From Capitol News Illinois: Illinois lawmakers will return to Springfield next week hoping to resolve a major unchecked box from the spring: Keep the trains in Chicago running

Republican and Democratic lawmakers at an impasse on reopening the federal government provided few public signs Sunday of meaningful negotiations talking place to end what has so far been a five-day shutdown

White House budget director Russ Vought said the Trump administration will withhold $2.1 billion for Chicago infrastructure projects, expanding funding fights that have targeted Democratic areas during the government shutdown

President Donald Trump is openly embracing the conservative blueprint he desperately tried to distance himself from during the 2024 campaign

Hopes for a quick end to the government shutdown were fading Friday as Republicans and Democrats dug in for a prolonged fight and President Donald Trump readied plans to unleash layoffs and cuts across the federal government

For now, financial markets are shrugging off the impasse as just the latest failure of Republicans and Democrats to agree on a budget and keep the government running

Plunged into a government shutdown, the U.S. is confronting a fresh cycle of uncertainty after President Donald Trump and Congress failed to strike an agreement to keep government programs and services running by Wednesday’s deadline

Employee furloughs and potential layoffs would halt some government activities. Other functions — like NASA’s space missions, President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown and certain public health work at FDA and the USDA — would continue

A partisan standoff over health care and spending is threatening to trigger the first U.S. government shutdown in almost seven years, with Democrats and Republicans in Congress unable to find agreement

Democratic and Republican congressional leaders are heading to the White House for a meeting with President Donald Trump on Monday in a late effort to avoid a government shutdown

The White House is telling agencies to prepare large-scale firings of federal workers if the government shuts down next week

Every elected Kankakee County government official was present at the Monday morning gathering along with just about every mayor from each municipality as well as a few County Board members and state legislators.

 President Donald Trump has abruptly canceled this week’s planned meeting with congressional Democratic leaders, refusing to negotiate over their demands to shore up health care funds as part of a deal to prevent a potential looming federal government shutdown

The Senate rejected competing measures on Friday to fund federal agencies for a few weeks when the new budget year begins on Oct. 1, increasing prospects for a partial government shutdown on that date

About three-quarters of Republican women say the country is going in the wrong direction, up from 27% in June

FBI Director Kash Patel clashed with skeptical Democrats at a contentious Senate oversight hearing Tuesday, defending his record amid criticism that he has politicized the nation’s premier federal law enforcement agency

From Capitol News Illinois: Gov. JB Pritzker said political leaders, starting with President Donald Trump, need to do more to condemn political violence. Rep. Adam Niemerg, R-Dietrich, has filed an impeachment resolution against Pritzker.

In a joint statement, Kendall County Democrats Chair Beth Kremer and State Rep. Jed Davis, chair of the Kendall County Republicans, denounced the increasing amount political violence across the country.

Wirepoints President Ted Dabrowski enters the GOP race for governor as the fundraising leader with more than $1 million already raised in the last month.

Schumer says he and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries are united in opposing any legislation that doesn’t include key health care provisions and a commitment not to roll them back

Attorneys for Will County Board Member Jacqueline Traynere plan to mount a “vigorous defense” and expect a “favorable outcome” in her misdemeanor computer tampering case.

Missouri’s Republican-led House turned aside Democratic objections Tuesday and passed a plan backed by President Donald Trump to redraw the state’s congressional districts so that Republicans could win almost all of them

Survivors of Jeffrey Epstein’s sexual abuse made their voices heard Tuesday on Capitol Hill, pressuring lawmakers to force the release of the sex trafficking investigation into the late financier and pushing back President Donald Trump’s effort to dismiss the issue as a “hoax.”

The files mostly contain information that was already publicly known or available

The Ogle County Republican Party’s annual Lowden Day Dinner, held at the River’s Edge Experience in Oregon, was a resounding success, shattering fundraising and attendance records.

President Donald Trump wants to eliminate that grant, the HOME Investment Partnerships Program, and House Republicans overseeing federal budget negotiations did not include funding for it in their budget proposal

The annual spending battle will dominate the September agenda, along with a possible effort by Senate Republicans to change their chamber’s rules to thwart Democratic stalling tactics on nominations

Former six-term Hersher Mayor Ray Schneider will run for a Kankakee County Board seat in western Kankakee County.

Two veteran federal officials from Illinois are relaunching an effort to amend the Illinois Constitution and end partisan gerrymandering in state legislative districts.

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said in a statement that the Constitution “makes clear that Congress has the responsibility for the power of the purse” and any effort to claw back funds “without congressional approval is a clear violation of the law.”

This summer marks a decade since Illinois’ budget impasse began, which ultimately dragged on for two years and decimated human services across the state.

Pastor Corey Brooks will be the keynote speaker at the Ogle County Republican Party’s annual Lowden Day Dinner on Thursday, Aug. 21, 2025, at The River’s Edge Experience in Oregon.

Ted Dabrowski is joined by DuPage County Sheriff James Mendrick in the race. Mendrick called Medicaid cuts signed by President Donald Trump “unsustainable,” but said he believes the president is doing a good job overall

California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Thursday his state will hold a Nov. 4 special election to seek voter approval of new congressional map drawn to try to win Democrats five more U.S. House seats in 2026

The House Oversight Committee subpoenaed the Justice Department on Tuesday for files in the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking investigation and is seeking depositions with the Clintons and former law enforcement officials

Texas Democrats on Monday prevented their state’s House of Representatives from moving forward, at least for now, with a redrawn congressional map

Sheriff Brian VanVickle privately shared his decision with close supporters at a June fundraiser, then followed up with a formal public declaration Monday

Democratic state senators from Wisconsin fled to neighboring Illinois in 2011, blocking a vote on GOP Gov. Scott Walker’s plan to strip most public workers of their union rights

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker had been in quiet talks with Texas Democrats for weeks about offering support if they chose to leave the state to break quorum

Many Democrats see their political party as “weak” or “ineffective,” according to a poll that finds considerable pessimism within Democratic ranks

The Senate left Washington Saturday night for its monthlong August recess without a deal to advance dozens of President Donald Trump’s nominees

Job gains are dwindling. Inflation is ticking upward. Growth has slowed compared with last year.

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a cornerstone of American culture for three generations, announced Friday it would take steps toward its own closure after being defunded by Congress

Here’s what could happen next in the House inquiry as lawmakers seek answers in a case that has sparked rampant speculation since Epstein’s death in 2019

A House subcommittee on Wednesday voted to subpoena the Department of Justice for files in the sex trafficking investigation into Jeffrey Epstein after Democrats successfully goaded GOP lawmakers to defy President Donald Trump

Gov. JB Pritzker is leaving the door open to changing Illinois’ congressional maps to “counterbalance” an attempt by Texas politicians to add more Republican seats to the U.S. House

House Speaker Mike Johnson is rebuffing pressure to act on the investigation into Jeffrey Epstein, instead sending members home early for a month-long break from Washington

The fear of accidentally creating unsafe seats is one reason Texas Republicans drew their lines cautiously in 2021

It’s been six months since Joe Biden left the Oval Office. Republicans, including President Donald Trump, can’t stop talking about him

Republicans are encountering early headaches in Senate races viewed as pivotal to maintaining the party’s majority in next year’s midterm elections, with recruitment failures, open primaries, infighting and a president who has been sitting on the sidelines.