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CHICAGO — With his massive frame and larger-than-life persona, Steve McMichael was natural for the gridiron and the squared circle.

The man known as “Mongo” and “Ming The Merciless” left a trail of battered and beaten opponents during a Hall of Fame career with the Chicago Bears. Then he did the same as a professional wrestler.

McMichael, a star defensive tackle on the Bears’ famed 1985 Super Bowl championship team who remained a fixture in the Windy City for decades, died Wednesday following a battle with ALS. He was 67.

McMichael died at Lightways Hospice in suburban Joliet, his publicist, Betsy Shepherd, told The Associated Press.

An All-Pro in 1985 and 1987, McMichael was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2024. He played in a franchise-record 191 consecutive games from 1981 to 1993 and ranks second to Richard Dent on the Bears’ career sacks list with 92 1/2. His final NFL season was with Green Bay in 1994.

McMichael’s brash personality and willingness to say whatever was on his mind made him a perfect fit for pro wrestling. He began working for World Championship Wrestling in the 1990s at the height of the “Monday Night Wars” with the World Wrestling Federation, starting as a color commentator and later joining Ric Flair in the “Four Horsemen” group.

McMichael revealed in April 2021 that he was battling ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, which affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord, causing loss of muscle control.

“I promise you, this epitaph that I’m going to have on me now? This ain’t ever how I envisioned this was going to end,” McMichael told the Chicago Tribune.

McMichael had been experiencing tingling in his arms for some time that he figured was a neck or spine issue stemming from his playing days or his work as a wrestler. A neurosurgeon at the Mayo Clinic suggested in September 2020 that he had ALS. McMichael sought other opinions, and in January 2021, doctors in Chicago confirmed the diagnosis.

Though he mostly retreated from public life following his announcement, photos posted on social media by family and friends showed his decline. McMichael went from a 270-pound giant who used to blast through blockers and drive wrestlers headfirst into the mat with the “Mongo spike” to someone who was rail-thin, bedridden and hooked up to machines as his body failed him.

“He’s scared to die and he shouldn’t be because he’s the most badass man I’ve ever known inside and out,” his wife, Misty McMichael, told The Associated Press prior to his Hall of Fame induction on Aug. 3, 2024. “He’s a good man. He’s gonna be in heaven before any of us, so I don’t know what he’s afraid of. But I’ve told him to please hang on ‘til the (induction) and then, you know, I don’t want to see him suffer anymore. He’s been suffering.”

Born in Houston, McMichael’s parents separated when he was about 2. His mom, Betty, married an oil company executive named E.V. McMichael, and the younger McMichael considered him his dad and took on his surname.

The family moved to Freer, Texas, and McMichael went on to letter in football, basketball, baseball, track, tennis and golf as a senior. A catcher, he preferred baseball. The Cincinnati Reds and St. Louis Cardinals showed interest, but his parents wanted him to go to college.

He received recruiting letters for football from about 75 schools. Bear Bryant wanted to use him as a tight end at Alabama, while Darrell Royal recruited him to Texas as a defensive end. McMichael went on to star for the Longhorns from 1976-79. Although his freshman season was marred by the death of his stepfather, he became a consensus first-team All-American as a senior and entered the College Football Hall of Fame in 2010.

The New England Patriots drafted McMichael in the third round in 1980. He didn’t last long, appearing in six games as a rookie before getting released prior to his second season. McMichael would play hard on and off the field, getting in fights in practice and taking in Boston’s nightlife afterward.

“They looked at me and said, ‘Steve, we think you’re the criminal element in the league. Get out,’” McMichael said in his Gridiron Greats Hall of Fame induction speech in 2019.

The same traits that apparently led to a ticket out of New England were welcomed in Chicago. In that same speech, McMichael recalled walking into founder George Halas’ office — “It was like I was walking into a 1920 gangster movie and he was James Cagney” — when he signed with Chicago.

“Papa Bear” made it clear. “You know what he said to me, guys?” McMichael said. “I’ve heard what kind of dirty rat you are in practice. Don’t change, Steve.”

