As the Illinois primary nears, many voters are likely thinking about which candidates to support and where they can cast their ballots.
Although early voting is an option, plenty of voters will head to the polls on Election Day, which is March 17.
But if you’re not sure where your polling place is, it’s easy to find.
Where do I vote?
To find the closest voting site, the Illinois State Board of Elections operates a “Find Your Polling Place” feature on its website.
However, you’ll want to know early voting locations typically differ from Election Day voting sites.
You can also visit your county clerk’s website for additional information. Many of the clerk websites provide your nearest polling place after you’ve entered your home address:
If you are a resident of Chicago, you can vote at your designated polling place or at one of 51 vote centers open across the city.
Where do I register to vote?
If you haven’t registered yet, no need to worry.
You can register to vote up until, and on, Election Day in Illinois.
Would-be voters need to meet the following criteria in order to be eligible to register on Election Day.
The voter must be a United States citizen
The voter must be 18 years of age or older on Election Day
The voter must have lived in their precinct for at least 30 days prior to Election Day
Voters have two options if they want to register on Election Day. The first is to go to their county clerk’s office, where they can register and cast a ballot in the election.
Six planets are coming together in the sky in what’s known as a planetary parade, and you might be able to spot them on Saturday night.
Mercury, Venus, Jupiter and Saturn will be visible to the naked eye if clear skies allow. Uranus and Neptune can only be spotted with binoculars and telescopes.
Skygazers can usually spot two or three planets after sunset, according to NASA. Hangouts of four or five that can be glimpsed with the naked eye are less common and occur every few years. Last year featured lineups of six and all seven planets.
When’s the best time to catch them?
Go outside about an hour after sunset and venture away from tall buildings and trees that will block the view. Look to the western sky and spot Mercury, Venus and Saturn close to the horizon. Jupiter will be higher up, along with Uranus and Neptune.
How do you know if what you’re seeing is a planet?
“If it’s twinkling, it’s a star. If it is not twinkling, it’s a planet,” said planetary scientist Sara Mazrouei with Humber Polytechnic in Canada.
What if you can’t see anything on Saturday night?
If you’re excited for the planetary parade, be aware that we might not be able to see the alignment Saturday night.
If clouds clear in time, some of the planets will likely come into view.
But if that doesn’t happen, there’s no need to be disappointed.
The parade should be visible over the weekend and in the days after. Eventually, Mercury will bow out and dip below the horizon.
At least one bright planet is visible on most nights, according to NASA.
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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
WASHINGTON — Most congressional Republicans on Saturday praised the coordinated U.S. and Israeli attack on Iran, arguing that war was President Donald Trump’s last resort to halt the Middle East nation’s nuclear ambitions after months of failed diplomatic efforts.
But Democrats, along with Rep. Thomas Massie and Sen. Rand Paul, both Kentucky Republicans, expressed frustration that Trump had carried out the strikes without seeking congressional authorization. Some vowed to force a war powers vote in the House next week that would restrict Trump’s ability to carry out further attacks in Iran.
Massie, who authored the war powers resolution along with Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., before the overnight attack, called the strikes “Acts of war unauthorized by Congress.”
“I am opposed to this War. This is not ‘America First.’ When Congress reconvenes, I will work with @RepRoKhanna to force a Congressional vote on war with Iran,” Massie wrote on X. “The Constitution requires a vote, and your Representative needs to be on record as opposing or supporting this war.”
Sen. Andy Kim, D-N.J., said next week wasn’t soon enough for Congress to respond to what he called “an appalling action by this president.” Kim told NBC News’ Kristen Welker that Congress must “reassemble as soon as possible this weekend to be able to vote on the war powers resolution to show that this is not something that the American people want.”
In a lengthy statement, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., questioned why Trump felt the need to carry out new military strikes against Iran when the president previously declared that his June 2025 strikes “completely and totally obliterated” Iran’s nuclear program.
He said Democrats will force a vote on the Massie-Khanna resolution when they return to Washington.
“Iran is a bad actor and must be aggressively confronted for its human rights violations, nuclear ambitions, support of terrorism and the threat it poses to our allies like Israel and Jordan in the region,” Jeffries said. “However, absent exigent circumstances, the Trump administration must seek authorization for the preemptive use of military force that constitutes an act of war.”
A vote could be close, given the tiny Republican majorities in both the House and Senate. Unlike most legislation, a war powers resolution to limit Trump’s actions in Iran would need just 51 votes in the Senate, where Republicans control 53 seats.
Some MAGA Republicans who had railed against U.S. involvement in the Middle East and Afghanistan have grown wary of Trump’s turn toward military interventionism.
Asked on X if he backs Trump’s military strikes on Iran, Rep. Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, replied: “No. War requires Congressional authorization.”
