Gov. JB Pritzker and his fellow Democrats have been unrelenting in their criticisms of the tax and spending plan President Donald Trump signed July 4.

But along with much-lambasted cuts to Medicaid, food assistance and education, the budget reconciliation plan Republicans pushed through Congress this summer includes a tax change that Democrats ...Read more

President Donald Trump on Monday said he never had the “privilege” of visiting Jeffrey Epstein’s private island as he shed new details on his split from the notorious pedophile who was once his close friend and neighbor in Palm Beach, Florida.

Brushing off questions about Epstein, Trump again suggested the firestorm over Epstein was ...Read more

WASHINGTON — With the House away, nominations and appropriations remain at the forefront of the Senate’s agenda for what is scheduled to be the final week before August recess.

Advancing President Donald Trump’s nominations is straightforward but laborious, with Democrats showing little willingness to expedite the process. That has led ...Read more

If a budget is a mirror of values, what does the “Big Beautiful Bill” (BBB) say about America?

On July 4, President Donald Trump signed into law Congressional Republicans’ “Big Beautiful Bill.” If you held up the bill to a mirror, most Americans would probably say that what they saw in the reflection was anything but beautiful.

A ...Read more

Juan Ortíz trudged through 100-degree heat along the U.S.-Mexico border, weighed down by a backpack full of water bottles that he planned to leave for migrants trying to cross this rugged terrain.

Only there hadn't been many migrants of late.

When Ortíz started water drops in this especially dangerous stretch of desert near El Paso nearly ...Read more

With the Jeffrey Epstein controversy still dogging him, President Donald Trump has embraced his favorite distraction: the culture wars.

It began when he announced that Coca-Cola was switching to cane sugar instead of high-fructose corn syrup. Coke responded with a statement that basically boiled down to: “Wait, what?” — before announcing ...Read more

SEATTLE — President Donald Trump’s executive order issued Thursday that calls for punishing homeless people living outside, forced treatment for people with substance use and mental health issues and an end to data-proven solutions to getting people into housing has drawn near-unanimous rebuke among local officials and organizations serving ...Read more

Christopher Rufo, the conservative activist who has been influential in the White House’s efforts to reshape higher education, now wants to expand the campaign well beyond the elite schools that have borne the brunt of the pressure.

Rufo says the Education Department is considering a proposal that would ensure all U.S. universities that ...Read more

WASHINGTON — As members of the U.S. House traveled back to Capitol Hill for their final work week ahead of the summer break, U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Rome, issued a warning.

Writing on social media, Greene warned that the MAGA base is angry that Republicans were breaking their promise to release files associated with the sex ...Read more

CHICAGO — A federal judge in Chicago on Friday blocked the Trump administration’s challenge to policies in the state of Illinois, the city of Chicago and Cook County that limit the powers of state and local police in assisting federal law enforcement on immigration-related matters.

The ruling comes as the Trump administration has ramped up ...Read more

MIAMI — Miami defense attorney David O. Markus represents Jeffrey Epstein’s infamous former girlfriend, a convicted British socialite who may hold the keys not only to her fate but that of President Donald Trump.

Markus’ client, Ghislaine Maxwell, found guilty of recruiting underage girls for the billionaire financier, was questioned on ...Read more

President Donald Trump’s executive order limiting birthright citizenship was blocked nationwide for the third time in less than a month, the latest sign that a U.S. Supreme Court ruling restricting “universal injunctions” is having little impact on the dispute.

The injunctions set up another round of appeals that may ultimately be ...Read more

President Donald Trump Friday refused to rule out pardoning Ghislaine Maxwell as the sex-trafficking accomplice of Jeffrey Epstein met for a second day with a top Justice Department official behind closed doors.

As he left the White House for a trip to Scotland, Trump dodged a reporter’s question about whether he was considering cutting short...Read more

WASHINGTON — Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee has set a Dec. 2 special election to succeed former Republican Rep. Mark E. Green in the state’s deep-red 7th District.

Voters from both parties will pick their nominees in primaries scheduled for Oct. 7, according to a writ of election the Republican governor issued Thursday. Candidates have until Aug. ...Read more

An executive order signed by President Donald Trump purporting to protect Americans from “endemic vagrancy, disorderly behavior, sudden confrontations, and violent attacks” attributed to homelessness has left local officials and homeless advocates outraged over its harsh tone while also grasping for a hopeful message in its fine print.

The ...Read more

President Donald Trump Friday refused to rule out pardoning Ghislaine Maxwell as the sex-trafficking accomplice of Jeffrey Epstein met for a second day with a top Justice Department official behind closed doors.

As he left the White House for a trip to Scotland, Trump dodged a reporter’s question about whether he was considering cutting short...Read more

The creators of South Park are giving a cheeky “apology” for the popular cartoon show’s season premier that mocked President Donald Trump.

“We’re terribly sorry,” Trey Parker said with a grin late Thursday as his partner Matt Stone sat next to him on a panel at the Comic-Con festival in San Diego.

Parker brushed off a joke from ...Read more

WASHINGTON — House and Senate appropriators are divided in their fiscal 2026 spending bills on whether to zero out funding for grants authorized under two laws focused on addressing hate crimes.

The Trump administration, in its budget request, proposed cutting all funding for grants authorized under the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. ...Read more