Author: chicagoinquirer

LAKE FOREST, Ill.  — The Chicago Bears placed star cornerback Jaylon Johnson on injured reserve on Saturday after the two-time Pro Bowler indicated during the week he might have season-ending groin surgery. Johnson left a blowout loss at Detroit last week after he was hurt breaking up a pass. He said Monday in his weekly appearance on WSCR-AM that the groin “as a whole just needs to get repaired” and that he was “trying to see what’s the best option.” Johnson missed training camp, the preseason and the season opener because of a groin injury. But he said he suffered…

by Rebecca Santana PARK RIDGE, Ill. — It was 3:30 a.m. when 10 U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers gathered in a parking lot in the Chicago suburbs for a briefing about a suspect they were hoping to arrest. They went over a description of the person, made sure their radios were on the same channel and discussed where the closest hospital was in case something went wrong. “Let’s plan on not being there,” said one of the officers, before they climbed into their vehicles and headed out. Across the city and surrounding suburbs, other teams were fanning out in…

by Andrew Wilks ISTANBUL  — There is “absolutely no evidence” that Russia’s President Vladimir Putin wants to negotiate peace in Ukraine, the head of Britain’s foreign intelligence agency said Friday in an outgoing speech. Richard Moore, chief of the Secret Intelligence Service, or MI6 as it is more commonly known, said Putin was “stringing us along.” “He seeks to impose his imperial will by all means at his disposal. But he cannot succeed,” Moore said. “Bluntly, Putin has bitten off more than he can chew. He thought he was going to win an easy victory. But he – and many…

by Andrew Seligman CHICAGO  — The Chicago Bears all but slammed the door on building an enclosed stadium in the city, with team president Kevin Warren writing in a letter to fans on Monday that the team’s “future home” is in suburban Arlington Heights. “Moving outside of the city of Chicago is not a decision we reached easily,” Warren said. “This project does not represent us leaving, it represents us expanding. The Bears draw fans from all over Illinois, and over 50 percent of our season-ticket holders live within 25 miles of the Arlington Heights site.” The Bears sent the…

by Lauran Neerguard WASHINGTON — The Trump administration moved Thursday to shut down a Miami organ donation group, calling it “failing” because of underperformance, unsafe practices and paperwork errors. The Life Alliance Organ Recovery Agency is one of 55 organ procurement organizations, or OPOs, nonprofit agencies around the country that coordinate the recovery of organs from deceased donors and help match them to patients on the nation’s transplant waiting list. The administration cited an investigation that found a 2024 case where an unspecified mistake led a surgeon to decline a donated heart for a patient awaiting surgery. In a news…

by Mary Clare Jalonick WASHINGTON  — The Senate has confirmed 48 of President Donald Trump’s nominees at once, voting for the first time under new rules to begin clearing a backlog of executive branch positions that had been delayed by Democrats. Frustrated by the stalling tactics, Senate Republicans moved last week to make it easier to confirm large groups of lower-level, non-judicial nominations. Democrats had forced multiple votes on almost every one of Trump’s picks, infuriating the president and tying up the Senate floor. The new rules allow Senate Republicans to move multiple nominees with a simple majority vote —…

by Bridge Brown, Michael Warren and Curtis Yee The man accused in the Charlie Kirk assassination had earlier expressed to family his opposition to the viewpoints of the conservative activist, the authorities said Friday in announcing an arrest in a targeted killing that raised fresh alarms about political violence in the United States. Tyler Robinson, 22, had indicated to a family friend afterwards that he was responsible, said Utah Gov. Spencer Cox. He also cited as key pieces of evidence engravings on bullets found in a rifle believed used in the attack as well as chatting app messages attributed to…

by Christopher Rugaber WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s goal of appointing a majority of the Federal Reserve’s board of governors faced a setback late Tuesday when a court blocked his unprecedented attempt to fire Lisa Cook. But the very next next day, his nominee to replace another Fed governor moved forward, giving him one more opportunity during his second term to reshape the Fed. Over time, Trump will almost certainly get the lower short-term interest rate he is seeking, economists say, although it’s unlikely the Fed will shave 3 percentage points from its current level of about 4.3%, as he…

by Christine Fernando and Sophia Tareen CHICAGO  — The Border Patrol agent who has broken norms leading an immigration crackdown in Los Angeles reached Chicago on Tuesday, potentially signaling a new, more aggressive phase to an enforcement surge announced last week in the nation’s third-largest city. “Well, Chicago, we’ve arrived!” Gregory Bovino said in an X post that included a stylized video of Customs and Border Protection vehicles driving into the city along with agents walking in slow motion amid picturesque downtown shots. “Operation At Large is here to continue the mission we started in Los Angeles.” Homeland Security Secretary…

by Mark Sherman WASHINGTON  — The Trump administration on Thursday asked the Supreme Court for an emergency order to remove Lisa Cook from the Federal Reserve’s board of governors. The Republican administration turned to the high court after an appeals court refused to go along with ousting Cook, part of President Donald Trump’s effort to reshape the Fed’s seven-member governing board and strike a blow at its independence. The White House campaign to unseat Cook marks an unprecedented bid to reshape the Fed board, which was designed to be largely independent from day-to-day politics. No president has fired a sitting…