Davidson added that he wants a briefing explaining the U.S. mission in Iran. If he’s not satisfied, he said, he will vote for the Massie-Khanna resolution.
Paul, a libertarian-leaning noninterventionist who frequently clashes with Trump, said on X that he does not support the strikes.
“The Constitution conferred the power to declare or initiate war to Congress for a reason, to make war less likely. … As with all war, my first and purest instinct is wish Americans soldiers safety and success in their mission,” he wrote. “But my oath of office is to the Constitution, so with studied care, I must oppose another Presidential war.”
Across the aisle, moderate Rep. Tom Suozzi, D-N.Y., co-chair of the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus, praised Trump’s actions, though he added that the president needs to come to Congress to seek military authorization under the War Powers Resolution of 1973.
“I agree with the President’s objectives that Iran can never be allowed to obtain nuclear capabilities. The President must now clearly define the national security objective and articulate his plan to avoid another costly, prolonged war in the Middle East,” Suozzi said on X.
Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., a staunch Israel supporter, is expected to join Republicans in voting against a war powers resolution.
“President Trump has been willing to do what’s right and necessary to produce real peace in the region,” Fetterman said on X. “God bless the United States, our great military, and Israel.”
Ahead of what the administration dubbed “Operation Epic Fury,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio called each member of the “Gang of Eight” congressional leaders, which includes House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., their Democratic counterparts, and top Intelligence Committee leaders, according to White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.
One member of the Gang of Eight was said to be unreachable.
Rubio had also briefed the Gang of Eight for an hour on Tuesday about the administration’s approach to Iran, before Trump’s State of the Union address, according to a White House official and a State Department official.
Separately, after strikes began overnight, the Defense Department notified the House and Senate Armed Services committees early Saturday morning, those sources said.
Thune said he supports Trump’s move and expects administration officials to brief all senators on the Iran strikes. “Despite the dogged efforts of the president and his administration, the Iranian regime has refused the diplomatic off-ramps that would peacefully resolve these national security concerns,” Thune said in a statement Saturday. “I commend President Trump for taking action to thwart these threats.”
Similarly, Johnson defended Trump’s actions and confirmed that he had been kept up to speed about the looming strikes throughout the week. He said he plans to stay in close contact with Trump.
“Today, Iran is facing the severe consequences of its evil actions. President Trump and the Administration have made every effort to pursue peaceful and diplomatic solutions in response to the Iranian regime’s sustained nuclear ambitions and development, terrorism, and the murder of Americans—and even their own people,” Johnson said in a statement.
“Iran and its proxies have menaced America and American lives, undermined our core national interests, systematically destabilized the Middle East, and threatened the security of the entire West,” the speaker added.
Brennan Leach, Kyle Stewart, Frank Thorp V, Gordon Lubold, Abigail Williams and Margaret Faust contributed.
A blood-red moon will soon grace the skies for a total lunar eclipse — and there won’t be another until late 2028.
The spectacle will be visible Tuesday morning from North America, Central America and the western part of South America. Australia and eastern Asia can catch it Tuesday night. Partial stages of the eclipse with small bites taken out of the moon can be seen from Central Asia and much of South America. Africa and Europe will be shut out.
Solar and lunar eclipses happen due to a precise alignment of the sun, moon and Earth. There are between four and seven a year, according to NASA.
The eclipses tend to follow each other, taking advantage of the sweet spot in the celestial bodies’ orbits. Tuesday’s total eclipse of the moon comes two weeks after a ‘ring of fire’ solar eclipse that dazzled people and penguins in Antarctica.
During a total lunar eclipse, the Earth is between the sun and full moon, casting a shadow that covers the moon. The so-called blood moon looks red because of stray bits of sunlight filtering through Earth’s atmosphere.
The show unfolds over several hours, with totality lasting about an hour.
Compared to a solar eclipse, “the lunar eclipse is a little more of a relaxed pace,” said Catherine Miller at Middlebury College’s Mittelman Observatory.
For those in the path, there’s no need for any special equipment to observe — just a clear, cloudless view of the sky.
Use a forecasting app or any online celestial calendar to look up the exact timing for your area. Venture outside a few times to see Earth’s shadow darken the moon, eventually revealing the reddish-orange orb.
“You don’t have to be out there the whole time to see the shadows moving,” said astronomer Bennett Maruca with the University of Delaware.
There’s a partial lunar eclipse on the docket for August, visible across the Americas, Europe, Africa and west Asia.
Standing Friday outside his favorite local beef spot, Pop’s Beef in Chicago, State Rep. Rick Ryan said he was filing a bill to name the Italian beef sandwich the official state sandwich of Illinois.
“The Italian beef sandwich has long been a staple of Illinois meals,” Ryan said in a statement. “It’s our most well
known sandwich, and I’m excited to see this officially named as our state sandwich. It really represents
a part of Illinois culture that so many of us enjoy.”