His nasty demeanor and oversized personality made McMichael one of the most feared players on arguably the greatest defense ever assembled. But longtime friend Dave Siden remembered him as master storyteller and a generous man who would sign over his preseason paychecks to the team trainers as a token of appreciation and buy baskets of toys for children. Through McMichael, Siden met golfer Ben Crenshaw and went backstage at wrestling events.

“I knew him as one of the nicest, most giving friends you could have,” Siden said, his voice cracking.

McMichael played alongside Hall of Famers Dent, Mike Singletary and Dan Hampton, and the 1985 Bears, led by their dominant defense, shuffled their way to the franchise’s lone Super Bowl championship. McMichael was an All-Pro that season with eight sacks.

He played 15 years in the NFL — 13 with Chicago before his final season with the rival Packers.

“It’s a cruel irony that the Bears’ Ironman succumbed to this dreaded disease,” Bears chairman George McCaskey said in a statement. “Yet Steve showed us throughout his struggle that his real strength was internal, and he demonstrated on a daily basis his class, his dignity and his humanity. He is at peace now. We offer our condolences to Misty, (daughter) Macy, the rest of Steve’s family, his teammates, and countless friends and fans of a great Bear.”

Pro Football Hall of Fame president and CEO Jim Porter said in a statement: “Steve McMichael told everyone he would fight ALS with the same tenacity he showed for 15 seasons in the National Football League. And he did just that. Everyone who played with or against Steve shares the same opinion: No one battled longer or harder from the snap until the whistle than Steve the player.”

Soon after his career ended, McMichael got involved with wrestling.

In April 1995, he was in Lawrence Taylor’s corner at the WWF’s WrestleMania when the New York Giants great met Bam Bam Bigelow. Later that year, he started with WCW as a commentator.

McMichael began his in-ring career in 1996, feuding with Flair over then-wife Debra McMichael, then a wrestling valet. He remained with the company through 1999.

“The World Just Lost The Incredible Steve ‘Mongo’ McMichael!” Flair posted on X. “He Was My Best Friend Through It All! An Amazing Athlete And Human Being!”

He and Debra divorced in 1998. He married the former Misty Davenport in 2001, and Macy was born in 2008.

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BISMARCK, N.D. — A federal judge on Wednesday found the state of North Dakota entitled to nearly $28 million for responding to protests of the Dakota Access oil pipeline in 2016 and 2017 — a win for the state in its multiyear effort to recoup the costs from the federal government.

The state filed the lawsuit in 2019, seeking $38 million for policing the protests. The sometimes-chaotic demonstrations drew international attention for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s opposition to the pipeline’s Missouri River crossing upstream of the tribe’s reservation. The tribe has long opposed the pipeline, fearing an oil spill polluting its water supply.

A trial played out over several weeks in early 2024 in federal court in Bismarck, the state capital. People who testified included former North Dakota governors Doug Burgum, who took office in December 2016 during the protests’ height, and Jack Dalrymple, whose administration responded to the protests’ early months.

U.S. District Judge Daniel Traynor found the United States liable to the state on all claims and for more than $27.8 million in damages.

The judge wrote: “The bottom line: United States had a mandatory procedure, it did not follow that procedure, and harm occurred to the state of North Dakota. The law allows reimbursement for this harm. More than that, the rule of law requires this Court to hold the United States liable to remind it of its role in the larger picture of ensuring peace, not chaos.”

Thousands of people camped and demonstrated against the pipeline near the crossing for months, resulting in hundreds of arrests. Sometimes-violent clashes occurred between protesters and law enforcement officers. Law enforcement officers from around the state and region responded to the protests.

The protest camps were cleared in February 2017. An attorney for the state said the protests ended in a response of more than seven months involving 178 agencies, resulting in 761 arrests and requiring four days of cleanup of the camp to remove millions of pounds of trash.

In a joint statement, Gov. Kelly Armstrong and Attorney General Drew Wrigley said: “As outlined in trial testimony and Judge Traynor’s ruling, decisions made by the Obama administration emboldened protestors and ultimately caused millions of dollars in damage to North Dakota, while endangering the health and safety of North Dakota communities, families and law enforcement officers who responded to the protests.”

