Author: chicagoinquirer

by Tales Azzoni and Mauricio Savarese SAO PAULO — Pelé, the Brazilian king of soccer who won a record three World Cups and became one of the most commanding sports figures of the last century, died Thursday. He was 82. The standard-bearer of “the beautiful game” had undergone treatment for colon cancer since 2021. The medical center where he had been hospitalized for the last month said he died of multiple organ failure as a result of the cancer. “Pelé changed everything. He transformed football into art, entertainment,” Neymar, a fellow Brazilian soccer star, said on Instagram. “Football and Brazil…

by Mary Clare Jalonick and Lisa Mascaro WASHINGTON  — Virginia Thomas, the wife of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, says she regrets sending texts to then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows after the 2020 election, telling the House Jan. 6 committee that “I would take them all back if I could today.” Thomas — known as Ginni — is a longtime conservative activist. In a transcript of the interview released by the panel on Friday, she told investigators she was “emotional” after the election when she sent several texts to Meadows urging him to stand firm with then-President…

SIOUX FALLS, S.D.  — South Dakota’s six public universities plan to offer in-state tuition rates to students from Wisconsin and Illinois by next fall. The South Dakota Advantage plan has until now offered in-state tuition to undergraduates and graduate students from Colorado, Iowa, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota and Wyoming residents, the Argus Leader reported Thursday. The Board of Regents voted to add Wisconsin and Illinois to the list earlier this month. Officials at South Dakota’s universities say the move should boost enrollment and lead to more graduates remaining in South Dakota. The regents said in a Dec. 9 news release…

by Our reporters SPRINGFIELD, Ill.  — Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul on Friday notified the state Supreme Court that he will appeal a local judge’s ruling that eliminating cash bail for criminal defendants is unconstitutional. Raoul’s notice requests the high court reverse Wednesday’s ruling by Kankakee County Circuit Judge Thomas Cunnington. Cunnington decreed that the General Assembly violated the constitution’s separation of powers clause by eliminating cash bail in the so-called SAFE-T Act criminal justice overhaul. The issue of bail should be left to the judiciary, he said. The rest of the SAFE-T Act, which updates rules and procedures for…

by Michael R. Sisak and Jill Colvin Democrats in Congress released thousands of pages of former President Donald Trump’s tax returns Friday, providing the most detailed picture to date of his finances over a six-year period, including his time in the White House, when he fought to keep the information private in a break with decades of precedent. The documents include individual returns from Trump and his wife, Melania, along with Trump’s business entities from 2015-2020. They show how Trump used the tax code to lower his tax obligation and reveal details about foreign accounts, charitable contributions and the performance…

by Michael R. Sisal and Jill Colvin A House committee is set to release six years of Donald Trump’s tax returns on Friday, pulling back the curtain on financial records that the former president fought for years to keep secret. The Democratic-controlled House Ways and Means Committee voted last week to release the returns, with some redactions of sensitive information, such as Social Security numbers and contact information. Their dissemination comes in the waning days of Democrats’ control of the House and as Trump’s fellow Republicans prepare to retake power in the chamber. The committee obtained six years of Trump’s…

by Andrew Seligman CHICAGO  — DeMar DeRozan scored 42 points and the Chicago Bulls rallied to beat Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks 119-113 in overtime Wednesday night. The Bulls trailed by 15 early in the fourth quarter, only to pull even in the closing minute of regulation. DeRozan scored 10 in overtime, Nikola Vucevic hit a 3 in the extra period and the Bulls beat one of the NBA’s best teams after losing to one of the worst — Houston — two nights earlier. Antetokounmpo matched a season high with 45 points and set one with 20 rebounds. He…

by David Koenig and Heather Hollingsworth DALLAS  — Travelers who counted on Southwest Airlines to get them home suffered another wave of canceled flights Wednesday, and pressure grew on the federal government to help customers get reimbursed for unexpected expenses they incurred because of the airline’s meltdown. Exhausted Southwest travelers tried finding seats on other airlines or renting cars to get to their destination, but many remained stranded. The airline’s CEO said it could be next week before the flight schedule returns to normal. Adontis Barber, a 34-year-old jazz pianist from Kansas City, Missouri, had camped out in the city’s…

CHICAGO  — A Lufthansa flight from Los Angeles to Frankfurt, Germany, made an unscheduled landing at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport after a passenger’s laptop caught fire, the airline said. Monday night’s landing at O’Hare was a precautionary step after an overheated laptop caused a small fire in the passenger cabin, the airline said. The fire was out by the time the plane made a safe landing, WLS-TV reported. None of the passengers were injured, but two flight attendants were treated for smoke inhalation following the “unscheduled landing,” Lufthansa said in a statement. The airline said its ground staff was helping…

by Rebecca Santana and Elliot Spagat WASHINGTON  — The Supreme Court is keeping pandemic-era limits on asylum in place for now, dashing hopes of migrants who have been fleeing violence and inequality in Latin America and elsewhere to reach the United States. Tuesday’s ruling preserves a major Trump-era policy that was scheduled to expire under a judge’s order on Dec. 21. The case will be argued in February and a stay imposed last week by Chief Justice John Roberts will remain in place until the justices make a decision. The limits, often known as Title 42 in reference to a…