Ryan sponsored House Bill 4669, which passed unanimously out of the House Rules Committee with bipartisan support and now awaits a full vote in the House later in the spring. He said the measure was intended to be “fun in nature” for his staffers.
“We have support from Republicans, Democrats. We have sponsors from downstate, we have sponsors from Rockford, down in southern Illinois, up and down the state. And the one thing I’ve learned now that we’ve actually done this and this has got some some legs to it, is every person in Springfield now walks up and grabs me in the hallway or grabs me in the rotunda and says, let me tell you about my Italian beef spot …. but the common denominator is that everybody across the state of Illinois loves Italian beef. Everybody has their local joint that they go to,” Ryan said in a press conference Friday.
Dating back to the early 1900s, Italian beef’s roots trace back to Chicago’s Little Italy community, according to an article from Choose Chicago.
But some are questioning whether or not Illinois already has a state sandwich.
While it doesn’t appear in official state listings, the “Horseshoe” sandwich in Springfield has reportedly been considered the unofficial state sandwich for some time.
Created in 1928 by a Springfield chef, “the Horseshoe” is basically a toasted ham and cheese sandwich covered in French fries.
According to the city of Springfield’s website, the signature sandwich involves “two thick slices of toasted Texas Toast, topped with your choice of meat, then cover that with a heaping pile of crispy French fries and drench with homemade cheese sauce.”
But that begs an important question: is it actually a sandwich?
“Unfortunately for the Horseshoe, their time has come and gone,” Ryan said. “They’re not actually a sandwich. It’s actually, an open faced thing with one piece of bread. You can’t pick it up and eat it. In my mind, it’s got to be a something you can hold in your hands to be a sandwich.”
Ryan said as a compromise, there are plans to potentially make the Horseshoe sandwich the official “open faced” sandwich in the state.
“I do have a colleague that’s going to make that the official open faced sandwich of the state of Illinois because there is a difference,” Ryan said. “And it’s a regional thing down in central and southern Illinois that they’re very proud of. So I don’t want to take that away from them.”
Ryan said he is surprised at the attention the bill has received, but he’s proud to be a part of it.
“It literally is something that everyone in Illinois loves dearly and I’m just shocked how much attention it’s gotten,” he said. “I thought it was just a small thing we’re going to be doing, but it’s amazing how many people just love the Italian beef sandwich. And I’m I’m glad to be able to do this for everybody.”
A Georgia police department is reminding parents to double-check what they pack inside their kids’ lunchboxes after a student brought a canned, ready-to-drink martini cocktail to school.
“Say Twin… Before you send them babies off to school… CHECK. THE. LUNCHBOX,” the City of South Fulton Police Department wrote in a Facebook post on Wednesday. “Because why are we getting reports of juice boxes sitting next to… Cutwater margaritas??”
The warning came with a photo of a child’s lunchbox that contained Doritos, snacks and a Cutwater Lemon Drop Martini, which has 11% alcohol, twice the ABV of most beers.
“That is NOT Capri Sun. That is NOT Apple Juice. That is a whole ‘Parent had a long night’ starter pack,” police said. “Now little Johnny done pulled up to 3rd period talking about: ‘Who want fruit snacks?’ knowing good and well he got a Lemon Drop Martini in the zipper pocket.”
Police emphasized that the incident should serve as a reminder for families to slow down during busy mornings. Their message, though playful, was direct: “TIGHTEN UP TWIN!”
The department also shared a simple checklist for parents: “Homework ✅ Lunch packed ✅ Alcoholic beverages ❌❌❌.”
They added one more guideline for anyone rushing through the morning routine: “If it says 12% ABV… it does NOT belong next to a PB&J.”
A Chicago man accused of helping his then-girlfriend kill her mother during a vacation in Indonesia has pleaded not guilty to federal charges in the United States
Hilary Knight doesn’t want to let what she called a “distasteful joke” by President Donald Trump about the gold-medal winning U.S. women’s Olympic hockey team get in the way of a historic performance by American women across all sports at the Milan Cortina Games.
“We’re just focusing on celebrating the women in our room, the extraordinary efforts,” Knight told ESPN on Wednesday. “And continue to celebrate three gold medals in program history as well as the double gold for both men’s and women’s at the same time.”
Knight, a two-time gold medalist whose 15 goals and 33 points in Olympic competition are the most by a U.S. hockey player at the Games, said she’s not focusing on an offhand comment by Trump after the American men topped Canada for gold in overtime on Sunday.
Talking on a speakerphone in the postgame locker room, Trump extended an invitation to the White House to the men’s team, then added, “We’re going to have to bring the women’s team, you do know that.” The president later joked that if he didn’t extend the invitation, he would probably be impeached.