The state’s claims included negligence, gross negligence, civil trespass and public nuisance.

Attorneys for the government said at trial that U.S. Army Corps of Engineers officials “acted reasonably given limited options at their disposal” during the protests, and that the state’s claim is “greatly overstated.” The government asked the judge to find a lack of legal jurisdiction for the state’s claims, that the state hasn’t proven its claims and is not entitled to damages.

The Associated Press sent an email to an attorney who argued for the federal government at trial seeking comment.

The pipeline has been transporting oil since June 2017. Many state government officials and industry leaders support the pipeline as crucial infrastructure in the country’s No. 3 oil-producing state. The pipeline carries roughly 5% of the United States’ daily oil production.

In 2017, the pipeline company, Energy Transfer, donated $15 million to help cover the response costs. That same year, the U.S. Justice Department gave a $10 million grant to the state for reimbursing the response. The judge found the former to be a gift and reduced the latter from the state’s total recovery.

Then-President Donald Trump denied a 2017 request from the state for the federal government to cover the costs through a disaster declaration.

The pipeline is operating while a court-ordered environmental review of the river crossing is carried out.

A North Dakota jury recently found Greenpeace liable for defamation and other claims brought by the pipeline’s builder in connection with protest activities, with damages surpassing $660 million against three Greenpeace organizations.

Hours earlier on Wednesday, Trump said in the Oval Office that “I think we have a deal with both” sides — before suggesting that an agreement with Ukraine was still pending.

“I thought it might be easier to deal with Zelenskyy,” he said. “So far, it’s been harder.”

That came after Trump’s latest criticism of Zelenskyy on Truth Social earlier in the day. He accused his Ukrainian counterpart of making “inflammatory statements” — a reference to a Wall Street Journal interview in which Zelenskyy pushed back on Washington’s peace plan — and said of a deal he needed to “GET IT DONE.”

For Ukrainians and their supporters abroad, the attacks symbolized the hypocrisy of Russia’s position. President Vladimir Putin continues to make extreme demands — his conditions for a deal essentially resemble a Ukrainian surrender — while continuing to prosecute the invasion he launched three years ago.

Zelenskyy told the Wall Street Journal that he would never accept Russian control over Crimea, a key demand of the Kremlin’s.

“Yesterday’s Russian maximalist demands for Ukraine to withdraw from its regions, combined with these brutal strikes, show that Russia, not Ukraine, is the obstacle to peace,” Sybiha, the Ukrainian foreign minister said in his statement. “Moscow, not Kyiv, is where pressure should be applied.”

In tearful testimony, the mother of a Boston police officer recounted Wednesday how her son was discovered unresponsive in a snowbank and disputed comments made about her in media interviews by Karen Read, whom prosecutors accuse of killing the officer.

Peggy O’Keefe testified that she got a call around 6 a.m. Jan. 29, 2022, from a friend of her son John O’Keefe’s who was with Read when she discovered the unresponsive officer on the front lawn of Brian Albert, then a sergeant with the Boston Police Department.

“She said, ‘John was found in a snowbank,’” O’Keefe recalled. “I didn’t understand. I said, ‘What do you mean?’ She’s like: ‘Found him in the snow. They don’t know what happened.’”

O’Keefe did not testify during Read’s widely publicized first trial, which ended with a hung jury last summer. 

Read, 45, was charged with second-degree murder, motor vehicle manslaughter while driving under the influence and leaving the scene of a collision causing death.

In opening statements Tuesday, prosecutors accused Read of fatally striking John O’Keefe, 46, and leaving him for dead outside Albert’s home in suburban Boston on a snowy morning in January 2022.

Defense attorney Alan Jackson blamed the killing on others who were at the home and said Read was the victim of police misconduct and a cover-up.

Peggy O’Keefe said Wednesday that with Read in her vehicle, her son’s friend picked both of them up and drove them to the hospital where John O’Keefe was taken.

At one point during the drive, she testified, she asked Read what happened to her son. Read responded that they had gone to a party and that she had left him there.

