State

Illinois task force looking at changing ‘qualified immunity’ stalls on recommendations

ACLU of Illinois’ Peter Hannah, state Rep. Justin Slaughter, D-Chicago, and state Sen. John Curran, R-Lemont, during Wednesday's ICJIA task force meeting  

• Greg Bishop / The Center Square

• IDOC inmates continue to face commissary shortages

• Dozens of educators sue governor, 22 districts over vaccine, mask mandates

• Pritzker administration pushes against recommendations for full pension funding goal

• College students could help address substitute teacher shortage

• State opens applications for additional $297 million in COVID-19 rental assistance

• Audit commission to review delays in FOID cards, concealed carry licenses, other findings with state police

• 3 Illinois casinos move to the next stage

• Pritzker touts infrastructure funding in southern Illinois stops

• Illinois Supreme Court lifts hold on judicial redistricting

Nation

Fourth Ghislaine Maxwell accuser expected to testify at sex abuse trial

Ghislaine Maxwell embraces defense attorney Laura Menninger as she enters the court during the trial of Maxwell, the Jeffrey Epstein associate accused of sex trafficking, in a courtroom sketch in New York City, U.S., December 8, 2021. REUTERS/Jane Rosenberg

• Walnuts for holiday baking languish as U.S. shipping crisis hurts farmers

• Former U.S. senator, presidential candidate Bob Dole to lie in state in Capitol

Government, Politics, Campaigns  & Elections

U.S. Senate passes Republican bill to overturn Biden vaccine mandate

Senator Mike Braun (R-IN) speaks during a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies hearing at the Dirksen Senate Office building in Washington, D.C., U.S., June 9, 2021. Stefani Reynolds/Pool via REUTERS/Files

• Deal to avert U.S. default, raise debt limit faces test in Senate

• House Jan. 6 panel has 'no choice' but contempt charge against former Trump aide Meadows

• U.S. senators announce bipartisan social media data transparency bill

• U.S. House passes measure clamping down on products from China's Xinjiang region

• Biden administration asks U.S. Supreme Court to reject Harvard affirmative action case

• Biden 'Summit for Democracy' to rally nations against rising authoritarianism

• North Carolina Supreme Court delays primary elections until May 2022

International

• North Cameroon violence between farmers, herders kills 22; residents flee

Talks to salvage Iran nuclear deal resume in Vienna, Russian envoy says

Deputy Secretary General of the European External Action Service (EEAS) Enrique Mora and Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Ali Bagheri Kani wait for the start of a meeting of the JCPOA Joint Commission in Vienna, Austria December 3, 2021. EU Delegation in Vienna/Handout via REUTERS

• U.S. moves to tighten Iran sanctions enforcement as nuclear talks stall

• Russia blasts U.S. stance in embassy row, cautious on Ukraine

• Polish PM tells Germany's Scholz not to 'give in' over Nord Stream 2

China not worried about any 'domino effect' of Olympic boycotts

A woman wearing a face mask stands in front of the logo of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics before the Olympics flame exhibition tour at Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, in Beijing, China December 9, 2021. REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins

• People with health issues or inactivated vaccine should get COVID-19 booster - WHO

• Amid party outcry, Britain implores people: obey COVID rules

• France says it will fight for every UK fishing licence as European deadline looms

• Indian farmers call off lengthy protest after govt assurances

Science, Medicine, Technology & Environment

With lab help, whiskey distillers skip oak barrel-aging. But how does it taste?

In a small lab in California's Silicon Valley, Martin Janousek and Stu Aaron are making whiskey. There are no oak barrels stacked floor to ceiling. In fact, there's hardly any wood at all. Instead, they use syringes, beakers and vials to find a more sustainable way to distill whiskey.