While the vast majority of the men’s team flew to Washington on Tuesday and visited Trump in the White House before being guests at the State of the Union, many of the women’s players were on the way back to their professional or college clubs.
USA Hockey, which said it was “honored” by the invitation, cited logistical issues as the major hurdle that prevented the women’s team from stopping by the White House. The team was originally scheduled to fly commercially into New York on Monday, but was forced to reroute through Atlanta due to a snowstorm in the Northeast.
Several players were going to stick around New York for promotional purposes, even ringing the bell at the New York Stock Exchange. Those scheduled appearances had to be canceled because of flight changes.
Knight lamented that the video — which included several players laughing after Trump’s comments — took on a life of its own and didn’t convey the true nature of the relationship between the men’s and women’s teams.
“I think the guys were in a tough spot,” Knight said. “So I think it’s a shame this storyline and narrative has kind of blown up and overshadowing that connection and genuine interest in one another and cheering each other on.”
Kelly Pannek, a forward on the women’s team, told reporters, “the video is what it is” but added it was a “special feeling” spending time with the men’s team after they won the first Olympic gold for the U.S. in 46 years. Pannek believes there is mutual respect and support on both sides of the relationship.
Goaltender Jeremy Swayman told reporters in Boston after returning to practice with the Bruins that the men “should have reacted differently” to Trump’s remarks.
“To share that gold medal with them is something that we’re forever grateful for,” Swayman said. “And now that we’re home we get to share that together forever and see the incredible support we have from the USA and share this incredible gold medal.”
The earliest the U.S. women could make a visit would be in late spring after the conclusion of the Professional Women’s Hockey League season.
Knight called the dustup a “really good learning point” and hopes that it will affect the way women are talked about both inside and outside of the sports world.
The U.S. won 12 gold medals in Milan Cortina, with women playing a hand in eight of them.
“Women aren’t less than,” Knight said. “And their achievements shouldn’t be overshadowed by anything else other than how great they are.”
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But they’re not about to give up their place in the sun.
Charity Palmatier, who lives year-round just outside the scenic city in a beachside development with other expats from the United States and Canada, dismissed the Jalisco New Generation Cartel’s torching of buses and cars Sunday to protest the killing of its leader as “performative.”
“The cartels like to make statements,” Palmatier, 57, who has lived in the area for nearly a decade, told NBC News on Tuesday. “They have temper tantrums when one of their big guys gets captured or killed.”
The violence erupted after drug kingpin Nemesio Ruben Oseguera Cervantes, aka “El Mencho,” died following a shootout with the Mexican military about 180 miles east of Puerto Vallarta.
There had been a $15 million reward for the capture of the head of a cartel that is one of the main suppliers of cocaine to the U.S. market and which earns billions from the production of fentanyl and methamphetamines.
Palmatier noted that while vehicles and some businesses were set ablaze and masked gunmen raided some residences and menaced people on the street, “no citizens were injured or killed.”
“It’s not the Wild West down here,” she said. “It’s much more safe than you would think.”
Karen Davis-Farage, who divides her time between homes in Vallarta, as the expats call it, and New York City and Los Angeles, admitted that she booked a plane ticket to get out of town after a restaurant on the first floor of the building where she lives was set on fire.
Karen Davis-Farage says she hopes people don’t stay away from Puerto Vallarta because of the recent cartel violence. NBC News
“The cartel was driving up on motorcycles, they had these bags, and they were telling people to get out of the cabs, or get out of the car, or get out of a bus, and they were throwing these bags into the vehicle which was then lighting them on fire,” Davis-Farage, 70, said. “Those were going on all over the city. You couldn’t count all the plumes that were going on in the air.”
But after it was over and she was able to go outside and see the damage, she canceled her flights back to the U.S. She said the threat appeared to be over.
“Everybody is safe and sound,” she said of her friends in Puerto Vallarta.
The State Department on Tuesday lifted its shelter-in-place warning for U.S. citizens in the Mexican state of Jalisco, which is where Puerto Vallarta and another resort city that experienced violence, Guadalajara, are located.
Some 1.6 million U.S. citizens live in Mexico, according to government figures from 2024, many of them expats who spend the winters there, although the number of Americans living there year-round is also growing.
Mexico City is the most popular destination for American expats, according to Mexico News Daily, which cited government figures.
But the coastal cities in Jalisco are increasingly becoming a magnet for Americans in search of sunshine, a lower cost of living, as well as a slower pace of life, according to various websites like Viva Tropical that are aimed at expats.
Tourist visits — and eventually a new home
Both Palmatier and Davis-Farage said they started visiting Puerto Vallarta while still in college, drawn by the city’s colonial charm, its spectacular beaches and artsy vibe.
“It’s very mystical,” Davis-Farage said. “From the mountains to the ocean, it’s so beautiful, so vibrant. There’s a lot of creative people who come here and stay here from around the world.”