“You just left him there?” O’Keefe recalled asking her. “She said, ‘Yes, I just left him there.’”

Prosecutors have said Read dropped John O’Keefe off at Albert’s house and began driving away but then put her Lexus SUV into reverse and fatally struck him.

According to the defense’s account, there was no collision and Read watched John O’Keefe enter Albert’s house, where he was most likely beaten and bitten by Albert’s dog. (During the first trial, Albert testified that John O’Keefe did not enter his home.)

Peggy O’Keefe testified that Read did not tell her whether she left her son inside or outside Albert’s home.

Once she was at the hospital, Peggy O’Keefe testified, officials were leading her through the emergency room when she saw Read. 

“She started yelling, ‘Is he dead?’” O’Keefe recalled.

Toward the end of O’Keefe’s nearly 20 minutes of testimony, special counsel and lead prosecutor Hank Brennan referred to an interview Read gave for a documentary by Investigation Discovery.

Brennan sought to admit Read’s comments to Investigation Discovery and “20/20” about Peggy O’Keefe because they show her “consciousness of guilt,” he said. 

Norfolk County Superior Court Judge Beverly Cannone did not immediately rule on the matter.

The Investigation Discovery clip showed Read describing how she saw Peggy O’Keefe in her kitchen in the hours after the hospital trip. Read recalled O’Keefe leaning over a kitchen island and saying, “I think it looks like he got hit by a car.”

“Did you ever lean over a kitchen island and say, ‘I think he looks like he got hit by a car?’” Brennan asked O’Keefe.

“I don’t remember talking to her that morning,” she replied.

Jackson did not question O’Keefe, but he said the clip should not be admitted because it only shows Read repeating “something somebody else said.”

The clip, he added, is “obviously and strategically being used to try to vilify my client with something that is completely irrelevant.”

Brennan, meanwhile, said it was not only relevant but “an extraordinarily strong piece of consciousness of guilt evidence.”

MADISON, Wis. — The Army has suspended a Wisconsin training base’s first female commander after discovering portraits of President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had been flipped around to face a wall.

The Army has posted an undated statement on Fort McCoy’s website saying Col. Sheyla Baez Ramirez has been suspended as the base’s garrison commander. The statement said the suspension isn’t related to any misconduct but provided no other details, saying the matter was under review.

The Department of Defense on April 14 posted photos on X showing portraits of Trump and Hegseth on the base’s chain of command wall had been turned to face the wall, along with photos showing that they had been flipped back to face the corridor.

“Regarding the Ft. McCoy Chain of Command wall controversy … WE FIXED IT!” the post read. “Also, an investigation has begun to figure out exactly what happened.”No one immediately returned email and voicemail messages The Associated Press left for Fort McCoy public affairs officials on Wednesday morning.

Baez Ramirez assumed the role of garrison commander at Fort McCoy in July 2024 after serving as chief of the Reserve Program, U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command at Fort Belvoir, Virginia. She was commissioned as a military intelligence officer through the Reserve Officer Training Corps in 1999 and holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology/mental health from the University of Puerto Rico and a master’s in strategic studies from the Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

She holds numerous citations and decorations, including the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, the National Defense Service Medal and the Korean Defense Medal.

She has served as chief of operations of U.S. Army Reserve Command at Fort Bragg in North Carolina, deputy commander of the 501st Military Intelligence Brigade and deputy chief of the Special United States Liaison Advisor Korea at Camp Humphreys in the Republic of Korea.

Fort McCoy is a 93-square-mile training base in the far western Wisconsin countryside. It has been in operation since 1909.

Activist David Hogg set off a firestorm among Democrats last week when he said his political action committee would fund a $20 million effort to challenge “ineffective” incumbents in primaries. 

Hogg is a vice chair of the Democratic National Committee, and his comments reverberated through party circles, prompting a throng of angered Democrats to complain — including to DNC officials — that he shouldn’t put his thumb on the scale as an officer of the committee. 

Since last week, Hogg has appeared on just about every cable news show and digital outlet, advocating for a party reset of sorts — not just because it lost the White House to Donald Trump, but also because, he said, it lost faith among voters.

