Good morning, Chicago.
Another contestant joined the still-emerging field of Democrats vying to succeed U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin today as five-term northwest suburban U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi launched his bid, pitching himself as a “radical common sense progressive” to take on President Donald Trump.
“A president, ignoring the Constitution, out for revenge, acting like a dictator, claiming he’s a king, surrounded by billionaire backers and MAGA extremists, threatening our rights, rigging the rules to line their pockets,” the 51-year-old Krishnamoorthi of Schaumburg says in his near 2½-minute video announcement released Wednesday. “Wrecking the economy, they profit and working people pay. It’s insanity. People want to know, at this moment in this time, where is the power to fight back?”
“I’ve spent my career standing up to bullies, whether they’ve gone after our kids, our families or our country,” he continues in the video. “So if you’re ready to turn anger into action and make America work for working people, join our campaign.”
Krishnamoorthi’s formal announcement had been expected and it comes two weeks after the 80-year-old Durbin announced he would not seek a sixth term. It also follows announcements by Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton and U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly of Matteson that they would enter the March 17 Democratic primary.
Read the full story from the Tribune’s Rick Pearson.
Here are the top stories you need to know to start your day, including what to know about the Real ID deadline, why Pritzker is heading to Washington next month and Brad Biggs’ weekly Bears mailbag.
Today’s eNewspaper edition | Subscribe to more newsletters | Asking Eric | Horoscopes | Puzzles & Games | Today in History
Security force officials stand outside a damaged building at a site of a suspected Indian missile attack near Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan controlled Kashmir, in Wednesday, May 7, 2025. (AP Photo/M.D. Mughal)
India fires missiles into Pakistani territory in what Islambad calls ‘act of war’
India fired missiles into Pakistani-controlled territory in several locations, killing at least eight people including a child, in what Pakistan’s leader called an act of war.
India said it was striking infrastructure used by militants linked to last month’s massacre of tourists in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir.
Wanda Bryant, center, hands her documents to Pedro Alvarez, with the Illinois secretary of state’s office, while waiting to obtain a state ID at the REAL ID Supercenter in Chicago on Tuesday. The line started on the corner of Clark and Lake streets and extended down Lake onto Dearborn Street. (Audrey Richardson/Chicago Tribune)
The REAL ID deadline has arrived. Here’s what to know.
Two decades after Congress passed the REAL ID Act in 2005, travelers will finally be asked for compliant IDs to board planes starting today. Travelers will still be able to fly without a REAL ID, officials said this week, but they may face extra scrutiny at the airport.
In Illinois, a last-minute surge in REAL ID-seekers left Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias visibly irritated at a news conference. Giannoulias urged Illinois residents to not get a REAL ID immediately unless they must have one, saying today’s deadline “isn’t really a deadline.”
Gov. JB Pritzker speaks from his ceremonial office after delivering his annual budget address on Feb. 19, 2025, in Springfield. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)
Gov. JB Pritzker to testify before Congress on Illinois’ ‘sanctuary’ immigration policies
Gov. JB Pritzker will join the Democratic governors of New York and Minnesota next month in testifying before a congressional committee about their states’ policies on cooperating with federal immigration authorities.
Pritzker’s office confirmed yesterday that the governor would “voluntarily appear” before the U.S. House Oversight Committee on June 12 after its chairman, Republican Rep. James Comer of Kentucky, announced in a news release that Pritzker would testify alongside New York’s Kathy Hochul and Minnesota’s Tim Walz.
The Christopher Columbus statue in Chicago’s Arrigo Park was removed in 2020. (Alyssa Pointer/Chicago Tribune)
Mayor Brandon Johnson defends deal on Columbus statues
The Grant Park and Arrigo Park Columbus statues have hung in political limbo since then-Mayor Lori Lightfoot removed them amid protests in 2020.
But Mayor Brandon Johnson’s newly appointed Park District CEO, Carlos Ramirez-Rosa, announced a deal last week to loan the smaller statue, which had been in Arrigo Park, for a planned Italian immigrant museum and clear away the larger Grant Park statue’s base.
People wait in line at check-in counters at O’Hare International Airport on Dec. 23, 2024. (Eileen T. Meslar/Chicago Tribune)
Did a British woman accused of drug trafficking try to use ICE to flee the country?
Last year, 29-year-old Kimberly Hall was arrested at O’Hare International Airport with 21 bundles of cocaine after traveling from Mexico, according to court records, in a case that was splashed across her hometown British tabloids.
Now, as the United Kingdom citizen faces felony drug charges, she is entangled in an immigration-related fight with the state’s attorney’s office as she seeks release from Cook County Jail while awaiting trial. Prosecutors say that, while initially released on electronic monitoring, she sought out federal immigration authorities in an attempt to get deported and evade trial. She was very nearly able to pull it off, according to prosecutors.
Rutgers’ Kyle Monangai rushes for a touchdown against Miami during the Pinstripe Bowl at Yankee Stadium on Dec. 28, 2023. (Mike Stobe/Getty Images)
Chicago Bears Q&A: Does Kyle Monangai compare to David Montgomery? Which games could be in prime time?
The NFL offseason never sleeps. After the Chicago Bears drafted eight new players two weekends ago, they’ll get their first look at them on the field this weekend during a three-day rookie minicamp at Halas Hall. Then next week brings the much-awaited 2025 schedule release.
Brad Biggs’ weekly Bears mailbag begins with a question about the last of those draft picks.
Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark walks off the court after an exhibition game against Brazil on May 4, 2025, in Iowa City, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
Caitlin Clark’s return to Iowa for a preseason game draws 13% more viewers than ESPN’s 2024 regular-season average
Caitlin Clark’s return to Iowa’s Carver-Hawkeye Arena for a WNBA preseason game between the Indiana Fever and the Brazilian national team averaged 1.3 million viewers on ESPN, the network announced yesterday.
The average viewership for Sunday’s game was 13% higher than ESPN’s 2024 regular-season average for the WNBA.
Natasha Lyonne as Charlie Cale, the drifter, human lie detector and crime solver in Season 2 of “Poker Face.” (Peacock)
‘Poker Face’ review: TV’s best case-of-the-week series returns for Season 2
There’s a wonderfully slouching, offhand charisma Natasha Lyonne brings to her performance in “Poker Face,” back for a second season on Peacock, writes Tribune TV and film critic Nina Metz. You don’t see this kind of thing very much at the moment, but like Jerry Orbach in those old episodes of “Law & Order,” it’s the shrugging, easy-going cynicism of a New Yorker who has been around enough to see the world for what it is.
Smokey Robinson attends the screening for “The Apollo” during the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival on April 24, 2019, in New York. (Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)
Motown legend Smokey Robinson accused by former housekeepers of sexual assault, rape
Four former housekeepers of Smokey Robinson allege in a lawsuit filed that the Motown music luminary repeatedly sexually assaulted and raped them while they worked for him.
People move around the grounds at Miche Fest at Oakwood Beach in Chicago on July 13, 2024. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)
Miche Fest is canceled for 2025
A statement from the Michelada Fest team shared yesterday said in part that “we’ve made the difficult decision to cancel Michelada Fest 2025,” and attributed the reason to concerns over visas and travel for music artists.