The boardwalk in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, on Tuesday. Alfredo Estrella / AFP – Getty Images
Palmatier said she lives in an expat bubble where she doesn’t need to speak Spanish well to get by. But, she said, the Mexican friends she’s made have been very warm and welcoming.
Alvaro Orozco, a Houston-based real estate agent who counts expats in Mexico as his customers and who previously lived in Puerto Vallarta for three years, said none of his clients are pulling up stakes since Sunday’s disturbances.
“No doubt what happened was scary, but generally it’s very safe over there,” he said. “A lot of the time, what happens in Mexico feels more dramatic in the United States.”
This was different, he said, because it was so unexpected and happened in a community in which violent crime is something that generally happens elsewhere in Mexico.
“What happened Sunday, they were not killing random people, which is the kind of crime that really scares people,” he said. “It was a show of power by the cartel.”
Davis-Farage said that right around the time when the gunmen flooded the streets and started spreading mayhem, she was entertaining a visiting sorority sister. She said that she lives in a building near the beach filled with expats and that it was her friend who first noticed the “fog on the water.”
“We don’t have fog like that,” she said. “I walked out on my balcony and saw black smoke on the horizon; I could smell the smoke and realized it was fire.”
The aftermath of a fire in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico following the recent cartel violence. Alfredo ESTRELLA / AFP via Getty Images
Davis-Farage said she immediately flashed back to Sept. 11, 2001, when she was working in lower Manhattan and Al Qaeda terrorists piloted hijacked jetliners into the World Trade Center twin towers.
“I was at 9/11, I watched the buildings come down,” she said. “It all came back. The kind of feeling where you are not in control and you know you could be in danger.”
Davis-Farage said she and her friend joined the other expats gathered on the top floor of the building, where they scoured the web for news about what was happening on the streets.
“We felt pretty safe staying on the roof … I felt safer there than in my apartment just because we were amongst other people,” she said.
Then her phone pinged and there was a text from a friend who said a bus had exploded nearby.
“They had to evacuate his condo,” she said. “That created another level of fright. “
The fright escalated a few hours later.
“We smelled smoke and we realized that our building was on fire,” she said. “That was probably the scariest part.”
It turned out, Davis-Farage said, a cartel member had tossed an incendiary device of some kind into a restaurant on the ground floor. The only casualties, she said, were some of the instruments that the house band kept there.
Asked if she ever felt her life was in danger, David-Farage did not answer directly.
“The irony of this experience is, we never heard sirens,” she said. “We never heard a siren the entire day. My reasoning is if (firefighters) had come out to try and put out the fires, they would have been killed by the cartel.”
While there have been numerous accounts of tourists running for their lives from masked gunmen firing shots in the air, Palmatier said she never personally felt in any danger while she sheltered in place in her building. Most of the residents are expats like her from the U.S. and Canada.
“I see what happened as something that happens as a matter of course from time to time in Mexico,” she said. “This got a lot more play because it was a big guy they managed to catch.”
Palmatier believes that when violence happens in Mexico, “it certainly is not directed at someone like me.”
Davis-Farage said, “I just hope people don’t stay away from Vallarta because of this.”
A 30-year-old man is facing charges that he allegedly beat his infant son, with that child later succumbing to his injuries.
Dominic Larson is facing first-degree murder charges and a raft of other charges in the case, which unfolded in recent days.
Note: This story contains content that may be disturbing to some viewers. Discretion is advised.
According to police, DeKalb police responded to a hospital regarding an infant who had been admitted to the facility after suffering severe facial injuries.
When police arrived, they were informed the boy’s father had transported him to the hospital for treatment.
That child was airlifted to a Chicago hospital, where he was pronounced dead on Tuesday.
DeKalb County Sheriff’s deputies made contact with Larson at the hospital, and allege that he was intoxicated at the hospital. He attempted to leave the hospital, and was handcuffed by sheriff’s deputies and transported to the DeKalb Police Department for questioning.
Doctors informed police that the child had suffered a fractured skull and severe brain hemorrhages, and was pronounced dead on Tuesday night.
Larson has now been arrested and charged with first-degree murder, aggravated battery, and reckless conduct, all of which are felonies.
He will appear in court for a pretrial detention hearing this week.
The Chicago Bears won the NFC North division in 2025, and they’ve been rewarded with a daunting schedule against plenty of challenging teams.
In fact, the Bears will play eight games against playoff teams from a year ago, including five against teams who won their divisions last year and both of the Super Bowl teams who battled it out in Santa Clara earlier this month.
Fortunately, the Bears do have an extra home game on their schedule next season, but even that may be in question as the team could play an overseas game in 2026.
Here’s what to know about the schedule.