Now the party is grappling with what to do with him.

At 25, Hogg has emerged as a potential disruptor to a party still trying to find its way forward after a bitter loss in November. Since former Vice President Kamala Harris’ defeat, the party has struggled to find its footing against a Republican trifecta in Washington and is still searching for a leader and a message.

On Thursday, Hogg is expected to be a topic of discussion on a scheduled call with DNC officials and the media. It’s not clear whether he will be on the call.

“We are rolling out historic investments into state parties. And I’m sure Chair [Ken] Martin will discuss reforms he’s pushing and that he ran on. One of which is our party and our officers being neutral in primaries,” said Jane Kleeb, a DNC vice chair and the president of the Association of State Democratic Committees.  

Kleeb noted that enshrining DNC neutrality was something that progressive Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., “and many other Dems across the ideological spectrum have repeatedly asked us to codify into our bylaws.”

Hogg, a survivor of the 2018 mass shooting at his high school in Parkland, Florida, and now a national anti-violence activist, is advocating to oust what he calls ineffective candidates from solid-blue districts. He wants to usher in fresh blood and generally younger candidates as part of a new effort from his PAC, Leaders We Deserve.

“There are old people who are great, there are young people who suck and vice versa. And I’m trying to explain to people that this is not an ax. We’re not just saying, ‘Screw all of them, let’s run against everybody,’” Hogg said. “We’re trying to be a scalpel here. And it’s not just, it’s not about being out with the old and in with the new. It’s about being out with the ineffective and in with the effective.” 

Hogg often points to Democrats’ losing ground with voters. Last month, a CNN poll found Democrats hitting a record low 29% voter approval. A Harvard Youth poll this week found congressional Democrats had a 23% approval rating among young voters, a 19-point drop since 2017.  

Hogg hasn’t hesitated to hit back at the incoming vitriol, including swiping at some sacred cows in the Democratic Party, among them veteran strategist James Carville, who last week called him a “twerp.” Hogg has dismissed many of the criticisms, pointing to the presidential loss as evidence that perhaps a new approach should be welcomed. 

When Scripps asked Hogg about Carville’s insult, he responded that Carville — who made his name as a key strategist for Bill Clinton’s 1992 campaign — hadn’t won an election since before Hogg was born. 

Hogg argues that the fallout over his proposal proves his points. The internal hubbub is a sign of a party in need of a jolt, and an effort to place a requirement for neutrality into the DNC bylaws illustrates that it isn’t there now — and therefore he hasn’t gone against rules dictating his duties, he said. 

“It’s certainly a possibility, I’m sure,” Hogg told NBC News on Wednesday before news emerged that the DNC would discuss neutrality Thursday. “But that goes to the point that I’m saying how this is not a violation of the bylaws.”

“What I see here is that I am not in violation of the bylaws, and there is precedent for vice chairs being involved in primaries previously,” Hogg said, arguing that former vice chairs have backed incumbents in the past.  

Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., has voiced strong backing for Hogg, including on X, where he recently said Hogg was doing “incredible work. He is supporting every frontline Dem & dems for state rep while also giving new candidates a chance to run in safe seats where we need change. Dems should embrace a new generation of leadership & competition!” 

Another DNC member, labor leader Randi Weingarten, has also been outspoken about Hogg’s intention to challenge incumbents in safe areas.

“I support David’s efforts,” Weingarten said in a text Wednesday.  

Hogg said that since all the attention last week, he has heard from hundreds of potential candidates who are interested in running. And he has seen an uptick in donations, though he didn’t specify amounts. 

Carville says Hogg’s disparaging of the Democratic brand is overblown, saying the party’s rank and file aren’t happy with the direction of the last campaign.

“Of course people don’t like the Democratic Party, because we lost an election. I don’t like the Democratic Party — and I’m a Democrat — because I don’t like parties that lose elections,” Carville said.

Though he and Hogg have gone back and forth, mostly on TV, Carville said they probably do align on many issues. Carville, though, said that for all of Hogg’s talk, he would be impressed if Hogg’s efforts gained traction in battleground areas, like Virginia.

