Ray Long

Feds recorded calls of ex-lobbyist Mike McClain, close confidant of House Speaker Michael Madigan: sources - Chicago Tribune chicagotribune.com/news/criminal-… w ⁦@jmetr22b⁩ Send tips: 312-222-3448 or RLong@ChicagoTribune.com

Rahm Emanuel would like to talk about immigration washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/…

BAN CARR-JACKING: U.S. approves $6.2 billion merger set to reshape local TV washingtonpost.com/business/2026/…

Chicago Public Schools CEO search: Former New York City schools chief withdraws from consideration ⁦@KateArmanini⁩ chicagotribune.com/2026/03/19/chi…

More than $30M in outside spending shaped Illinois primaries, but wins were a split for big-monied interests ⁦@oliviaolanderr @jakesheridan_ chicagotribune.com/2026/03/19/out…

More than $30M in outside spending shaped Illinois primaries, but wins were a split for big-monied interests @oliviaolanderr chicagotribune.com/2026/03/19/out…

Mayor Brandon Johnson fires community safety chief chicagotribune.com/2026/03/19/may…

North Side lawmaker Margaret Croke secures Democratic nomination for Illinois comptroller ⁦@JeremyGorner⁩ chicagotribune.com/2026/03/19/ill…

23 years ago tonight, in an Oval Office address, George W. Bush announced the start of the Iraq War. 4,492 American service members were killed in the years that followed. 32,292 were wounded. At least 200,000 Iraqi civilians died. The humanitarian impact was immense. America wasted 9 years and 3 trillion dollars on a war that never should have happened—a war predicated on a lie, pushed by warmongering neocon politicians, and paid for by everyday people. Imagine what that $3 trillion could have bought here at home. Imagine the decade we could have spent focusing on America, our people, our place in the world. Imagine the lives our service members, stolen from us, would have lived. But instead, the president took us to war. Yet another costly quagmire in the Middle East. I voted against the Iraq War. I knew the White House would lie to Members of Congress and voters alike to manufacture the pretext for a conflict—and they did. Now, Iran is shaping up to be Iraq 2.0—new lies, new bloodthirsty politicians, still paid for by American families. Yesterday, we learned that Trump wants another $200 billion for his war. That's after Congress already gave the Pentagon more money than it even asked for in the budget. Enough is enough. It is not too late to learn from the past. Stop this madness. Bring our troops home. End this war.

Joliet City Council passes data center project 8-1. This will be the largest data center in Illinois, the size of Central Park. @WGNNews

John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award goes to ‘the people of the Twin Cities’ and Jerome Powell thehill.com/homenews/57927…

ReMap: Missouri redistricting ruling to be appealed to state Supreme Court thehill.com/homenews/campa…

Breaking: A Mexican teenager has died while in ICE custody in South Florida. He appears to be the youngest person to die in ICE custody since Trump took office last year. miaminewtimes.com/news/mexican-t…

As the Chicago Bears weigh potential moves to Arlington Heights or Northwest Indiana, a new proposal is pitching a different future — keeping the team at Soldier Field with a major overhaul of the historic stadium. fox32chicago.com/sports/chicago…

"Nearly five years." Investigative journalism takes years and years. The investment is immense, and always worth it, and, in the era of "hot takes" and ephemeral "content," rigorously reported journalistic work is needed more than ever. We must keep supporting investigative journalism. From @mannyNYT, lead reporter of the blockbuster piece on Cesar Chavez ⤵️

NBC News Exclusive: Some DHS contractors told White House officials they were asked to pay Corey Lewandowski. From @JuliaEAinsley @jonallendc @news_jul @strickdc nbcnews.com/news/us-news/d…

NEW: The administration detains a DACA recipient who has three US citizen children, two bachelor’s degrees, no criminal record, who was brought to the US when he was just 8 years old. @lbarronlopez reports— ms.now/news/ice-detai…

President Trump claimed the US "knew nothing about" the Israeli attack on Iran's South Pars gas field. A US official told CNN that the US was "aware" of the attack; an Israeli official told CNN that Israel had carried out the attack in coordination with the US. From @JDiamond1 @talshalev1: cnn.com/world/live-new…

I spoke to Anthropic’s AI agent Claude about AI collecting massive amounts of personal data and how that information is being used to violate our privacy rights. What an AI agent says about the dangers of AI is shocking and should wake us up.

EXCLUSIVE interview: Mayor Johnson fired Deputy Mayor of Community Safety Garien Gatewood today, but Gatewood is not going quietly. "There is a culture in this office of, if you hold people accountable, there is a target on your back." More at 4p and 5p and full interview at 10p

Men and women in uniform swore an oath to protect and uphold the Constitution. The SAVE America Act would mean these service members would no longer be able to show just their military ID to register to vote.