Home Opponents
With the NFL’s 17-game schedule, teams get an extra home game each season, and the Bears will get that in the 2026 campaign.
Along with their games against the Packers, Lions and Vikings, the Bears will also face a trio of division champions at Soldier Field next season.
That list includes the New England Patriots, who won the AFC East and were the conference’s representative in the Super Bowl.
The Bears will also welcome the AFC South-champion Jacksonville Jaguars to Soldier Field, as well as the NFC East-winning Philadelphia Eagles.
The Bears do have a couple of games against teams that struggled in 2025, with the New Orleans Saints and New York Jets coming to Soldier Field. The Bears will also face Baker Mayfield and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to round out their home slate.
That could mean the Bears would head overseas for the second time in three years as the league drastically expands its international slate.
Road Opponents
The Bears’ road schedule is also plenty tough, featuring a matchup against the NFC South-winning Carolina Panthers as part of that mix.
More notably, the team will also head to Seattle to take on the Super Bowl champion Seahawks in one of the NFL’s most hostile environments.
The Bears will also make a bit of team history as they’ll face the Buffalo Bills in the opening season of that team’s new stadium.
Road trips to Miami to face the Dolphins and Atlanta to face the Falcons are also on the docket for the Bears in 2026, along with their traditional NFC North matchups against the Packers, Lions and Vikings.
When will the schedule be released?
The 2026 NFL schedule has not been released yet, and typically that date will occur after the NFL Draft, which takes place in late April.
With the Bears playing nine home games, they will also have one preseason game, and that date will also be announced when the league reveals its full slate.
The U.S. said operations and travel in some popular vacation spots in Mexico has “returned to normal” after unrest and widespread violence following the Mexican Army’s killing of Jalisco Cartel boss “El Mencho” Sunday.
The update, from the U.S. Embassy, was issued Monday night following a security alert urging U.S. citizens in some parts of Mexico to shelter in place.
“While incidents were reported yesterday, February 22, the situation has returned to normal in the following areas:” the embassy said” Baja California (including Tijuana, Tecate, and Ensenada), Quintana Roo State (including Cancun, Cozumel, Playa del Carmen, and Tulum), Colima, Guanajuato, Estado de Mexico, Nuevo Leon, Oaxaca, Puebla, Queretaro, San Luis Potosi, Sinaloa, Tamaulipas, Veracruz, and Zacatecas.”
Road blockages in Jalisco State (including Puerto Vallarta, Chapala and Guadalajara) and Nayarit State (including the Nuevo Nayarit/Nuevo Vallarta area near Puerta Vallarta) remain, officials said.
“U.S. government staff in Guadalajara (Jalisco), Puerto Vallarta (Jalisco/Nayarit), and Ciudad Guzman (Jalisco) are sheltering in place until all blockades are cleared, and we urge U.S. citizens to do the same,” the embassy said.”
The embassy also said all Mexico airports are open, and that most are operating normally.
“If you are traveling via any airport other than Guadalajara or Puerto Vallarta, we have received no indication of any security-related flight disruptions,” officials said. “Check with your airline to confirm your flight status and schedule.”
NBC 5 Responds spoke with a North Shore travel agent who says about a dozen of her clients are impacted by the situation. But she reminds us this unrest in Mexico is only impacting certain areas.
“What I have heard from partners on the ground is that is this situation is quite regionalized right now. So everything is fully operational in Cabo. Everything is fully operational and Mexico City as well as Riviera Maya. So right now, those places are in good shape,” Kelly Smith said.
Some travel insurance policies do not cover civil unrest, government alerts, or safety related cancellations, so read through all of the terms and conditions of your policy to see what’s covered.
It’s important to note: this is a developing situation and airlines may continue to alter their policies based on what is happening on the ground. As your spring break travel date approaches, it’s best to check directly with your airline and hotel or resort to discuss your options if you do not feel safe traveling.
One of the Chicago area’s most popular summer music festivals is already beginning to tease its lineup for 2026.
“Here’s what we’ve leaked so far,” Ravinia Festival, in suburban Highland Park, posted on social media Feb. 19.
The tease included photos of Bonnie Rait, Paul Simon, Ray LaMontagne, Allison Kraus and others, along with the caption “Full announcement coming March 12.”
The popular outdoor music festival starts its 2026 concert season in July, with indoor concerts starting in June. The season runs through September, with more than 100 concerts every summer, organizers say.
The full lineup will be out March 12, the venue’s website said, with tickets going on sale to the general public April 23.
The 2025 Ravinia music lineup saw performances by Heart, Al Green, Earth Wind & Fire, John Legend and others, in addition to kids concert series, movies, performances from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and more.
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Britain’s former ambassador to the U.S. has been arrested following weeks of revelations over his relationship with late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Peter Mandelson was arrested amid an intensifying scandal after the U.S. Department of Justice released millions of documents, some of which appear to show him leaking sensitive political and market information to Epstein.
