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“It just really felt magical,” the Rev. Joseph Wahlmeier, a Lincoln priest who was in St. Peter's Square to witness Chicago-born Robert Prevost be introduced as Pope Leo XIV.

FEMA’s shake-up follows the cancellation of key climate resilience programs and growing uncertainty over the agency’s future.

by Vernal Coleman and Eric Umansky

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Democratic House members on Thursday blasted the Trump administration’s moves to shrink the Department of Veterans Affairs and demanded more transparency from its leaders after a ProPublica investigation revealed widespread disruptions across the agency’s health care system.

“There are real-life dangerous impacts for veterans,” said Rep. Chris Deluzio of Pennsylvania, citing the news organization’s work.

This week, ProPublica reported on dozens of emails sent from staff at VA hospitals and clinics across the country to headquarters warning how cuts could, and in some cases are, degrading the agency’s ability to provide for the roughly 9 million veterans who rely on it.

Hiring freezes and other edicts from the White House have left medical providers scrambling and short-staffed amid an ever-shifting series of policy moves, including the cancellation of contracts with companies that maintain cancer registries, the emails said. Staffers at VA centers in Pennsylvania warned the cuts were causing “severe and immediate impacts,” including to “life-saving cancer trials.”

“Enrollment in clinical trials is stopping,” one wrote, “meaning veterans lose access to therapies.” Staffers at the hospital warned more than 1,000 veterans would lose access to treatment for diseases ranging from metastatic head and neck cancers, to kidney disease, to traumatic brain injuries.

On Thursday, the House members, several of whom are veterans, demanded VA leadership provide more details on how cuts are affecting such work, in which service members often receive treatment they would not otherwise have access to.

“We all want to cut waste, fraud and abuse, but what we see today is when you cancel a contract, it means the end of a clinical trial that’s going to save someone’s life,” Rep. Maggie Goodlander of New Hampshire said.

Notably, Deluzio, an Iraq War veteran whose Pittsburgh-area district includes a VA facility, and other lawmakers said they had learned about the impact for the first time from ProPublica’s reporting. On Thursday, they accused agency Secretary Doug Collins of stonewalling their efforts to find out what positions have been laid off, what contracts have been canceled and what future cuts will look like.

“We want the country to understand that this administration is hiding what they are doing, not just from us and the Congress, but from veterans and the American people,” Deluzio said.

“And the worst part is, we don’t know if anyone has died,” he added.

President Donald Trump has long said his administration will prioritize veterans and not compromise their care.

The disruptions at the VA have come even as the department has laid off just a few thousand staffers — a small fraction of the employees it said it ultimately plans to remove. Collins has said the agency is developing plans with Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency to cut at least 70,000 employees — a number that he has underscored is a “goal.” “Could be more, could be less,” he told lawmakers this week.

On Thursday, in a post on X, Collins pushed back on criticism, calling ProPublica’s reporting “misleading” and saying it was based on “some outdated reports from the internal system VA uses to quickly identify and fix issues across the department.”

In a statement, VA press secretary Pete Kasperowicz said that Collins was working to fix a “broken bureaucracy” that has long had problems with patient safety and access to care, among other issues. “Unfortunately, many in the media, government union bosses and some in Congress are fighting to keep in place the broken status quo,” he said. “Our message to Veterans is simple: Despite major opposition from those who don’t want to change a thing at VA, we will reform the department to make it work better for Veterans, families, caregivers and survivors.”

Kasperowicz previously told the news organization that the issues in Pennsylvania have been resolved, though locals there with knowledge of the issues said that’s not the case and that the impact is ongoing. Kasperowicz also said in regard to the contracts to maintain the cancer registries that there had been “no effect on patients.” He added that the VA is moving to create a national contract to administer them.

According to some providers, even the temporary disruptions have hurt the care of veterans. One clinical trial to treat veterans for opioid addiction was hobbled by temporary layoffs. “We couldn’t give veterans a tool that could save their lives,” said Ellie Gordon, the CEO of the startup Behavior, which is testing biosensors to alert veterans to the risk of relapse.

Collins touted the cuts in a sometimes-contentious hearing on Tuesday before the U.S Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs.

“We’re going to maintain VA’s mission-essential jobs like doctors, nurses and claims processors, while phasing out non-mission essential roles like interior designers and DEI officers,” he said in an opening statement. The funds saved will be rerouted into direct health care and benefits for veterans, he added.

Some Republicans at the hearing defended the administration’s proposed cuts. “The VA has become a bloated bureaucracy,” said Sen. Tommy Tuberville, who represents Alabama. “I think most of us will agree with that.”

But Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., pushed back on Collins’ statements, saying that laying off such a large portion of the staff will inevitably involve letting go of health care workers, like nurses and doctors. “You cannot slash and trash the VA without eliminating those essential positions which provide access and availability of health care,” he said. “It simply cannot be done.”

Others at the hearing took Collins to task for a lack of transparency. Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, admonished the secretary for refusing to provide a list of the 538 canceled contracts since his appointment. Collins said he would provide the information, but only after it’s finalized.

“We’re looking at every step we can, but also, I’m not going to play it out in a public arena,” he said.

