President Donald Trump is making an unannounced trip to honor the returning remains of a U.S. Navy SEAL from Peoria killed during a weekend raid on an al-Qaida base in Yemen. Trump was to arrive Wednesday afternoon at Delaware's Dover Air Force Base. William "Ryan" Owens, 36, was the first known U.S. combat casualty since Trump took office.
Upcoming concerts have been cancelled -- including one at the University of Illinois Krannert Center for the Performing Arts -- because of one artist’s protest of the president’s order barring refugees and citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the U.S.
Violinist Aisha Orazbeyeva is refusing to perform in the U-S, to show solidarity with those affected by the travel ban.
President Trump has nominated conservative favorite Judge Neil Gorsuch to succeed the late Justice Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court.
"Judge Gorsuch has a superb intellect, an unparalleled legal education, and a commitment to interpreting the Constitution according to its text. He will make an incredible Justice as soon as the Senate confirms him," Trump said in announcing his pick.
President Trump has fired Acting Attorney General Sally Yates, concluding she has "betrayed the Department of Justice" by refusing to defend his executive order that imposes a temporary ban on refugees and visa holders from seven majority-Muslim countries.
Illinois universities are speaking out against President Donald Trump's sweeping travel ban that has left some students and professors stranded abroad. University of Illinois President Tim Killeen put out a statement Monday saying its three campuses are "greatly concerned'' about the ban and "strongly recommend that students and scholars who might be affected defer travel outside the U.S.''