London’s Metropolitan Police said in a news release that it was an update on an investigation into misconduct in public office offenses “relating to a former government minister.”
“Officers have arrested a 72-year-old man on suspicion of misconduct in public office,” the force said in a statement, adding that he had been taken to be interviewed at a London police station. The statement did not name Mandelson, as is standard practice under British law.
“This follows search warrants at two addresses in the Wiltshire and Camden areas,” it said, referring to a county around 100 miles to the west of London, and an area in the north of the U.K.’s capital.
On Feb. 6, police searched two properties linked to Mandelson. Days earlier, the longtime political grandee who had a reputation as a ruthless political fixer, had stepped down as a member of the House of Lords.
Bands of lake-effect snow are expected to impact northwest Indiana for a prolonged period, leading to a winter weather advisory in the area.
According to the National Weather Service, that advisory will include Porter and LaPorte counties, and will run through early Monday afternoon.
Several inches of snowfall are possible in the area, with current estimates of 2-to-4 inches of snow with locally heavier totals possible in some locations.
What’s more, wind gusts in excess of 40 miles per hour could cause blowing and drifting snow, especially on Monday morning, leading to hazardous travel conditions.
Motorists are urged to use caution when traveling on area roadways, especially in eastern Porter County and in northern LaPorte County, and to be aware of the possibility of occasional visibility impacts and slick conditions because of heavy bursts of snow.
Those conditions could impact the morning commute on the Indiana Toll Road and on Interstate 80, with officials cautioning residents to drive more slowly in response to the weather.
Heavier snow is expected in LaPorte County and into southwest Michigan, with some locations seeing up to six inches of snow before the lake-effect system begins to ease Monday.
Another round of snow could occur on Thursday in the area, with impacts also felt closer to Chicago as a low-pressure system dives through the upper Midwest.
Stay tuned to the NBC 5 Storm Team for all the latest weather news and information, and be sure to download the NBC Chicago app for real-time weather alerts sent directly to your phone.
A fire started Saturday night in a Logan Square apartment building, displacing 12 adults and 10 children, according to Chicago police.
Chicago firefighters and police officers responded to the fire in the 2000 block of North Hamlin Avenue just before 9 p.m. The fire spread to a neighboring building before it was extinguished, police said.
Two people were treated for their injuries at the scene but did not need to go to the hospital, according to police. The fire department is investigating the cause of the fire.
A warming station was set up at the scene, and the American Red Cross is helping those who were displaced.
Viral comparisons of Olympic figure skater Alysa Liu and her coaches to a trio from television sitcom “Modern Family” popped up all over social media during the 2026 Milan Cortina Games, and the gold medalist left her take in the comments of one post amid the competition.
In the post that gained Liu’s attention, TikTok user “sonotsona” says “Alysa and her two figure skating coaches gives the same energy as this ‘Modern Family’ episode with Cam, Mitch and Lily and the gymnastics.” The TikTok has more than 284,000 likes as of Saturday afternoon.
In the episode the post is referring to, Mitchell and Cam, a gay couple, get competitive at a gymnastics meet that their adopted Vietnamese daughter, Lily, is competing in.
MODERN FAMILY – “Games People Play” – Phil gets a brand new RV with high hopes of going on a fun family road trip, and Claire decides to let him learn the hard way why this will likely be a terrible idea. Meanwhile, Manny has misplaced his backpack and Jay and Gloria go with him on a hunt for it, breaking into Claire’s house and then into Mitchell’s house — where they do some over-the-top snooping; and Lily’s gymnastics meet brings out an unrivaled competitive spirit in Mitch and Cam, on “Modern Family,” WEDNESDAY, MAY 15 (9:00-9:31 p.m., ET), on the Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images Television Network. (Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images/Jordin Althaus) ERIC STONESTREET, JESSE TYLER FERGUSON
Though Liu is Chinese and Phillip DiGuglielmo and Massimo Scali, her coaches, are not married, she Liu gave her seal of approval for the comparison in the comments of the post.
MILAN, ITALY – February 17: Alysa Liu of the United States with coaches Phillip DiGuglielmo and Massimo Scali awaiting her score after performing her routine during the Figure Skating, Women’s Singles Skating, Short Program at the Milano Ice Skating Arena at the Milano Cortina Winter Olympic Games 2026 on February 17th, 2026 in Milan, Italy. (Photo by Tim Clayton/Getty Images)
“I would say that’s exactly how it is,” the 20-year-old Bay Area figure skater commented on the TikTok post.
Her comment on the post has over 54,000 likes as of Saturday afternoon.
