Michael Madigan, once the state of Illinois’ most powerful politician during his decades-long run as Illinois House Speaker and chair of the Democratic Party of Illinois, has now joined the long list of local and state powerbrokers convicted on federal corruption charges.

A 20-second video released Wednesday by Mayor Brandon Johnson’s office of a small City Hall room crammed with gifts his office accepted on behalf of the city is “not a substitute for public access to public property,” Inspector General Deborah Witzburg said.

President Donald Trump pardons former Gov. Rod Blagojevich — how local politicians are reacting. And a project aimed at keeping invasive carp out of the Great Lakes is on hold.

“I support President Trump in many ways,” state Sen. Jil Tracy (R-Quincy) said, “but I don’t think he understands that this just signals that the corruption in Illinois is just accepted, rather than it has to stop.”

Housing and shelter, utility assistance, access to food and employment and income assistance were the most common needs for residents, according to 211 Metro Chicago program leaders.

No longer will gifts accepted by Chicago’s mayor on behalf of the city be covered by an “unwritten arrangement” dating back to the late 1980s during the administration of former Mayor Eugene Sawyer, Board President William Conlon said.

The state of Illinois has pressed pause on a barrier designed to keep invasive carp from entering the Great Lakes, saying it can no longer count on the federal government to honor its funding obligation to the $1.15 billion project.

The Trump administration plans to dissolve USAID — a look at the potential impact. And unlocking the secrets of life in some of the most extreme environments on Earth.

The federal government is the second largest employer in Illinois, with 82,000 federal workers in the state.

University of Chicago paleontologist and author Neil Shubin has been on multiple expeditions to the Arctic and Antarctica. Those trips have produced groundbreaking discoveries about the evolution of life.

The U.S. Agency for International Development has lost almost all ability to track $8.2 billion in unspent humanitarian aid following the Trump administration’s foreign funding freeze and idling of staffers, a government watchdog warned Monday.

The U.S. Department of Justice strikes at Illinois’ immigration laws. And a debate over a controversial piece of art at the Chicago Cultural Center leads to an alderperson’s ejection.

The lawsuit is the latest indication that the Trump administration, which is attempting to strip self-proclaimed sanctuary cities of all federal funding, will target Chicago directly.