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1 week ago | 
wbez.org | George Wiebe
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Sunday directed federal immigration officials to prioritize deportations from Democratic-run cities after large protests have erupted in Los Angeles and other major cities against the Trump administration’s immigration policies.
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3 weeks ago | 
chicago.suntimes.com | Anna Savchenko |George Wiebe |Fran Spielman
El mejor lugar para cobertura de noticias y cultura latina en Chicago. Un día después de que al menos 10 inmigrantes fueran arrestados por agentes federales de inmigración al llegar a controles de rutina en una oficina del South Loop, defensores, líderes políticos y abogados de derechos civiles cuestionan la forma en que se llevaron a cabo esos arrestos y el papel del Departamento de Policía de Chicago (CPD) en ellos.
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3 weeks ago | 
chicago.suntimes.com | Anna Savchenko |George Wiebe |Fran Spielman
A day after at least 10 immigrants were arrested by federal immigration agents upon arrival to routine immigration check-ups in a South Loop office, advocates, political leaders and civil rights attorneys are questioning the way those arrests were carried out, and CPD’s role in them.
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3 weeks ago | 
chicago.suntimes.com | David Struett |George Wiebe
CTA, Metra and Pace said Monday they would soon be planning cuts in their 2026 budgets, after state legislators missed their first big deadline to fund public transit with the close of the spring legislative session Saturday — inching the transit agencies one step closer to the edge of the “fiscal cliff.”Now it’s unclear if lawmakers will approve the $770 million needed to cover the agencies’ budget holes in 2026 when federal pandemic aid runs out.
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3 weeks ago | 
chicago.suntimes.com | Mitchell Armentrout |George Wiebe
SPRINGFIELD — Another legislative session came and went without the Chicago Bears breaking the line of scrimmage in Springfield for legislation to help them build a new stadium. With lawmakers scrambling to pass a state budget and agonizing over the future of mass transit, the Bears’ team of lobbyists was left on the Capitol sideline in their push for a bill that would potentially pave the way to a dome in Arlington Heights.
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3 weeks ago | 
wbez.org | Mitchell Armentrout |George Wiebe
SPRINGFIELD — Illinois lawmakers approved a $55.2 billion state budget package minutes ahead of a key constitutional deadline Saturday night, relying on tax hikes that would hit smokers, gamblers and big out-of-state companies to help seal an estimated $1 billion shortfall. Democratic leaders cut it down to the final seven minutes on the clock of May, but avoided the public intra-party squabbling that marked the chaotic conclusion of last spring’s legislative session.
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3 weeks ago | 
chicago.suntimes.com | George Wiebe
SPRINGFIELD — After fierce pushback and a narrow vote of support in the House of Representatives, Illinois lawmakers ended their spring session without approving a bill that would let terminally ill people end their own lives. The House of Representatives had approved the measure Thursday with just three votes to spare to get it passed. But shortly after that vote, Cardinal Blase Cupich, the archbishop of Chicago, issued a rare statement, condemning the plan as “assisted suicide.”State Sen.
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3 weeks ago | 
wbez.org | Mitchell Armentrout |George Wiebe
SPRINGFIELD — State lawmakers are on track toward overhauling the governance of mass transit across the Chicago area, but a lengthy list of proposed new taxes could derail efforts to stave off the fiscal cliff facing the CTA, Metra and Pace.
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3 weeks ago | 
chicago.suntimes.com | Mitchell Armentrout |George Wiebe
SPRINGFIELD — Illinois lawmakers closed out their spring session early Sunday without passing legislation to reform mass transit governance in the Chicago area or direct upwards of $1 billion in new funding to the CTA, Metra and Pace to fend off a $770 million fiscal cliff that looms next year. A bill championed by state Sen.
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3 weeks ago | 
chicago.suntimes.com | Mitchell Armentrout |George Wiebe
Illinois lawmakers were cutting it close to a key constitutional deadline to pass their $55.2 billion state budget package late Saturday, while the fate of a bill to overhaul Chicago-area mass transit governance hinged on legislators’ appetite to slap a $1.50 fee on package and food deliveries. The budget proposal relies on tax hikes that would hit smokers, gamblers and big corporations to help seal an estimated $1 billion shortfall.