J. David McSwane contributed reporting.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL)—a member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation (CST)—underscored to Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, and other artificial intelligence (AI) leaders how important Fermilab and Argonne National Laboratory are to accelerating scientific breakthroughs in fields such as particle physics, AI and cancer research, as well as how pivotal the labs are to Illinois and our nation’s economy. During her remarks, Duckworth also condemned Donald Trump and Elon Musk for taking a chainsaw to federal research funding, which threatens to set our country back decades and hurts our capacity to be a world leader in scientific breakthroughs. Video of Duckworth’s remarks can be found on her YouTube . “Illinois is the proud home of two crown jewels of scientific innovation and research—Fermilab and Argonne National Laboratory—and there’s nothing more important than sustaining

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NASHVILLE – The Illinois Department of Transportation today announced that one lane in each direction of Interstate 64 will be closed from 1 mile west of CH 11 to the Jefferson County line in Washington County starting, weather permitting, at 7 a.m. Monday, May 12, for pavement patching. Motorists should expect delays and are encouraged to use alternate routes during this closure. Drivers are urged to reduce speed, be alert for changing conditions, obey all construction signage, and refrain from using mobile devices while approaching and traveling through the work zone. The project expected to be completed by mid-summer. For IDOT District 8 updates, follow us on the social media platform X at @IDOTDistrict8 or view area construction details on IDOT’s traveler information map on GettingAroundIllinois.com .

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WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Patty Murray (D-WA) and Cory Booker (D-NJ) today demanded answers from Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for eliminating the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) team responsible for making sure people who are trying to become parents have the information they need to thoughtfully and safely grow their families—despite Donald Trump’s broken promise to support families seeking IVF treatments. “Because IVF is a complicated and expensive process, the American people deserve access to the best information possible to inform their family building journey. Unfortunately, hollowing out National Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) Surveillance System capabilities and capacity is consistent with Donald Trump’s deceitful and disingenuous rhetoric on IVF,” the Senators wrote in a letter to HHS Secretary Kennedy. “Your

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If there was a popularity contest held at the Missouri Capitol, the hands-down favorite to win isn't the governor or any legislator either. In fact, he's not even human.

His journey to the papacy began south of his hometown, across the Mississippi River in St. Louis.

EDWARDSVILLE – New and returning elected officials for the City of Edwardsville were officially sworn in at the May 6, 2025 City Council meeting. Sworn in on Tuesday were Mayor Art Risavy, Ward 2 Alderman Adam Hanna, Ward 4 Alderman SJ Morrison, and Ward 6 Alderwoman Jennifer Warren (each pictured above). City Clerk Michelle Boyer, who was absent from the meeting and due to be sworn in this week, will be sworn in at a future meeting. Madison County Circuit Court Judge Andrew Carruthers administered the Oath of Office for each elected official. While each alderman ran in uncontested races during the latest round of Madison County municipal elections, this will only be one official’s first term. Hanna is serving his first term as Ward 2 Alderman, following the ward’s former alderman, Hal Patton. Returning for their second terms are Risavy, Warren, and Boyer, while Morrison has secured his third term. The newly sworn in council members also made a series of appointments

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This story was originally published by ProPublica. Republished under a CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 license. Last month, a Department of Government Efficiency aide at the nation’s consumer watchdog agency was told by ethics attorneys that he held stock in companies that employees are forbidden from owning — and was advised not to participate in any actions that could benefit him personally, […]

SPRINGFIELD — Governor JB Pritzker signed Executive Order 2025-02 on Wednesday, May 7, 2025, affirming Illinois’ commitment to protecting the civil rights, human rights, and data privacy of autistic residents. The order restricts unauthorized data collection and sharing by state agencies and requires that autism-related information be handled only when necessary and with informed consent. The executive order was issued in response to growing national concerns about federal efforts to create autism registries or databases without clear legal safeguards or accountability. It prohibits state agencies, contractors, vendors, and grantees from collecting or disclosing personally identifiable autism-related data unless it is required for care, legal compliance, or program eligibility. All disclosures must follow strict privacy and data minimization rules and be limited to the minimum information necessary, with anonymization applied where feasible. “Every Illinoisan deserves

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Victor Scott II has run - both figuratively and literally - with the opportunity to seize the St. Louis Cardinals' starting centerfielder job in his second-big league season. And he hasn't looked back.

Local Catholics are pleased with the election of the new pope. They’re largely happy he’s from the United States and hope he will help the American church come together.

Students at St. Louis University were in the middle of finals when news broke about the selection of the new pope, giving them something new to study up.

S. M. Wilson & Co. is excited to partner with the City of Webster Groves and Chiodini Architects on this design/build project to renovate the Webster Ice Arena. The residents of Webster Groves approved funds through Prop W to create new amenities and make necessary repairs to existing facilities. The arena renovations include replacing the […]

The historic election of the new pope is sparking powerful reactions in St. Louis.  

Cuts to federal grant funding has put $7.7 million at risk at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center. A major capital campaign could fill the gap.

The lineup for the big Black Sabbath reunion/farewell concert is stacked with big names from metal and hard rock, including Metallica, Guns N' Roses, Tool and Slayer. One name that…

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