Illinois National Guard authorized for Chicago mission, official says
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(CHICAGO) — The Illinois National Guard has received an official notification from the Pentagon authorizing a mission in Chicago, according to an Illinois official.
The official confirmed the mission will involve 300 Guardsmen tasked with protecting federal property under Title 10 authorities.
The Guard has not received mobilization orders, which means it will take a number of days to process and muster soldiers — and train them for the mission, according to the official.
At the very earliest, Guardsmen would be deployed in Chicago at the end of this week, the official said.
“The Governor did not receive any calls from any federal officials. The Illinois National Guard communicated to the Department of War that the situation in Illinois does not require the use of the military and, as a result, the Governor opposes the deployment of the National Guard under any status,” a spokesperson for Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker said in a statement.
The authorization comes amid escalating tensions in Chicago over the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.
U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents on Saturday shot and wounded a woman they alleged was part of a convoy of protesters that rammed their vehicles during an “ambush.”
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Border Patrol agents opened fire on the woman in self-defense, alleging she was armed with a semiautomatic weapon and was driving one of three vehicles that “cornered” and rammed the CBP agents’ vehicles.
Describing the incident as “really strange,” Noem alleged that before the shooting, a caravan of 10 vehicles was following the CBP agents and officers through the streets of Chicago.
“They had followed them and gotten them cornered, pinned them down and then our agents, when getting out of their cars, they tried to run them over and had semiautomatic handguns on them to where our agents had to protect themselves and shots were fired and an individual ended up in the hospital that was attacking these officers,” Noem said in a statement on Sunday.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche. Photo Courtesy: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — Andrew Bailey, who serves as the Missouri attorney general, has been appointed as co-deputy director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, according to Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche.
“Thrilled to welcome Andrew Bailey as our new FBI Co-Deputy Director,” according to Blanche’s post. “As Missouri’s Attorney General, he took on the swamp, fought weaponized government, and defended the Constitution. Now he is bringing that fight to DOJ.”
This marks the first time in FBI history that the agency has had two deputy directors. Last month, current Deputy Director Dan Bongino faced growing fallout over the Justice Department’s decision not to disclose any more records from its investigations into deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Bongino was upset at the administration’s handling of the issue, according to sources.
“I am proud to announce I have accepted the role of Co-Deputy Director of the FBI,” Bailey posted on X. “I extend my thanks to @POTUS and @AGPamBondi for the opportunity to serve in the mission to Make America Safe Again. I will protect America and uphold the Constitution.”
“The FBI, as the leading investigative body of the federal government under the Department of Justice, will always bring the greatest talent this country has to offer in order to accomplish the goals set forth when an overwhelming majority of American people elected President Donald J. Trump again. Andrew Bailey will be an integral part of this important mission and I look forward continued fight to save America together,” FBI Director Kash Patel said Monday evening.
Attorney General Pam Bondi, President Donald Trump, and granddaughter Arabella Kushner attend the men’s singles final of the US Open Tennis Championships in New York City, September 7, 2025. (Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — The White House said it didn’t ask the U.S. Tennis Association to censor reactions to President Donald Trump during his attendance at the U.S. Open over the weekend.
“That’s not true,” a White House official told ABC News on Sunday. “We did not ask anyone to censor.”
USTA officials earlier responded to a report that they had asked broadcasters to censor any reactions or protests aimed at Trump as he appeared at the tournament’s men’s final in New York on Sunday.
“We regularly ask our broadcasters to refrain from showcasing off-court disruptions,” USTA spokesperson Brendan McIntyre told ABC News.
The Athletic, a sports publication from The New York Times, published a report on Saturday that described a USTA memo to broadcasters. The Athletic reported that it had reviewed the memo.
“We ask all broadcasters to refrain from showcasing any disruptions or reactions in response to the President’s attendance in any capacity,” the USTA said in the memo, according to The Athletic.
The president drew boos and some cheers when he arrived at Arthur Ashe stadium in Queens, where Trump grew up.
Trump, arriving back at Joint Base Andrews after the championship match, said he “really enjoyed” it and said the fans were “great.”
“I loved it. First of all, the two players have unbelievable talent. It just seemed they hit the ball harder than I’ve ever seen before. Incredible talent and I enjoyed it. I used to go all the time but, you know, lately, it’s a little bit more difficult. I really enjoyed it.”
Trump said the “fans were really nice.”
“I didn’t know what to expect. Usually, you would say that would be a somewhat progressive, as they say nowadays, crowd. Sometimes — some people would call it liberal. But we’ll use the word they like to use, progressive. But they were great, the fans were great.”
