Afternoon Briefing: Illinois clinic offers new device to spinal cord injury patients
Eliazar Rodriguez was running errands in Roscoe Village when he was stopped by two men with a laminated flyer outside a Starbucks. They said they were raising money for their little brother who was killed in a drive-by shooting and told Rodriguez that they were struggling to gather funeral funds.
He gave the men $15 through Apple Pay and wrote his name down on a sheet pledging his donation. One of the guys took Rodriguez's phone to make the transaction, showed him the screen to confirm that Rodriguez donated $15 and the two men went on their way. Next thing Rodriguez knew, he got an instant notification from his bank telling him he had a $3,000 charge for a carpet purchase.
'I was just blinded by my naivety and my wanting to do good and be kind to others, only to be kind of slapped in the face,' Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez is not alone — he is one of dozens who have recently lost thousands of dollars to a scam going around Chicago where con artists will use a sad story to lure victims into paying them thousands of dollars when the victim thinks they are only paying a small amount of money.
Here's what else is happening today. And remember, for the latest breaking news in Chicago, visit chicagotribune.com/latest-headlines and sign up to get our alerts on all your devices.
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If Mayor Brandon Johnson had reacted as antagonistically to Republican congressmen hoping to goad him into an argument Wednesday as he at times has, the mayor's appearance at the House Oversight Committee could have gone south fast. But a different Johnson appeared on Capitol Hill to testify in the hotly anticipated hearing on sanctuary policies for immigrants. Read more here.
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The ARC-EX is not the first device to deliver electrical stimulation through the skin to help people with spinal cord injuries. But unlike other commercially available devices, the ARC-EX delivers stimulation directly to the spine, rather than to other parts of the body that a person wishes to move, such as to an arm or a leg. Read more here.
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The 25-year-old Joe Veleno, a left-handed shot, was a first-round draft pick (No. 30) by the Red Wings in 2018. The 6-foot-1 fourth-liner has five goals and five assists in 56 games this season. Read more here.
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Column: Chicago Bulls are destined for the play-in tournament — again. Embrace it, ignore it, but don't fight it.
A flag football first in Illinois: History will be made Saturday as sport continues to grow nationally
Chicago Symphony audiences expected to hear an American composer's clarinet concerto, written for CSO principal clarinetist Stephen Williamson, last season. Unexpected quadruple bypass surgery forced Williamson to postpone the performance to this week, in concerts conducted by Gustavo Gimeno. Read more here.
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The disposal of what Paris police called an 'excessively dangerous' unexploded World War II bomb caused hours of transportation chaos Friday on rail and road networks in the French capital, including the suspension of high-speed train links with London and Brussels. Read more here.
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New York Post
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- New York Post
Chuck Todd warns America is heading towards a ‘cold civil war' amid ongoing redistricting battles
Former NBC host Chuck Todd argued that America is heading towards a 'cold civil war' on 'The Chuck Toddcast' on Tuesday as redistricting battles in states like Texas and California continue to rage. Todd contended that the ongoing redistricting battles are 'just the latest skirmish between what is turning into a cold civil war,' and that it is President Donald Trump and the Republican Party who are 'creating this unprecedented challenge to our constitutional republic.' Advertisement 'I hate using that rhetoric. I hate using those words, but what else are you going to describe it? We are literally having a redistricting war between the states right now, and we have governors who have decided they don't care about the minority rights in their own states,' Todd argued. 'Greg Abbott doesn't care. If you don't agree with Greg Abbott, he is going to force his will upon you in the state of Texas. And if you don't agree with Gavin Newsom and how they're going — he's going to force his will upon you,' he added. The former NBC host stated that 'this is not what the founders intended,' placing blame on both sides of the aisle, but focusing in on Trump as the primary catalyst for what he describes as a 'cold civil war.' 'This is not a policy fight. This isn't the usual partisan back and forth. It is a direct stress test of whether our constitutional system actually works when a president and his party decide they don't have to care about the limits that are written down on paper,' he asserted. Advertisement 3 Ex-NBC host Chuck Todd says the U.S. is on the brink of a 'cold civil war' with the ongoing redistricting battles that are occurring in Texas and California. YouTube/The Chuck ToddCast 'Trump has spent years — parts of his first term and much so far of these first 200-plus days bending and breaking the guard rails of the republic.' While Todd criticized the Trump administration's use of federal power and Texas Governor Greg Abbott's redistricting efforts, he also took issue with the Democrats' 'fight fire with fire' approach to these perceived problems. 