State

• 70,000 Illinoisans seek emergency rental payments

Federal 3-judge panel to decide whether state redistricting plan is constitutional

The U.S. federal courthouse in Chicago will be the site of a trial in September involving challenges to the recently-passed legislative redistricting maps in Illinois. (Credit: U.S. courts)

• Potential fraud, backlogs, a concern with monthly child tax credit checks

• Legislative watchdog says office is 'paper tiger,' announces Dec. 15 departure

• Illinois families with critically ill children will soon be eligible for palliative services

• New legislation expands dental services in Illinois schools

• New law allows sports uniform modifications for cultural reasons

• Some Honor Flight hubs set to resume, others cancel

Many Americans embrace falsehoods about critical race theory

Parents and community members attend a Loudoun County School Board meeting which included a discussion about the academic doctrine known as Critical Race Theory, in Ashburn, Virginia, U.S. June 22, 2021. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein/File Photo

• Federal lawsuit filed by family of Andrew Brown, who was killed by North Carolina police

• FBI badly botched sex-abuse probe of USA Gymnastics doctor, watchdog says

• Idaho man who sat in Pence's chair pleads guilty to Capitol riot charge

• 'They're baaaaack': Two dozen goats eat their way through New York park

Government, Politics, Campaigns  & Elections

Biden backs $3.5 trln spending plan, Republicans blast massive package

President Joe Biden's drive for big new infrastructure investment got a boost on Tuesday when leading Senate Democrats agreed on a $3.5 trillion investment plan they aim to include in a budget resolution to be debated soon. This report produced by Zachary Goelman.

• Pelosi praises Senate budget plan as 'bold, essential investments'

• U.S. Senate passes bill to ban all products from China's Xinjiang

• U.S. House select committee announces first hearing to probe Jan. 6 attack

• U.S. Senate Democrats roll out draft bill to legalize weed

International

More than 20 die in floods in western Europe, dozens missing

Six houses collapsed and cars were swept away after heavy rain on Thursday caused flooding in Germany's western state of Rhineland-Palatinate.

• Residents count cost as South Africa looting starts to die down

• Hundreds of Tigrayans detained in Ethiopian capital in recent weeks, witnesses say

• Pandemic disruptions push millions of Nigerians into hunger

• Myanmar funeral services overwhelmed as COVID toll mounts

Afghan neighbours wary of new refugee crisis as violence surges

An internally displaced Afghan girl carries a child near their shelter at a camp on the outskirts of Kabul, Afghanistan June 20, 2019. REUTERS/Omar Sobhani

• Iraqi cleric Sadr says he won't take part in October election

• UK police arrest four over racist abuse of England soccer players

• Analysis-When Erdogan's Turkish economic miracle began failing

• Analysis: Japan's Suga in danger of becoming another revolving-door premier

ODD & Extraordinary

• 'Marry me?' - A Champs Elysees proposal moments before France's July 14 parade

Science, Medicine, Technology & Environment

Over 10,000 species risk extinction in Amazon, says landmark report

A jaguar rubs itself against vegetation as it walks through smoke from a fire nearby, in Encontro das Aguas State Park in the Pantanal, the world's largest wetland, in Pocone, Mato Grosso state, Brazil, September 3, 2020. REUTERS/Amanda Perobelli/File Photo