groups whose members are suspected to have planned and attacked the U.S. Capitol, even if they weren’t in attendance themselves. 

The first trial for one of the hundreds of Capitol riot prosecutions begins this week, with jury selection starting Monday in the case against Guy Wesley Reffitt. The trial may be a bellwether for many other Capitol riot cases.

President Joe Biden is ordering the release of Trump White House visitor logs to the House committee investigating the riot of Jan. 6, 2021, once more rejecting former President Donald Trump’s claims of executive privilege.

The Republican rift over a symbolic RNC vote to censure Trump’s two GOP House critics has exposed in stark contrast the competing forces fighting to control the party. 

Stephen Calk was sentenced on Monday to a year in prison for his conviction in a scheme to make $16 million in loans to Paul Manafort to gain influence in the Trump administration.

The diatribe left the clear impression that Donald Trump, who rode the politics of white grievance into the White House, thinks he can’t possibly be treated fairly by Black officials. The comments carry the echoes of racist messages that have proliferated in recent years

As Republican officials from across the country gathered in Utah this week for the RNC’s winter meeting, party leaders devoted considerable energy to disciplining Trump’s rivals and embracing his grievances.