'The Democratic response is pretty troubling because, right now as a party, okay, as an official party apparatus, they've decided to frame this moment as a war, right? Okay, you got to fight fire with fire. This is an unprecedented moment, so they're framing this as a war,' he stated. Advertisement 3 On 'The Chuck Toddcast,' the former moderator of NBC's 'Meet the Press' mentioned that President Trump and the GOP are 'creating this unprecedented challenge to our constitutional republic.' REUTERS 'And when you tell yourself you're in a war, you start rationalizing things you'd normally not do that you would say is immoral or wrong or unprincipled. But hey, it's war and all is fair in war, right?' Todd noted that Democrats have championed independent commissions and wanted competitive district mapping for years, but now with Republicans 'openly wanting to break the rules like they're doing in Texas,' Democrats are also looking to 'break the rules' with their own redistricting efforts. 'And if you criticize that decision, as I've been doing, I've been told I'm naive, that I don't understand the stakes, that you are not taking this threat seriously,' he railed. Advertisement 3 Todd also said the Democrats' response to the ongoing redistricting battle in Texas has been deeply concerning, and with Republicans now willing to 'break the rules,' so are the Democrats. AP 'Au contraire, my friend, I do God – understand the stakes, and we are not replacing one unprincipled, unconstitutional set of leaders with another set of unprincipled, unconstitutional set of leaders.' In closing, Todd called on Republican members of Congress to 'check' Trump's power and use the tools afforded to them by the Constitution to hold him accountable for the 'unconstitutional' actions he has taken while in office. 'They've not lifted one finger of oversight. Not one… You couldn't even say there've been a weak check on Trump. It has been no check on him at all,' he asserted. 'Guess what? The Constitution can't enforce itself without people willing to wield those checks. All we have are words on yellowing parchment paper.'
USA Today
5 minutes ago
- USA Today
Trump's BLS commissioner pick suggests suspending monthly jobs reports
WASHINGTON ― President Donald Trump's nominee to be the new U.S. commissioner of Labor Statistics recently suggested the agency stop issuing monthly jobs reports until the methodology used to compute the figures is changed. E.J. Antoni, a Heritage Foundation economist who Trump tapped on Aug. 11 to replace the Bureau of Labor Statistics commissioner he fired, proposed the idea during an Aug. 4 interview to Fox News Digital. He questioned the agency's methodology and economic assumptions because of recent jobs revisions, calling it a "serious problem that needs to be fixed immediately." "Until it is corrected, the BLS should suspend issuing the monthly job reports but keep publishing the more accurate, though less timely, quarterly data," Antoni said. "Major decision-makers from Wall Street to DC rely on these numbers, and a lack of confidence in the data has far-reaching consequences." More: Trump names conservative economist E.J. Antoni to lead Bureau of Labor Statistics If confirmed by the Senate, Antoni would replace Erika McEntarfer, an appointment of former President Joe Biden who Trump fired on Aug. 1. Trump accused McEntarfer without evidence of manipulating data for "political purposes" after the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported the U.S. added a disappointing 73,000 jobs in July. Trump also complained about revisions that reduced job gains in May and June by about 258,000 and portrayed a much weaker labor market than Trump has touted. More: Why jobs revisions that led Trump to fire statistics head were so huge White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt downplayed Antoni's recent remarks, saying he only "floated the idea of possibly" suspending the months jobs reports. She said it is "the plan and the hope" for the BLS to continue releasing monthly jobs reports. "We need to look at the means and the methods, and how the United States is acquiring this very important data, and all of that is going to be done," Leavitt said during an Aug. 12 briefing with reporters. "And the goal, of course, is to provide honest and good data for the American people." The Aug. 1 revisions for May and June marked the largest two-month revision ever outside of recessions, according to an anlaysis from Goldman Sachs. Each month, the BLS provides an initial reading of job gains for the previous month and revises figures from the prior two months twice based on follow-up surveys. To come up with its monthly job growth estimates, the agency surveys 631,000 job sites operated by 121,000 businesses and government agencies across the country. The bureau revises the data twice because many employers don't respond to the first survey or because officials modify the factors it uses to seasonally adjust the figures. Most economic forecasters say this year's large revisions have cleared up a disparity between surprisingly resilient job gains and other economic indicators, such as gross domestic product, that have been feeble this year. Contributing: Paul Davidson of USA TODAY Reach Joey Garrison on X @joeygarrison.
