Comment on Recession's toll: Births fall in Illinois

While rainbow-striped flags are the most iconic symbol of the LGBTQ+ community, several variations of the pride flag have been designed over the years to honor the sexualities and gender identities of people worldwide. The transgender pride flag, representing 1.6 million people over the age of 13 who identify as transgender in the U.

Today, President Joe Biden gives remarks at the 80th anniversary of D-Day in Normandy to honor past military sacrifices and triumphs. But with an eye toward the 2024 presidential race, he is also following a well-worn playbook of leveraging international travel to win domestic political points. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Indeed, his Republican predecessor, Ronald Reagan, used the exact same anniversary 40 years ago to deliver one of his most famous overseas speeches, as a part of a carefully choreographed ten-day tour of Europe.

DULZURA, Calif. — Abigail Castillo was about to cross the U. S. border illegally when she heard President Joe Biden was halting asylum. She continued anyway, walking hours through the mountains east of San Diego with her toddler son, hoping it wasn’t too late. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] “I heard that they were going to do it or were about to do it,” Castillo, 35, said Wednesday as she and her son were escorted to a Border Patrol van with about two dozen others from Brazil, Ecuador and her village in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca, which she said she left because it was gripped by violence. They had missed the deadline, and were now subject to the new deportation rule. Her sense of uncertainty prevailed among many migrants after Biden invoked presidential powers to stop asylum processing when arrests for illegal crossings top 2,500 in a day.

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — An Israeli strike early Thursday on a school-turned-shelter in central Gaza that the military claimed was being used as a Hamas compound killed at least 30 people, including five children, according to local health officials. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] The strike came after the military said it was launching new air and ground operations in central Gaza in an apparent widening of its nearly eight-month offensive, launched after Hamas’ Oct.

Five Points gets jazzed Saturday. The free, wonderfully sprawling Five Points Jazz Festival returns this weekend with diverse live music on Saturday, June 8 — all taking place along Welton Street between 25th and 29th streets. The beloved event in the Five Points neighborhood is expecting more than 10,000 attendees for its 20 local and national acts, along with food, drinks, shopping and ceremonies honoring local jazz legends.

WASHINGTON — YouTube is changing its policies about firearm videos in an effort to keep potentially dangerous content from reaching underage users. The video sharing platform owned by Google said Wednesday it will prohibit any videos demonstrating how to remove firearm safety devices. In addition, videos showing homemade guns, automatic weapons and certain firearm accessories like silencers will be restricted to users 18 and older. The changes take effect June 18 and come after gun safety advocates have repeatedly called on the platform to do more to ensure gun videos aren’t making their way to the site’s youngest users, potentially traumatizing children or sending them down dark paths of extremism and violence. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Katie Paul, director of the Tech Transparency Project, said the change was welcome news and a step in the right direction.