MILAN, ITALY – February 19: Gold medal winner Alysa Liu of the United States is congratulated by coaches Phillip DiGuglielmo Massimo Scali during the Figure Skating, Women’s Singles Skating, Free Skating at the Milano Ice Skating Arena at the Milano Cortina Winter Olympic Games 2026 on February 19th, 2026 in Milan, Italy. (Photo by Tim Clayton/Getty Images)
The U.S. Olympic team won its record-breaking 11th gold medal of the Winter Olympics on Saturday when the trio of Kaila Kuhn, Connor Curran and Chris Lillis took the title in mixed aerials.
The 11th gold breaks a record set at the last Olympics on U.S. soil — in Salt Lake City in 2002, which has long stood out as a turning point for a Winter-sports program that had struggled over previous decades.
There are 38 more medal events on the program this year than there were in 2002.
This marks a repeat for Lillis, who teamed with Ashley Caldwell and Justin Schoenefeld four years ago to win at the Beijing Games.
Here are some looks and links to the rest of the 11 U.S. gold-medal winners:
Alex Ferreira, freeskiing
Halfpipe skier rounds out his Olympic collection — gold, silver, bronze. Back home, he’ll keep going with streamer “Hotdog Hans” where he dressed up like an 80-something ski sensation.
Breezy Johnson, Alpine
Her long journey included a knee injury four years ago on the same mountain where she won the gold.
Elizabeth Lemley, moguls
Nicknamed “Lizard,” she joins a long line of great U.S. moguls skiers, including 2010 champion Hannah Kearney and her teammate, Jaelin Kauf, who now has three silver medals.
Alysa Liu, figure skating
The 20-year-old stepped away after the Beijing Games, rediscovered her love for figure skating and happily claims the title.
Elena Myers Taylor, bobsled
At her sixth Olympics, she finally broke through, becoming the oldest Winter Olympian to win gold at age 41.
Mikaela Shiffrin, Alpine
The most winning skier of all time cashes in at the Olympics with slalom gold after a tear-stained shutout four years ago.
Liu, Amber Glenn and Ilia Malinin are among the members of a team that brings home second straight gold; the last one took two years to capture after Russian doping saga.
US women’s hockey team
A tense thriller, highlighted by Hilary Knight’s equalizer with 2:04 left, then Megan Keller’s winner in overtime.
As the 2026 Winter Olympic Games wind down, athletes are packing up their bags with exclusive gear that fans obsessed over in viral TikTok haul videos. Sponsors like Nike, Ralph Lauren and Skims have showered the top athletes in the country with clothing, sneakers, accessories and more. But some Olympians are choosing to sell some of their swag — igniting bidding wars on eBay and stirring debate over whether cashing in on Olympic-issued gear crosses an ethical line.
All 3,800 athletes competing in Milan Cortina were given a limited edition Galaxy Z Flip 7 from Samsung, an official partner of the Olympic and Paralympic games. But within days of receiving their phones, some Team USA athletes appear to have listed them on auction site Ebay, selling theirs for well over $1,000. At least one listing had a “Buy It Now” price of $2,500, though the seller accepted a best offer of an undisclosed lesser amount.
Team USA’s Hahna Norman, who competed in the women’s snowboard big air and slopestyle, revealed in a TikTok that she was thinking of selling some of her Olympic gear. After receiving a slew of comments, she posted a follow-up Q&A explaining her reasoning.
“I think that there’s this perception that when you make it to the Olympics, you’re an elite athlete and you’re making a ton of money,” she said, noting that for most, that is not at all the case.
Norman clarified that while snowboarding at the Olympics and representing Team USA is an incredible honor and opportunity, many Olympians aren’t financially set.
Outside of a few high-profile stars with major sponsorship deals, most athletes don’t have a pile of money to fall back on. And because of the International Olympic Committee’s Rule 40, influencer athletes are also constrained in posting sponsored content that mention the Olympics, making their most valuable posting window the most restrictive.
So, Norman said, selling some extra gear that would otherwise go unused is a great way to earn more income from the Olympic Games.
And she’s far from the only athlete doing this.
On Ebay, an athlete located in Lake Placid, New York, is selling their Ralph Lauren Team USA Anorak for $2,500, and their Closing Ceremony sweater ($1,200) jacket ($3,000) and boots ($1,000). Buyers are warned that items will be shipped “no sooner than February 20 when I return from Milan.” It’s not clear who the athlete is.
Other hot commodities include Team USA’s iconic eagle skirt, the official Olympic plush mascot and pins.
Leading up to the Olympics, Canadian speedskater Ted-Jan Bloemen posted on Facebook, selling gear from the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. “Support my journey to the 2026 Milano Cortina Olympics by buying this Lululemon kit from the previous Winter Olympics,” the ad read.
Some critics claim it’s not ethical for athletes to sell gear that was gifted to them, but for most of these elite competitors it’s not about cashing in and more about sustaining a dream.
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