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump’s signature tax and spending megabill could alter aspects of K-12 and higher education in the coming years, according to education advocates on both sides of the aisle.
After a monthslong process on Capitol Hill, the highly anticipated law will significantly reform the student loan process and broaden school choice options for families and the education community at large.
Here’s how the new law, which also brings massive cuts to government benefits such as Medicaid and increases funding for immigration enforcement, potentially changes education for millions of Americans.
Student loans
The megabill pushed through several House Republican policies aimed at reforming higher education — including with student loans.
The new law terminates all current student loan repayment plans for loans disbursed on or after July 1, 2026. They will be replaced with two separate plans: a standard repayment plan and a new income-based repayment plan called the Repayment Assistance Plan, according to the text of the megabill.
The Department of Education released a statement that said these new plans are currently impacted by legal challenges, urging borrowers on the Biden-era Income Driven Repayment plans to consider enrolling in an income-based repayment plan.
With this new process, Education and Workforce Committee Chairman Tim Walberg, a Republican, said he believes struggling borrowers will receive the assistance needed to repay loans without saddling taxpayers with that burden.
The new law also establishes loan limits for parent borrowers and terminates graduate and professional plus loans — designed to help graduate and professional students pay for school — for their degrees and certificates.
Earlier this year, Education Secretary Linda McMahon applauded the megabill for simplifying the “overly complex” repayment process and reducing borrowing amounts to “help curb rising tuition costs.”
The Student Borrower Protection Center, which focuses on eliminating the burden of student debt, denounced the provisions in the bill. Aissa Canchola Bañez, the center’s policy director, described it as a crushing blow to millions of Americans already struggling to cover college costs.
“This bill is a dangerous attack on students, working families and communities across the country,” she said, adding that it is “shredding the student loan safety net, weakening protections and pushing millions of students and families into the riskier and more expensive private student loan market.”
National Parents Union President Keri Rodrigues warned the new policies in Trump’s megabill are leading to a “difficult moment for American families.”
Rodrigues fears a $65,000 lifetime limit on Parent PLUS loans — which provide money to parents for their children to attend college — could eliminate a pathway to “economic mobility.”
“It’s going to mean a lot of hardship for kids and for families across the country,” she said.
School choice
Conservatives are celebrating the law as it continues to deliver on a long-standing pledge from the Trump administration to give power to parents and reduce education bureaucracy in Washington through universal school choice — something McMahon has pushed to see expanded nationwide.
Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy’s Educational Choice for Children Act tax credit, a provision included within the megabill, provides a charitable donation incentive for individuals and businesses to fund scholarship awards for students to cover expenses related to K-12 public and private education starting in 2027.
Republican Rep. Adrian Smith, who co-sponsored the House legislation, told ABC News it removes the “politics” from school-funding formulas that haven’t served students’ best interests.
“Students deserve the opportunity to succeed in the setting which best meets their needs, and this investment will open new doors for millions of American families,” Smith said.
Tommy Schultz, CEO of the conservative American Federation for Children, noted the change is a monumental step toward every state achieving school choice.
“AFC will work to ensure that governors and state leaders listen to their constituents and bring educational freedom to every state in the nation, and to as many families as possible,” Schultz said in a statement to ABC News. “We will continue to fight to ensure that this tax credit scholarship is well-implemented and expanded as soon as possible.”
Democratic Sen. Mazie Hirono is a staunch opponent of the president’s education policies and the Republican tax credit, saying it strips public schools of its resources and enriches wealthy families.
“What [the ECCA] does is it is yet another big tax break for rich people who can afford to contribute these kinds of funds — so mainly the people who will take advantage of this will be kids who are already going to private schools,” Hirono explained.
“Not much of a choice,” she quipped.
American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten also slammed the bill for promoting a “massive and unprecedented transfer of wealth from everyday people to billionaires.”
“It writes a permanent school voucher scheme into the tax code that would redirect billions of dollars each year to private schools — even as our public schools, which educate 90 percent of all students, remain woefully underfunded,” Weingarten said in a statement to ABC News.
Despite the public school debate, Sen. Cassidy and education advocates argue no child should be “trapped” in a failing school.
Dr. Eva Moskowitz is the CEO of Success Academy Charter Schools, the highest-performing free public charter school network in New York City, and told ABC News that it’s time to move on from the public education “monopoly.”
“We have a solution right in front of us: high-performing charter schools and a scholarship program for the private school choice,” Moskowitz said. “This is the most concrete, pragmatic, thing we can do today to impact hundreds of thousands of children.”
