Afternoon Briefing: Chicago's new US attorney balances tradition with new directives
Good afternoon, Chicago.
Chicago's newly appointed U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros said today that he's committed to balancing the storied office's traditional areas of focus with new policy directives coming from the Trump administration, from immigration to narcotics and human trafficking by international cartels.
In his first interview since assuming the powerful law enforcement post three weeks ago, however, Boutros said he'll be doing it with less manpower than in recent years, as there are now fewer than 100 federal criminal prosecutors and a hiring freeze mandated by the president that has no end in sight.
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.
Mayor Brandon Johnson's administration joins lawsuit against Trump to block federal worker firings
The city of Chicago is joining other cities in suing President Donald Trump and his administration in a bid to halt the firing of federal employees. Read more here.
After years of negotiations, state lawmakers consider measures to phase out plastic bags, foam food containers
1 dead, 1 injured after crash shuts down Edens Expressway
Four people killed when vehicle smashes through downstate Illinois after-school building, police say
The EPA is allowing the sale of cheaper, higher-ethanol E15 gasoline across the US this summer
Consumers across the U.S. still will be able to buy higher-ethanol blend E15 gasoline this summer, the Environmental Protection Agency announced yesterday, saving them a little money at the pump but frustrating environmentalists who believe the move potentially harms the air and water. Read more here.
How the NFL draft's deep class of running backs seemed to dance away from the Chicago Bears
If you blinked, you might have missed the review of the Chicago Bears' addition to their backfield in last weekend's NFL draft. Read more here.
More top sports stories:
Review: Charli XCX redefines in her Rosemont show what it means to play live today
A Charli XCX concert, to give it a little context, if that's possible — because there's really nothing like a Charli XCX concert as far as traditional concerts go — is your niece's Margaritaville. But also, your nephew's nihilistic post-apocalyptic vampire rave. And maybe your mom's Deadhead utopia. Read more here.
More top Eat. Watch. Do. stories:
Judge orders former Wisconsin warden to pay $500 fine in inmate's death
A judge ordered a former Wisconsin prison warden implicated in an inmate's death to pay a $500 fine to resolve the case after concluding he has no criminal record and didn't realize his guards weren't following policy. Read more here.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Forbes
12 minutes ago
- Forbes
Gordon Chang: This Is Exactly What Trump Should Say To China's Xi In Their Upcoming Phone Call
On "Forbes Newsroom," author and U.S.-China relations expert Gordon Chang gave his unvarnished take on the U.S.-China trade war, and what President Trump should say in his upcoming conversation with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Watch the full interview above.
CNN
12 minutes ago
- CNN
Migrants flown to El Salvador under Alien Enemies Act must be allowed to challenge their removal, federal judge rules
A group of migrants the Trump administration sent to a mega-prison in El Salvador earlier this year must now have an opportunity to challenge their removal under the Alien Enemies Act, a federal judge ruled Wednesday. The ruling from US District Judge James Boasberg said that US officials had 'improperly' loaded the migrants on to flights in mid-March and sent them to El Salvador's CECOT prison without giving them a chance to challenge their designation as 'alien enemies' subject to President Donald Trump's use of the sweeping 18th century wartime law. As a result, Boasberg wrote, officials must find a way to 'facilitate' the migrants' 'ability to proceed through habeas and ensure that their cases are handled as they would have been if the Government had not provided constitutionally inadequate process.' Earlier this year the Supreme Court, without deciding whether Trump had properly invoked the Alien Enemies Act, said officials must give migrants targeted under it a chance to contest their removal through so-called habeas petitions. 'Absent this relief, the Government could snatch anyone off the street, turn him over to a foreign country, and then effectively foreclose any corrective course of action,' Boasberg wrote. Several hundred Venezuelan migrants were sent to CECOT in mid-March after Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act. Boasberg, the chief judge of the trial-level federal court in Washington, DC, was critical in his ruling of the administration's actions earlier this year, particularly given the fact that information that emerged after the flights occurred undermined the government's claims that the migrants were members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. 'Perhaps the President lawfully invoked the Alien Enemies Act. Perhaps, moreover, Defendants are correct that Plaintiffs are gang members. But — and this is the critical point — there is simply no way to know for sure, as the CECOT Plaintiffs never had any opportunity to challenge the Government's say-so,' the judge wrote. He continued: 'Defendants instead spirited away planeloads of people before any such challenge could be made. And now, significant evidence has come to light indicating that many of those currently entombed in CECOT have no connection to the gang and thus languish in a foreign prison on flimsy, even frivolous, accusations.'
Wall Street Journal
18 minutes ago
- Wall Street Journal
Trump Is Losing Patience With Musk's Outbursts Over Megabill
WASHINGTON—President Trump is losing patience with Elon Musk after the billionaire attacked Republicans' sprawling tax-and-spending bill. Musk is irked about Trump's decision to withdraw the nomination of a key ally to lead the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The result is a fraying relationship between two of the world's most powerful men.