“See if they invite you to come in or invite you to send out fundraising appeals,” Carville said. “Don’t wait by the phone.”

President Donald Trump plans to hold a rally in Michigan to mark his 100th day in office, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Wednesday.

“President Trump is excited to return to the great state of Michigan next Tuesday, where he will rally in Macomb County to celebrate the FIRST 100 DAYS!” Leavitt said on X.

The trip will be Trump’s first major rally since his inauguration in January and his first visit to the battleground state since he narrowly defeated Kamala Harris to win Michigan in November.

Michigan was among the battleground states Trump visited the most during the 2024 election cycle, notching two dozen visits to the state, at least three of which were in Macomb County. Macomb County is in the south-eastern part of the state, a stone’s throw from Detroit.

He handily won the Republican-leaning county, defeating Harris by double digits.

Trump will visit Michigan weeks after he met with Gov. Gretchen Whitmer following his decision this month to implement tariffs on dozens of nations, many of which were scaled back.

Whitmer had planned to meet with Trump privately to discuss the tariffs, manufacturing and other Michigan issues.

Instead, she was taken into the Oval Office for a media event, during which Trump signed an executive order directing the Justice Department to investigate officials who served in his first administration and called out his false claims that the 2020 election was stolen.

Photos showed Whitmer standing uncomfortably against a door and covering her face with a folder as cameras rolled.

“The governor was surprised that she was brought into the Oval Office during President Trump’s press conference without any notice of the subject matter. Her presence is not an endorsement of the actions taken or statements made at that event,” a spokesperson for Whitmer said after the event.

It is unclear whether Whitmer plans to attend Trump’s rally or meet with him while he’s in Michigan. Her office did not respond to request for comment Wednesday night.

Trump told Whitmer during the Oval Office event that he planned to work with Democrats to ensure Selfridge Air Force Base, which is in Macomb County, remains “open, strong and thriving.”

Ahead of her meeting with Trump, Whitmer delivered a speech in Washington calling for a “consistent national strategy” to spur manufacturing, criticizing Trump’s tariff policies while also finding common ground with the president in regard to the stated goal of the import penalties.

“I understand the motivation behind the tariffs, and I can tell you here’s where President Trump and I do agree. We do need to make more stuff in America — more cars and chips, more steel and ships. We do need fair trade,” she said.

Whitmer also suggested in her speech that Trump’s ongoing tariffs on all imported vehicles and plan to implement tariffs on foreign auto parts would disproportionately affect Michigan residents, noting that 20% of the state’s economy is tied to the auto industry.

“We’re already seeing the impacts. Auto companies are stockpiling parts and laying off workers. Suppliers are facing higher costs and delaying expansions. Dealerships will be forced to raise prices by up to $15,000 amid slowing sales. And since every auto job supports three others in the community, the impact will be felt by countless small businesses across Michigan, too,” she said.

Before his visit to Macomb, Trump will travel to Rome for the funeral for Pope Francis on Saturday.

President Donald Trump prefers the Washington Commanders’ controversial former name, he told reporters Tuesday evening.

Conservative Virginia radio host John Fredericks asked the president if a deal for a new Commanders stadium at the RFK Stadium site — on federal land that the government gave D.C. control of — is contingent upon restoring the team’s former name, which many consider racist. While Trump’s response didn’t pertain to the stadium deal, he did share his preference for the former team name.

“The Indian population is a great part of this country, great heritage,” Trump said.

He brought up other teams with Native American-derived names, like the Kansas City Chiefs, and one other that changed its name — Major League Baseball’s Cleveland Guardians.

“When you go back to Indians, they’ve told us they don’t know why these names are being taken off,” Trump said.

The president also suggested such name changes insult Native Americans.

“I think it’s degrading to the Indian population, and it’s a great population,” Trump said. “And they like when they’re called by various names. Now, Washington, the Redskins, perhaps that’s a little different, a little bit different, but I can tell you I spoke to people of Indian heritage and they love that name and they love that team. … I think it’s a superior name to what they have right now. It had heritage behind it; it had something special.”

