The Trump administration must temporarily unfreeze about $2 billion in federal funds for Chicago Transit Authority projects, a federal judge ruled Tuesday.

On Friday, the CTA filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Federal Transit Administration seeking an immediate restoration of the funds for the two projects.

The department recently sent letters to local governments in at least six states — Alabama, California, Connecticut, Illinois, Massachusetts and New Mexico — informing them it was withdrawing money awarded under the $1.1 trillion infrastructure law former President Joe Biden signed in 2021.

President Donald Trump’s so-called “big beautiful bill” pledges to fill those gaps, setting aside $12.5 billion to modernize the air traffic control system.

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.

The Transportation Department said its investigation found that Southwest operated two chronically delayed flights — one between Chicago Midway International Airport and Oakland, California, and another between Baltimore, Maryland, and Cleveland, Ohio.

With transit advocates hopeful they’ll see shovels in the ground next year to kick off the long-awaited Red Line Extension, the Chicago Transit Authority is racing to finalize the $1.9 billion in federal funding needed to complete the 5.6-mile project before the Biden administration leaves office.

Under U.S. law, the federal government alone regulates consumer-protection laws covering airlines. The carriers are not legally required to respond to state investigations. Consumer advocates have pushed to expand enforcement power to the states.

United said the airline will add a filter to the booking tool on its website to help consumers find flights on which the plane can more easily accommodate their wheelchairs. The cargo doors on some planes are too small to easily get a motorized wheelchair in the belly of the plane.

Insolvency looms for the federal Highway Trust Fund. Brandis Friedman has more on what that means for Illinois highway construction workers and motorists.