San Francisco Chronicle
5 minutes ago
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Sen. McConnell and wife join Kentucky ceremony marking expansion of their archives
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Mitch McConnell and Elaine Chao's enduring status as a powerhouse couple was on display Tuesday as they reflected on their shared lives at a ceremony for the archives that will catalogue their careers. The Kentuckians marked the expansion of the McConnell Chao Archives at McConnell's alma mater, the University of Louisville. McConnell, the longest-serving Senate party leader in U.S. history, is in his final term after the Republican senator revealed in February that he won't seek reelection in 2026. Chao, his wife, is a former U.S. labor and transportation secretary for Republican administrations. 'I didn't get into this line of work to put my name on a building," McConnell said during the campus ceremony. "We needed an archive largely because I never threw anything away.' The collection will span their decades of public life and offer a 'front-row view of how our government and institutions operate,' McConnell said in a news release. The couple — a formidable duo on the campaign trail for decades in the Bluegrass State — praised one another during the campus ceremony. McConnell, 83, is Kentucky's longest-serving senator. He was first elected to the Senate in 1984 and was elected to his seventh term in 2020. His tenure as Senate party leader ended at the start of 2025. He is serving out his current term and has focused on national defense and international issues, including his strong support for Ukraine in its war with Russia. At Tuesday's event, Chao referred to McConnell as her 'best friend and teammate and also the man who is at the center of my life, the man who supported my career in public service.' She called her husband the 'most prolific" Senate party leader in history and said Kentucky continues to 'reap the benefits' from his tenure. 'With the expansion of this archive, his extraordinary accomplishments will continue to inform and inspire leaders for generations to come,' she said. McConnell returned the compliments, saying: 'Spending life with Elaine has been a blessing. Sharing this archive is an honor.' Reflecting on his storied career, McConnell said of his wife: 'She's been my most effective advocate every step of the way. And thank you, again.' UofL President Gerry Bradley said the archives will be an 'invaluable source' for scholars and historians by offering insights into the careers of McConnell and Chao. 'It's not just a record of political history — it's a living resource for students, scholars and citizens who seek to understand and engage with the democratic process,' he said. Originally installed in 2009, the McConnell Chao Archives include a permanent gallery open to the public in UofL's Ekstrom Library. It features exhibits, films and interactive displays about U.S. government, history and politics. The expansion enhanced the facility's capacity and functionality with a newly constructed archive storage room to house the couple's collections. The vast volumes of archived materials are being processed and are not yet available for research. McConnell quipped that his political enemies 'have been deterred from seeing any of this.' Another campus initiative close to McConnell's heart has been the McConnell Center, a nonpartisan academic program at the university that aims to prepare students for future leadership roles. 'The idea here was to try to provide an Ivy League-type experience in a Kentucky place," McConnell said Tuesday. "The point being, so many of our sharpest kids go off to the East and never come back.'