Critics asked former Commanders owner Dan Snyder to change the name for years, saying it’s offensive to Native Americans. Snyder said he’d never change the name, but after pressure from the public and major team sponsors such as FedEx and Nike to change the nickname, the team announced a “thorough review” into the team’s name and logo in July 2020. Ten days later, the team announced it would retire the name.

The team played the 2020 and 2021 seasons as the Washington Football Team. Then in February 2022, the team revealed its new name and logo.

Current owner Josh Harris inherited the Commanders branding when the ownership group he leads bought the team from Snyder in 2023.

Neither Mayor Muriel Bowser’s office nor the team have commented on Trump’s remarks.

Harris previously has said there will be no name change.

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, a Democrat, announced Wednesday that he’ll direct several state agencies to review their ties to El Salvador in the wake of what his office called “aiding the Trump administration’s unlawful and unconstitutional actions.”

“The United States Constitution guarantees due process. We are witnessing Donald Trump erode our fundamental Constitutional rights in real time, and we must fight to restore the balance of power. The State of Illinois will stand up for the Rule of Law and do everything in our power to stop the Trump administration from ripping apart our most basic rights,” Pritzker, who is considered to be a potential 2028 presidential candidate, said in a statement.

In a release, Pritzker’s office said that it had directed various Illinois pension funds to review whether they are invested in any companies that are based in El Salvador and that it had ordered the Illinois Department of Central Management Services to evaluate whether any state procurement contracts have been granted to companies based in or controlled by El Salvador.

Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele has sided with Trump in recent weeks in the high-profile deportation case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia. The Trump administration admits that Abrego Garcia was mistakenly deported to El Salvador but maintains that he was a member of the violent MS-13 gang, despite his wife’s and his attorney’s statements to the contrary.

Members of the Trump administration have also said that because Abrego Garcia is in the custody of El Salvador, they cannot bring him back to the United States. Bukele has declined to free Abrego Garcia.

“Of course I’m not going to do it,” Bukele told reporters during an Oval Office meeting with Trump this month. “The question is preposterous.”

On Sunday, Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., who visited Abrego Garcia in El Salvador last week, said on NBC News’ “Meet the Press” that disinvesting from the country could be one method of putting pressure on Bukele to release Abrego Garcia.

“There are also pressures we can put on the government of El Salvador, including through, you know, you know, people deciding not to invest in El Salvador, Americans not traveling to El Salvador. So I think there are other pressure points,” Van Hollen said.

LOS ANGELES — The State Bar of California has disclosed that some multiple-choice questions in a problem-plagued bar exam were developed with the aid of artificial intelligence.

The legal licensing body said in a news release Monday that it will ask the California Supreme Court to adjust test scores for those who took its February bar exam.

“The debacle that was the February 2025 bar exam is worse than we imagined,” Mary Basick, assistant dean of academic skills at the University of California, Irvine, Law School, told the Los Angeles Times. “I’m almost speechless. Having the questions drafted by non-lawyers using artificial intelligence is just unbelievable.”

In February, the new exam led to complaints after many test-takers were unable to complete their bar exams. The online testing platforms repeatedly crashed before some applicants even started. Others struggled to finish and save essays, experienced screen lags and error messages and could not copy and paste text, the Times reported earlier.

According to a recent presentation by the State Bar, 100 of the 171 scored multiple-choice questions were made by Kaplan Exam Services and 48 were drawn from a first-year law students exam. A smaller subset of 23 scored questions were made by ACS Ventures, the State Bar’s psychometrician, and developed with artificial intelligence.

“We have confidence in the validity of the (multiple-choice questions) to accurately and fairly assess the legal competence of test-takers,” Leah Wilson, the State Bar’s executive director, told the newspaper in a statement.

Katie Moran, an associate professor at the University of San Francisco School of Law who specializes in bar exam preparation, told the newspaper, “It’s a staggering admission.”

“The State Bar has admitted they employed a company to have a non-lawyer use AI to draft questions that were given on the actual bar exam,” she said. “They then paid that same company to assess and ultimately approve of the questions on the exam, including the questions the company authored.”